Day Five of Forty: The Virtue of Gratitude

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Life hands us lemons.  If it's not one thing, it's another.  These are but two common phrases among many others that express one's frustrations with the circumstances of life.  There is no doubt that everyone who is typing and reading this post has experienced such frustration, maybe even today.  We must never forget, however, that our Lord has given these circumstances to us in order to bring us to perfection in holiness.  The virtue of gratitude allows us to receive those difficulties as gifts, even if they aren't pleasurable.

Gratitude causes us to give thanks to God Almighty while He grants conditions that help us to work out our salvation.  As in all virtues, Jesus Christ is the perfect exemplar.  We receive audible verification of this fact when we hear the priest say during the Eucharistic prayer at Mass, "At the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his Passion, he took bread and, giving thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples..." (emphasis mine).  Gratitude, then, is simply being thankful as we die to ourselves slowly each day, just as Christ was thankful as he neared His death for our Redemption.

Finally, it is no coincidence that the Greek word for Thanksgiving is the very name that we give to the Sacrament effected by that prayer: Eucharist.  Thus, it is clear that the best way to cultivate gratitude, thankfulness in the midst of all the difficulties of life, is by coming regularly to the Eucharist.  It is nothing less than His very self, given in gratitude, despite the difficulty that He knew that He was to suffer on our behalf.

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