Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God? Our Gospel reading today talks about gratitude, especially the gratitude that is due God. Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem took him through a Samaritan village where he encountered a group of ten lepers. The lepers must have known who Jesus was, for on seeing him, they implored him for healing. Having pity on them, Jesus sent them to go show themselves to the priests and as they made their way, they were cleansed. One of them, a Samaritan, having realized that he had been made clean, made an about turn and came back to where they had met Jesus in order to thank him. It was a gesture that touched Jesus, prompting him to ask where the other nine were and whether they felt no obligation to give thanks to God. In their defense, we can point to the fact that they understood the reason why Jesus had sent them to the priests and decided to heed his command. It might have also been that they became overwhelmed with excitement and probably ran home to share the good news with their loved ones. If the latter was the case, we can only say that they demonstrated a a typical, normal human reaction. They had spent their lives keeping away from people including their family members (remember they shouted to Jesus from a distance-they were not allowed to come into contact with the rest of the community). 
While we can excuse the nine for their failure to express their gratitude (we assume that in the depths of their beings they were filled with gratitude to God and to Jesus for their being made clean), we cannot judge them because they represent all of us: if we were to count the number of times we ourselves have failed to show our gratitude, we would be exhausted. Perhaps like the nine, we too get overwhelmed with excitement so much so that we forget to express our gratitude whenever someone does good to us. But it can also be that unlike the Samaritan who realized what had happened to him and returned to give thanks, we have ceased to recognize those moments when we become recipients of God’s goodness. Jesus referred to the cleansed Samaritan as a foreigner. He was not used to good things going his way. He belonged to a “no-people” (pagans). He was a second class citizen and had no rights. Anything that came to him or he was given was received as a privilege, not as something that he deserved. This was how he received the cleansing from Jesus. Because he was used to showing his gratitude whenever he received anything, he was moved out of habit to return to Jesus and do him homage. 
It is the one who counts everything he/she receives as a gift, as something undeserved, who shows gratitude. Perhaps we have come to regard everything that come our way as our right, as things that we deserve rather than as gifts or blessings. Perhaps we have gotten used to God so much so that we feel no need to show God our gratitude. We have come to feel that we don’t owe God our gratitude. But as Common Preface IV reminds us, to be human is to show gratitude. Human beings are creatures of gratitude who express themselves fully in gratitude. It is when we live in gratitude that we live in God’s grace.