We Need to Say Thank You
The late Pope Francis, when reflecting on this weekend’s Gospel, asked: ‘Are we capable of saying “thank you”?’
How many times do we say ‘thank you’ in our family, our community, in our church? How many times do we say ‘thank you’ to those who help us, to those close to us, to those who accompany us through life? Often, we take everything for granted! This also happens with God. It is easy to approach the Lord to ask for something, but to return and give thanks? Pope Francis said: ‘That is why Jesus emphasises the failure of the nine ungrateful lepers; “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”‘
Last Thursday I was asked to give an after-dinner speech at the annual gathering of the St John’s Association. This consists of men who’d trained and taught at the Diocesan seminary of St John near Guildford, which closed down three years ago, after 130 years forming men for the ministerial priesthood. I was uncertain about how to pitch this. Especially after a lovely lunch, wine and good conversation. But I realised it was important for me to give thanks for the priests at St John’s who were involved in my formation between 1969 and 1975.
I spoke about our Rector, who guided us throughout my time there. I incurred his wrath when we students ran a youth day. For part of the preparation for Mass, we used the Ambulacrum to paint an enormous banner that was to hang behind the main altar. Unfortunately the paint strayed beyond the confines of the paper onto the highly polished parquet flooring!
I mentioned the priest who taught us sociology and was passionate about justice and peace. I will always be grateful to him for introducing me to Charles de Foucauld and his spirituality, which has been an important part of my life ever since. I was in his sermon group and will always remember his advice: when preaching, make sure you come to know the lives of the people before whom you are standing.
I had a good spiritual director at the seminary. He taught us theology but was adverse to lecturing. He gave us a reading list and we met in seminar groups.
There was the priest from Arundel and Brighton diocese. On Tuesday nights the staff would take it in turn to give us a talk. All I recall from one of his talks was that he took a book and threw it the length of the chapel, but to this day I don’t recall the point he was making!
Then there was the priest from the Rosminian community who tried to teach us Philosophy. I will always remember him saying to us, ‘True freedom is the ability to choose what is right.’
These were just some of the staff that I not only remember — but remember fondly and with deep gratitude.
Who are the people in your life that you need to thank? Don’t, like me, wait 50 years to say thank you.
