No Matter What - Gratitude
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Ten Lepers
Elie Weisel, the famous Concentration Camp survivor, said that a person is more defined by his gratitude than by any other characteristic.
St. Paul seemed to think the same thing in I Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Today God gave me the great blessing of hiking to the top of a mountain in Colorado with my daughters Sara and Grace. To hike through the green pine trees and then clear the tree line and reach the summit where the whole western range exploded up in the distance was spectacular. There is nothing better than sitting down at the top and resting in delight in something that only God could make. Then on the way down we took our time, stopped and marveled at the blooming wildflowers that God plants in the most surprising places and cooled or should I say froze my bare feet in a mountain stream where I could see its source from the snow.
It can be pretty hard to remember to be grateful all the time – and we don’t just forget to be grateful in the hard times, but even in the good times. Think of the time Jesus healed the ten lepers. They’ve just been healed of a devastating, terminal illness, and yet how many of them remember to go back and say “Thank you”? Just one! That’s it! Something got in the way of their gratitude, and something gets in the way of ours; something makes us forget to say Thank You, and so blocks our happiness. What is it?
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I think the obstacles to thankfulness can be categorized under two headings: a) dissatisfaction with our spiritual condition; b) dissatisfaction with our worldly condition.
Dissatisfaction with our spiritual condition.
On one hand, I am dissatisfied with my spiritual condition. I see my vices of which I am not proud; pride, envy, anger, greed, gluttony, lust. I should be dissatisfied with these because they ruin my happiness and the happiness of those around me and my dissatisfaction with them keeps me from being complacent. I have a heck of a lot of work to do.
But, if we focus too long on our faults, and all we need to do to overcome them we can easily become so discouraged that it prevents us from being aware of just how much God has done for us – and for the world – already.
Think about the ten lepers who were healed. Only one of them came back to thank Jesus, and His disappointment is obvious, “Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” (Luke 17:18). I bet I know what was going through the minds of the other nine: yes, they’d been cleansed of leprosy, but now they really had a lot to get done. They’d been outcasts, completely excluded from social life – they’d have to get in touch with their families, see if their old jobs were available, figure out if they could reclaim their lands, or fix up their former houses. Imagine if you’d been away from home and work and family for who knows how long, and then in a moment you were thrown back into the world you’d thought was gone forever. You’d have a lot on your mind too.
But one of them realized that “what do I need to fix right now?” was secondary to “where would I be right now without Jesus?”
We need to do that: focus more on where we would be right now without Jesus and be grateful; and less on how far still we need to go.
Looking at Jesus with Gratitude will carry us farther and faster than constantly looking at all we need to do to be better.
Jesus thank you for carrying me so far already. I know you will carry me the rest of the way.
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The second obstacle to gratitude is Dissatisfaction with our worldly condition.
If we’re always looking for more money or more health or more security or more attention, we won’t be grateful. If we say “I just need to make it through today, or to the weekend, or the end of the semester, or the next couple years” or “I just need to get a job, or a house, or make it to retirement” or “I just need to get the kids to bed, or get the kids ready for school, or get the kids to college, or get the kids through college,” – as though achieving any of those things would bring us peace and contentment, we won’t be grateful.
Dissatisfaction with our earthly condition means just one thing: we’ve forgotten about heaven. When you forget about heaven, you try desperately to make this life perfect and then get frustrated when it isn’t.
On the other hand, the prospect of heaven frames everything differently, and balances eternal happiness against a few moments or years of suffering. Aquinas said: “In the midst of tribulations men rejoice in the contemplation of Divine things and of future Happiness.” How can you complain about some unpleasantness down here when trillions and trillions of years of unspeakably joy are just down the road?
And besides, when you remember heaven is waiting, it gives even more gratitude for the myriad of good things down here. This world is just the waiting room, where you stay for a while before going into the party room. And we’re used to unpleasant, uncomfortable waiting rooms. If this was a cinder-block waiting room, a cinder-block world, we’d have no reason to whine about it – we’re just waiting to get into the party room. But as it is, what a waiting room! Blue skies, good food, friends and laughter! As St. Elizabeth Ann Seton exclaimed, “All this, and Heaven too!”
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There is an important connection between appreciation for beauty and gratitude.
I shared with you a few days ago that our ability to appreciate beauty is in proportion to our ability to receive it. We perceive the good things of this world through our senses but we have not trained our five senses to receive beauty. Have you practiced some of the things I shared with you? I bet you cant even remember them…I can give you a hard time once in a while.
I am sitting by a window and the most amazing mountain thunderstorm is taking place and as I sit here the most glorious flash of lighting struck. God is so amazing. Who could make lightning and thunder but God? Go outside and watch the sun set and then pay attention to the constant change of colors in the sky for the next 30 minutes until last light.
Slow down and really thank God for every meal. Thank Him for providing for you every moment of your life. How many meals has he given you! Then taste your food and thank God for the nutrients and the flavor. He didn’t have to make food taste so good but He did. Thank Him for this.
We need beauty but our ability to appreciate beauty is in proportion to our ability to receive it. Therefore, we need to train our five senses to perceive the beauty that is all around us already. Take it all in and don’t miss a thing.
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At every moment God wants to give us all the graces we need to do His will and reach happiness. But what prevents us from receiving more abundant graces from God may be quite simply
· Our not being sufficiently grateful
· Not thanking him
· for the graces he has already given us.
If we thank God with all our heart
· for every grace received,
· particularly for inspirations,
· he will give us still more.
Therese of the Child Jesus as she speaks to Celine:
“That which most draws the graces of the Good God, is recognizing them, because if we thank him for one gift, he is touched and hurries to give us another ten and if we thank him again with the grace itself, it multiplies itself incalculably with graces! I have experienced it, try and you will see! My gratitude is without limits for all that he gives me and I find him in a thousand ways.”