Gratitude: Foundation of Our Spiritual Growth
Gratitude
is not simply a quaint idea to which we should tip our caps during a few short
weeks in November each fall. It is
important that we move beyond a trite understanding and application, and come
to understand the real place of gratitude in the spiritual life. It is nothing less than a virtue and
disposition that is at the foundation of our potential spiritual growth. (In a corresponding way, its absence is at
the “foundation” of spiritual stagnation.)
Before
we ever begin to speak of spiritual realities, gratitude simply helps us to get
by more efficiently, effectively, and happily than the opposite
alternative. Grateful people grow and
flourish, even in the midst of difficult circumstances, in ways that ungrateful
people do not. Still, we must resist the
temptation to deal with gratitude simply on the natural level. We must bring these principles to the
supernatural level and grasp them there.
We
must come to understand that gratitude is about receiving a gift, and that everything
is gift. Everything that we are or have,
from our bodies to our souls to our families to our employment, is gifted to us
by the Almighty and Merciful Father who loves us incredibly! St. James tells that “every perfect gift is
from above” (Jas. 1:17). Whether we know
it or not, this Loving Father has arranged everything perfectly so that we can
be fulfilled and flourish. Gratitude is
our response to His perfect gifts.
Gratitude
is at the foundation of our spiritual growth because, as St. Thomas Aquinas
teaches, “Thanksgiving in the recipient corresponds to the favor of the giver.”[1] God has given every favor out of His sheer
goodness, not out of His need or ours.
Therefore, the gratitude within us, our thanksgiving, should match His
gift. It should emanate from us, freely
and fully. If we give thanks because we
are forced, or if we think we deserve any bit of life or breath or material
blessing, then that is no gratitude at all.
And, it is particularly unlike the Perfect Gift Giver to whom we should
be conformed.
In
all things, including gratitude, Jesus is our perfect example. We read in the Sacred Scriptures that He gave
thanks as part of the Passover meal on the night before He died (cf. Lk. 22:17,
19). He knew that He would suffer
horrifically and die the next day, and still He was grateful. He may even have been grateful that He had
the opportunity to go to the Cross to set right God’s relationship with
humanity that was wrecked by sin.
Whatever it was, we know that He was grateful, even in the face of the
worst circumstances imaginable. Christians
must be grateful in imitation of Our Lord.
Our
Church provides clear, specific, beautiful teaching about this. We read in the Catechism, “It is right to offer sacrifice to God as a sign of
adoration and gratitude” (CCC 2099). Christians
are called to sacrifice for all the gifts that have been granted by the
Merciful Giver, and to do it gratefully.
Thus, all sacrifices can be transformed if they are done with gratitude.
This
should not remain vague and esoteric. There
is a specific Sacrifice by which Catholics adore and show gratitude: “The
Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the
Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits…” (CCC 1360). Still further, we are taught, “To visit the
Blessed Sacrament is…a proof of gratitude…” (CCC 1418). So, it is in Sunday worship and prayer before
Jesus in the consecrated Host that we can most truly and effectively cultivate
gratitude.
One
modern philosopher has rightly remarked, “There can be no happiness without
gratitude.”[2] Moral philosophy and theology tell us that happiness
is our supreme goal and supreme good.
Therefore, we must work at cultivating gratitude in order to get
there. In these efforts, happy thoughts
and kind gestures, as good as they are, will not be enough. In order to grow in perfect gratitude that
will help to maintain our right relationship with the Gracious Father, we must
worship Him in the Eucharist. We must
receive that which means “Thanksgiving,” for it is the pledge of our eternal
happiness.[3]
