The Importance of Gratitude

I wrote this past Sunday on the importance of living a life of charity as we enter the Advent season. Since we celebrated Thanksgiving just last week, it is important to remember that one must first live a life of gratitude in order to even live a life of charity. If you are not grateful for what you have been given, how you cannot be truly charitable with it?

Saint Paul wrote in his First Letter to the Thessalonians, "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstance give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thes. 5: 16-18)

I am not going to tell you that life is easy or free from challenges. Obviously that is not case- even our Lord said that in order to come after him, we must pick up our crosses and follow him. The road He calls us to is hard- some might even say impossible. Gratitude for the gift he has given us, a chance at salvation, makes it possible for us to do so.

God has given us many additional gifts as well- our families, our friends, our talents and our abilities. We have the freedom to pursue the good and to do that which we ought. We should even be grateful for our hardships, for these are simply opportunities for us to grow and prove ourselves. For all these many gifts, we ought to live everyday with gratitude, for to whom much as been given much is expected.

In addition to gratitude being something we ought to live with, it has a drastic effect on our souls when we live it. Living with gratitude properly orients the soul towards joy and away from despair. Through joy, we can impact the world around us for the better by spreading the gifts we have been given to those around us. It is natural for someone who has gratitude, when given a gift, to want to give a portion of it back.

True gratitude is essential for true charity, so as we begin this Advent season let us echo the words of Saint Paul and rejoice always. Let us pray without end, and let us live every day with a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving.

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