XXVII — GRATITUDE

Presence of God. — My God, give me a grateful heart, capable of singing your mercies forever.

Meditation

1 — Incapable as we are of satisfying according to justice our debts toward God, we must at least seek to supply by gratitude. Even the most miserable beggar, who has nothing to give in return for alms received, always has the possibility of acknowledging the benefit and showing himself grateful to his benefactor. This is precisely our position before God: we have nothing of our own; all that we are and possess is his gift; and to repay his infinite liberality we can do no other than make use of his own gifts to sing to Him our gratitude. “In all things give thanks, for this is God’s will manifested to you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18): God, who benefits us with infinite largeness, has full right to demand our gratitude.

Yet this, which is a spontaneous need of a humble and delicate soul, is a duty so often neglected even by good souls, even by the most benefited. Jesus complained of it when, after healing ten lepers, only one returned to thank Him: “And where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” (Lk. 17:17-18). Significant is the fact that the ungrateful were precisely the nine Jews, who, being compatriots of the Savior, were in a privileged position compared with the foreigner. Sometimes the souls Jesus has called to live nearer to Him, to whom He has given a vocation of privilege, are also the least grateful. It seems almost that the multiplicity of graces received dulls their sensitivity before divine gifts, that they no longer perceive either their greatness or their total gratuity; thus the spontaneous vein of gratitude dries up in their heart. “Ah,” exclaims Teresa of Jesus, “the very greatness of benefits received will be to the detriment of the ungrateful!” (Ex. 3, 1). Ingratitude always rebounds to the disadvantage of the soul infected by it. Let us think, for example, of the enormous harm it caused to the nine lepers, who, not returning to give thanks for the healing received, did not have, like the one grateful leper, the joy of hearing Jesus say: “Your faith has saved you” (Lk. 17:19). Lack of gratitude deprived them of health of soul, a grace infinitely more precious than health of body.

2 — “Ingratitude,” says St. Bernard, “is enemy of the soul, ruin of merits and virtues, loss of benefits. It is a burning wind that dries up the spring of piety, the dew of mercy, the torrents of grace.” Conversely, gratitude draws new graces, new gifts; it bends infinite liberality toward souls. But it must be frank and heartfelt gratitude, extending to all divine benefits: “No gift of God, great or small, should remain without thanksgiving. Not even the smallest benefit should be forgotten” (ibid.). This sincere gratitude blossoms only in a humble heart, convinced of its own indigence and deeply persuaded that it is nothing and can do nothing without continual divine help. For it is not impossible that someone thank God with his lips while in the secret of his heart he attributes to his own merit the graces received.

Such was the false gratitude of the Pharisee: “I thank You, O God, that I am not like other men” (Lk. 18:11). From the context it appears very clearly that this proud man was far from acknowledging his nothingness and from attributing solely to God’s gift that little good that might be in him. The humble soul is in quite another position: even if it succeeds in doing good and practicing virtue, it is convinced that all is fruit of grace. Then not only the great divine benefits, but also the least good actions it performs are continual occasions for giving thanks to God, from whom it recognizes every good.

What then shall we say of its gratitude for each Mass, each Communion, each confession? Each of these graces, even if repeated for the thousandth time, always finds it alive and awake in gratitude, as if it were an entirely new gift. And in reality it is so: every sacrament, every divine help, every actual grace, every spiritual and material aid carries with it a newness of grace, of spiritual life, of love. Blessed is the soul that knows how to recognize this by rendering praise to God! If the multitude of divine benefits does not produce in us adequate fruit, perhaps the cause is precisely little gratitude; and if we wish to discover more deeply the root of the evil, almost always we will find it depends on little humility.

Colloquy

“Grace, grace be rendered to You, eternal Father, who have not despised your creature, nor turned your face from me, nor despised my desires. You, Light, did not disdain my darkness; You, Life, did not turn away from me who am death; nor did You, Physician, neglect my grave infirmities. For all these and other infinite evils and defects that are in me, your wisdom, your goodness, your clemency, and your infinite bounty have not despised me. Who constrained You to love me and grant me so much grace? Not my virtues, but only your charity. Grant then that my memory may be capable of retaining your benefits, and that my will may burn in the fire of your charity.

“O inestimable Love, admirable are the things You have worked in your creature! O miserable and blind soul of mine, where is the cry of gratitude, where are the tears you must shed in the presence of your God who continually invites you? Where are the anxious desires before divine pity? They are not in me, because I have not yet lost myself. For if I had lost myself and sought only You, O God, only the glory and praise of your name, my heart would come out through my mouth in a song of gratitude.

“Thanks, thanks be rendered to You, high and eternal Trinity! I am she who is not, and You are He who is. Therefore do You Yourself render thanks by giving me to be able to praise You. Forgive, Father, forgive me miserable one, me ungrateful for the immense benefits received from You. I confess that your goodness has preserved me your spouse, although by my defects I have always been unfaithful to You” (St. Catherine of Siena).