The Power Of Gratitude

I believe that I have already spoken about how important pilgrimage is to my personal spirituality. I want to write briefly about another theological concept that has shaped me as a believer.

I believe that we have two basic choices in life: the choice to live for self alone or the choice to live for God and others. I don’t think we can make the right choice unless we foster an attitude of gratefulness. To be grateful is to acknowledge that God is good, and that life is good. To acknowledge that, despite all of the troubles and sorrows, we are incredibly fortunate.

It’s very difficult to have a conversation with ungrateful people. It’s difficult to pierce through the hard heartedness of those who feel they have nothing for which they can give thanks. And, it is true that there are folks with lots of trouble. There are folks out there with very heavy burdens. Yet, I believe as a matter of faith that the act of being grateful lifts us to a higher plane. Gratitude remakes us into the image of God.

After being here three months, I’ve noticed that we were a community blessed with many good gifts. Sometimes the concerns about finances, or space limitations, or just the messiness of parish life can make us forget that we have many many more good things than we have problems.

For instance, the diversity of this parish is a true gift from God. In a country that is still divided by race, in a country where it becomes rather easy to shut yourself off from people who look differently than you do, or think differently than you do , Saint Eugene Parish is a place where you can sit with people from all different ethnic backgrounds and break sacred bread.

We should also be grateful for the fact that we have a rather startling number of children in the parish. We have hundreds of kids in the school, and hundreds of kids in the religious education program. We are blessed with young families and with their children. The very presence of the children reminds us that our good and gracious God is giving us a future.

Finally, I hope that you know that you are blessed with a very dedicated and hard-working staff. Church work and Catholic school work is not an easy job . The work is underpaid and frequently under appreciated. Yet, the staff here laborers faithfully and happily. That is a true blessing.

I would encourage you to pray this week about gratitude. Pray directly to the Holy Spirit and ask him to give you insight into the goodness of your life, into the blessedness of your life. I promise you that you will be better for it.