The Gospel recounts Our Lord’s healing of ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19). We are shown how disappointed Jesus was that only one of the lepers, the Samaritan, returned to give thanks. Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? There is no mistaking that the Lord was perturbed. A simple display of gratitude was the least those nine men could have done to show their appreciation for their miraculous cure. Jesus appreciates the gratitude of the humble and is hurt by the coldness of the egoist It so happens that gratitude is a mark of nobility and a strong bond of social harmony. Giving thanks should be second nature to us since we receive countless gifts from other people, just as we provide countless favours in return. St Bede has written (cf St Bede, in Catena Aurea, VI, p278) that the Samaritan in this Gospel account was saved by his sense of gratitude.
Jesus was in no way indifferent to the practice of the social virtues. The social virtues are a means by which people demonstrate their respect for one another. They are thus a manifestation of interior refinement. When Simon the Pharisee neglected to give Jesus the customary forms of welcome, Our Lord did not hesitate to complain publicly of this lack of good manners. Throughout the course of his life and preaching, Jesus taught us the real importance of friendship, cordiality, temperance, love for the truth, understanding, loyalty, industriousness, sincerity … He emphasized the value of the human virtues by the use of examples and parables from everyday life. He took care to form the Apostles in the theological virtues as well as in human virtues such as sincerity(cf Matt 5:37) and magnanimity (cf John 9:1-3). Jesus thought so highly of these human virtues that he was moved to
say: If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? (John 3:12) Christ is perfect God and perfect Man (Athanasian Creed). He exemplifies all of the virtues. Jesus is our exemplar extraordinary when it comes to dealing with God and dealing with other people. The life of Christ was aptly summarized by his contemporaries: ‘Bene omnia fecit’, he has clone all things well (Mark 7:37). These words apply not only to his miracles, but also to his participation in ordinary affairs. It would be wonderful if people were to say the same thing about us, his followers in the middle of the world.
Gratitude. Our capacity for friendship. Mutual respect.
In today’s First Reading St Paul writes to Titus and the church at Crete about the importance of living the social virtues: Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for any honest work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all men (First Reading, Year II, Titus 3:1-7).
The social virtues make daily life more pleasant. They dispose the soul to a closer union with God and to a conscientious pursuit of the supernatural virtues. The Christian knows how to transform the practice of the social virtues into so many acts of love for God. Charity ennobles, and elevates these actions to a higher plane.
Gratitude is a human virtue that adds a great deal to social life. It consists of the affectionate recognition of a favour received. We manifest our desire to reciprocate in some fashion. Sometimes it is only possible to say thank you or respond with some similar expression. Our gratitude is shown by the cheerfulness we impart to the words. St Thomas has taught that according to the natural order of things, it is fitting that the recipient of a favour should respond with due gratitude to his benefactor (St Thomas, Summa Theologiae, 2-2, q. 106, a. 3 c.). It certainly costs us very little to show our gratitude. The effects of the virtue are manifold, and it contributes remarkably to a more friendly environment. As we become more sensitive and grateful to other people we find ourselves acting almost instinctively for the general welfare: that our house be clean and orderly, that our workplace be attractive and agreeable, that our appearance is neat … If at any time we should find things a little out of order we will make an effort to forgive and forget. We should do our best to make life pleasant for others without giving in to a self-centred obsession with geometric neatness or absolute efficiency. We should also try to be thankful for those ser vices which we pay for as well as those services which are our due: by giving thanks to the attendant who waits on us, by showing appreciation to the bus-driver who waits patiently while we get on board…
The social virtues find their culmination in our increased capacity for friendship with a wide variety of people. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could call everyone in our workaday world friends! Not just neighbours, colleagues or acquaintances, but friends. This would entail a genuine struggle on our part to be unselfish, understanding, optimistic, loyal and eager to serve… We need to live friendship within the family: among our brothers and sisters, with our children, with our parents. True friendship is not prevented by difference in age. Friendliness and true friendship are indispensable to apostolate.
The story is told that when Alexander the Great was on his deathbed his relatives were persistently asking him: Alexander, where are your treasures? He responded: My treasures? They are in the pockets of my friends. When we die, our friends should be able to say that we shared with them everything we possessed.
Mutual respect is also indispensable to social harmony. The Faith teaches us that we must respect other people because they are made in the image and likeness of God. Each person has been redeemed at the cost of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord (1 Pet 1:18). This includes those we may find a bit annoying for one reason or another. This virtue would also have us respect all created things, since they have come to us from the hand of God. Every thing as well as everyone can and should be treated in such a way as to give glory to God the Creator.
Affability. Optimism and cheerfulness.
Another virtue which makes social life more pleasant is affability. It may express itself in the form of a friendly greeting, a small compliment, a cordial gesture of encouragement. This virtue leads us to overcome our inclination to irritability, rash judgments and actions basically, to live as though other people didn’t matter.
Elizabeth’s start of joy at the Visitation emphasizes the gift that can be contained in a mere greeting when it comes from a heart fall of God How often can the darkness of loneliness, oppressing a soul, be dispelled by the shining ray of a smile and a kind word! A good word is soon said; yet sometimes we find it difficult to utter. We are restrained by fatigue, we are distracted by worries, we are checked by a feeling of coldness or selfish indifference. Thus it happens that we may pass by persons, although we know them, without looking at their faces and without realizing how often they are suffering from that subtle, wearing sorrow which comes from feeling ignored. A cordial word, an affectionate gesture would be enough, and something would at once awaken in them: a sign of attention and courtesy can be a breath of fresh air in the stuffiness of an existence oppressed by sadness and dejection. Mary’s greeting filled with joy the heart of her elderly cousin Elizabeth (cf Luke 1:44) (John Paul II, Address, 11 February 1981). This is how we can lighten the load of the people around us.
Another aspect of affability lies in the practice of kindness, in understanding towards the defects and mistakes of other people (we don’t have to be constantly correcting others), in good manners evinced by our words and behaviour, in sympathy, cordiality and words of praise at an opportune moment … The spirit of sweetness is truly the spirit of God… It makes the truth understandable and acceptable. We have to be intransigent towards every form of evil; nevertheless, we have to deal kindly with our neighbour (St Francis de Sales, Letters, Fragment 110).
A truck-driver once pulled over at a highway rest stop for a cup of coffee. He needed a break because he had many miles ahead of him. He sat at the counter and a young boy came to wait on him. The truck-driver asked with a smile, Busy day? The young fellow looked up and smiled back. Some months later, the truck-driver returned to the same stop. Much to his surprise, the young fellow remembered him as if they were old friends. The truth is that people have a great thirst for smiles. They have an enormous longing for cheerfulness and encouragement. Every day we encounter a good number of people who await that momentary gift of our joy. Through the practice of the social virtues we can open up many doors. We cannot allow ourselves to be cut off from any of our neighbours or colleagues. The Lord wants us to do an effective apostolate of friendship and confidence. We need to introduce other people to that greatest of all gifts which is friendship with Jesus.
By Francisco Fernandez, In Conversation with God, New York, Scepter, 1990, Volume 5, pp. 445-450
Photo by Dana Sarsenbekova on Unsplash
