GRATITUDE AND THANKSGIVING
Luke 17:11-19
Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’
OUR FAILURE TO BE GRATEFUL BLOCKS OUR HAPPINESS
- It can be hard to be grateful in suffering or during difficult times, but we so often fail to be grateful in good times.
- We tend to take the generosity of God and all our blessings for granted.
- Look at the ten lepers. something got in the way of their gratitude, and something gets in the way of ours.
- Something makes us forget to say to God, “Thank You,”
- This failure in gratitude blocks our happiness.
IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO FEEL APPRECIATION
- Gratitude refers to both
- a feeling of appreciation and
- a display of thankfulness towards our benefactor.
- Where the display is absent the feeling will quickly evaporate.
- If we stop saying thank you to God then our pleasure in the things we’ve been given won’t last.
- Those who are not thankful soon find everything in life dissatisfactory and boring/meaningless. And they can never be satisfied.
- That is why expressing our gratitude to God is necessary for happiness.
GOD HAS GIVEN TO US FREELY
We are given freely
- Goods of the body - life, food, clean water, a roof over our head, safety, security...
- Goods of the mind - friends, books, music, memory...
- Goods of the spirit - we have God’s divine life dwelling within us making us truly a son or daughter of God, a partaker in the divine nature, we have a knowledge of the Father’s love, and we have heaven waiting for us.
OBTACLES TO THANKFULNESS
Dissatisfaction with our spiritual condition
- Dissatisfaction with our spiritual condition is to some extent good because it keeps us aware that we are in need of deeper conversion and growth.
- But, if we focus too much on our faults, we can easily become discouraged. And that prevents us from being aware of just how much God has done for us and for the world already.
- We need to shift our focus from “what I need to fix right now” or "how far I still need to go", but to focus on "“where would I be right now without Jesus?”
- Looking at Jesus with gratitude will carry us farther and faster than constantly looking at all we need to do to be better.
- Dissatisfaction with our worldly condition means we live in a state of always looking for "more"
- We fall in the trap of seeking more health, more attention, more security, more money and the list goes on.
- When was the last time we thanked God for our good health and not focus on the bad?
- Have we forgotten to thank God for the love and attention around us?
- Do we thank God for the roof over our heads, and the comfort we are enjoying?
- Have we taken for granted that we have meals on the table, financial stability?
- We will not be grateful if we are always be in a "not-enough" situation, seeking for perfecting this life.
We have forgotten about heaven
Dissatisfaction with our earthly condition also means we have forgotten about heaven.
When we forget about heaven, we try desperately to make this life perfect and then get frustrated when it isn’t.
On the other hand, the prospect of heaven frames everything differently and balances eternal happiness against a few moments or years of suffering. How we you complain about some unpleasantness down here when trillions and trillions of years of unspeakable joy are just down the road?
And besides, when we remember heaven is waiting, it gives even more reason for gratitude for the myriad of good things down here.
This world is just the waiting room, where we stay for a short while before going into the party room.
TO GROW IN GRAITUDE AND HAPPINESS
- Slow down
- Become aware of the good we are experiencing in the present moment.
- Thank God for it.
- Live in the present, and not in the future or the past.
- Be content because we have Jesus and Heaven waiting for us.
- Know the truth that no matter what God does or allows in your life, He does so for one reason only, to give us Jesus and Heaven.
Excerpted/adapted from School of Faith Rosary Meditation - Thanksgiving 21 Nov 2023
Link here: https://schooloffaith.com/rosary-archive/thanksgiving
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