12 November 2025

The Church gives us two lessons today that echo across every century:
lead with wisdom, and live with gratitude.

St Josaphat learned both — and died for both.

The first reading from Wisdom isn’t gentle:

“Because authority was given you by the Lord,
and sovereignty by the Most High,
He will examine your works and test your plans.”

It’s addressed to rulers and leaders — but it applies to every Christian.
Each of us has some authority: over a family, a parish, a conscience.
And Wisdom reminds us: authority is never ownership; it’s stewardship.

St Josaphat understood that.
He was a bishop in a divided Church —
a world of rivalry between Catholic and Orthodox,
between Rome and Constantinople.
He longed for unity, not uniformity;
for truth with love, not compromise or pride.

He used his authority not to dominate, but to reconcile.
That’s real wisdom: not shouting louder, but loving deeper.

And the cost was high.
His enemies dragged him from his home and killed him —
a martyr for the unity of the Church.
But the blood he shed became seed for healing.

Wisdom says: “A severe trial awaits those in power.”
Josaphat met that trial — and passed through it into glory.

The Gospel gives us another kind of leadership —
the leadership of gratitude.

Ten lepers cry out: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
He tells them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”
And as they go, they are cleansed.
But only one comes back.
And Luke, ever precise, adds the line:

“He was a Samaritan.”

The outsider is the one who gets it.
He falls at Jesus’ feet and thanks Him.
And Jesus says,

“Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?”

Ten were healed.
Only one was made whole.

The nine received a miracle and moved on;
the one received a Saviour and turned back.
Gratitude is what completes grace.
It turns a gift into communion.

St Josaphat’s whole life was that turning back to God in thanks.
He was born in Ukraine, into a divided world,
but he saw beyond the divisions to the face of Christ.
He lived Eucharistically — that word means thanksgiving.
He offered his life in thanksgiving for the truth he loved.

We live in a world that often takes grace for granted.
We want blessings without obedience,
forgiveness without conversion,
Church without sacrifice.
But the Samaritan leper — and Josaphat — show us another way:
gratitude that leads to faith, and faith that costs something.

There are still divisions today — within the Church, within families, even within hearts.
Some are theological, some are personal.
The easy road is to walk away.
The holy road is to work and pray for healing.

Josaphat did both — he worked and he prayed.
He didn’t win every argument,
but he kept his soul united to Christ.
That’s the real unity that lasts.

If you want to heal division, start with thanksgiving.
A grateful heart cannot hold hatred.
Gratitude softens pride and makes space for mercy.

When you kneel at Mass and whisper “Thank You, Lord,”
you are doing Josaphat’s work —
building unity through worship.

Wisdom tells us to rule our hearts well.
The Gospel tells us to return in gratitude.
St Josaphat shows us how:
to serve humbly, to thank constantly, and to love even when it hurts.

The wise lead by listening.
The grateful heal by loving.
The saint suffers by forgiving.

So today, let’s pray to be wise in our words,
faithful in our service,
and grateful in our hearts —
until that day when all divisions are healed
and every tongue, in heaven and on earth,
cries out together:
“Thank You, Lord Jesus.”