Once upon a time, two angels were sent from heaven to earth, each with a basket. They traveled all over the planet – to homes, churches, schools, sports arenas, ranches, oil fields, and businesses. Then they came back to heaven with what they had collected in their baskets. The basket of one of the angels was heavy and overflowing. The basket of the other angel was very light and almost empty. The angel with the light load asked the angel with the big load, “What do you have in your basket?” He answered, “I was sent to collect the prayers of petition of all the people who said, ‘I want this’ and ‘Please give me that.’ But, hey, your basket looks pretty empty. What were you sent to bring back?” The angel with the light load replied, “I was sent to collect their prayers of thanksgiving.”
Gratitude is one of the greatest spiritual medicines of all time. It is a remedy for many different spiritual problems. It is one of the most powerful antidotes for self-pity, envy, resentment, and pride. Nothing frustrates the devil more than a human being who is grateful to God. There are three basic steps in gratitude:
a. First, we recognize that we have received something.
b. Next, we say the words. We take the time to say, “Thank you.”
c. Finally, we do our part, either by returning the favor or by paying it forward. We reach out to others in actions that express love.
Gratitude is not just a spontaneous feeling that comes over us. Gratitude is a choice we make, and act of the will. We choose to be grateful. We’re not born grateful. We have to learn it. This is why parents have to teach their children, constantly reminding them to say “thank you.”
It is not enough to express gratitude only at Thanksgiving time in November. It is something that ought to happen throughout the year. The art of gratitude is a good habit that we need to practice so that it develops into a virtue. A virtue is a stable part of our character, an enduring part of who we are, an ongoing disposition of our life.
How can we grow in our attitude of gratitude? Here are some examples of acts of gratitude.
The more we practice these habits of thankfulness, the more the virtue of gratitude will become engrained in us:
1. When you wake up in the morning, thank God for another day of life. Then, at the end of each day, look back over the day, and thank God for the gifts received that day.
2. Recognize the lavish gift giving of God, rejoice in the giftedness of others, and humbly acknowledge your own personal gifts.
3. Be grateful for your parents. Despite whatever imperfections they might have, through them God gave you the precious gift of life.
4. Be thankful for the food you eat. Thank God that you are not going hungry.
5. Whenever you drink a simple glass of water, or take a shower, or wash your hands, thank God for the gift of clean, healthy water. Sometimes we complain about the quality of our water here in West Texas, but most people in the world do not have access to a clean, healthy water supply.
6. When you are participating in any game or competition and you do not win, give thanks to God for the opportunity to grow in humility.
7. When you are stopped by the police and you receive a traffic ticket, thank the officer for taking risks every day to keep our society safe and secure.
8. When you are in Mass or in an airplane and you hear a crying baby, be thankful that their parents accepted the precious gift of new life. Children are our future.
9. Practice the courteous habit of writing actual thank you notes to others.
10. When confronted by your own personal weakness, limits, and lack of ability, pray in thanksgiving to God with the insight expressed by St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:5-10: “When I am weak, Christ is strong in me.”
11. Thank God for the boulders that you must climb over in the path of your life, because they make you stronger. St. James says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:2-4).
12. On those occasions when you suffer without deserving it, or go through any kind of hardship, be grateful for the privilege of sharing in the afflictions of Our Lord Jesus. The cross that you bear draws you closer to him. When you join your sufferings with his, you are thereby participating in a small, humble way in his redeeming sacrifice. St. Paul says, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church” (Col 1:24).
These are merely a few examples of the many ways we can express thanksgiving. By intentionally practicing steps like these, the attitude of gratitude will come to be an enduring aspect of our personal character. St. Paul writes, “In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Th 5:18). The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving” (no. 2638).
Pope Francis repeatedly teaches on the importance of giving thanks. He says, “Gratitude, the ability to give thanks, makes us appreciate the presence in our lives of the God who is love, and to recognize the importance of others, overcoming the dissatisfaction and indifference that disfigure our hearts. It is essential to know how to say, ‘thank you.’ Please, let us not forget this key word” (Francis, Homily, Oct. 9, 2022).
The greatest prayer of gratitude in the world is the Mass. In the first Mass, when Jesus was celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles, he “gave thanks” with the bread and the wine (Lk 22:7-20). In that biblical text, the Greek verb for giving thanks is eucharistein. That is where we get the English word “Eucharist.” It literally means “thanksgiving.” The Mass is one big prayer of gratitude. Individually and collectively, we give praise and thanks to God the Father for his saving action through Jesus Christ.
Here I would like to point out some key moments in the Mass when we express thanks to God. After the proclamation of the Scripture readings, we respond, “Thanks be to God.” At the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, in the Preface Dialogue, we say, “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right and just.” After receiving Communion, we kneel and give thanks to God for what we have received. At the end of the Mass, we say, “Thanks be to God.” We are not saying thanks that the Mass is over, but rather giving thanks for what God has done for us. After the closing song, and before we leave the church, it is a good practice to kneel down for a little personal prayer of thanksgiving.
In this time of Eucharistic Revival in the Catholic Church in the United States, we are seeking to live more fully as eucharistic people. Quite literally, this includes living out the virtue of gratitude as an ongoing habit of our heart. St. Paul expresses this beautifully in Colossians 3:15-17: “Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, … singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”