The Scriptures today speak of the importance of gratitude to God in the spiritual life. Jesus performed an extraordinarily kind healing on the 10 lepers but only one came back to say thanks. How often do we say thank you to God for all of his love and graces. Our deepest gratitude should be for the life we have been given by God, and the promise of an unparalleled joyful life in the glory of heaven won through the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. The readings on our previous Sundays have emphasized that this life will have its challenges, but for those who surrender to God and have faith and hope, our heavenly existence will wipe every tear from our eyes. So, we are called upon to thank God daily for the thousands and thousands of gifts, small and large, that are bestowed on us in this life.
Saint Therese on Gratitude
Saint Therese of Lisieux shows us how simple it is to give thanks to God regularly and what spiritual benefits from this holy endeavor, “What most attracts God’s grace is gratitude, because if we thank him for a gift, he is touched and hastens to give us ten more, and if we thank him again with the same enthusiasm, what an incalculable multiplication of graces! I have experienced this; try it yourself and you will see! My gratitude for everything he gives me is limitless, and I prove it to him in a thousand ways”
Jacques Philippe, writing on Therese’s love of gratitude says, “Here we touch on… one of the secrets of the spiritual life that also is one of the laws of happiness. The more we cultivate gratitude and thanksgiving, the more open our hearts are to God’s action, so that we can receive life from God and be transformed and enlarged. By contrast, if we bury ourselves in discontent, permanent dissatisfaction, then our hearts close themselves insidiously against life, against God’s gift”
The Wisdom of Saint Ignatius:
Root Out Ingratitude Gratitude clearly brings an abundance of graces but ingratitude therefore needs to be rooted out. One of the greatest believers in the importance of daily gratitude was Saint Ignatius of Loyola. He writes quite clearly that ingratitude should be looked at seriously in our relationship with God and remedied.
“It seems to me, in light of the divine Goodness, …that ingratitude is one of the things most worthy of detestation before our Creator and Lord, and before all creatures capable of divine and everlasting glory, out of all the evil and sins which can be imagined. For it is the failure to recognize the good things, the graces, and the gifts received. As such, it is the cause, beginning, and origin of all evil and sins”
The Examen Prayer: A Great Spiritual Tool for Daily Gratitude
The examen prayer is a simple spiritual exercise, developed by Saint Ignatius that can bring gratitude to God daily in your life and help you walk your daily life with God. It can take as little as 5 minutes a day (or longer) and bears much fruit.
Resources:
1. There is also a great App called, “Reimagining the Examen” which guides you through the examen in a variety of ways. I highly recommend it.
2. I would also suggest reading more about the examen prayer through Fr. Timothy Gallagher’s book, The Examen Prayer, Ignatian Wisdom for our Lives Today.
3. Below are the simple steps to the examen prayer.
How to Pray the Examen
Place yourself in God’s presence. Give thanks for God’s great love for you.
Pray for the grace to understand how God is acting in your life.
Review your day — recall specific moments and your feelings at the time.
Reflect on what you did, said, or thought in those instances. Were you drawing closer to God, or further away?
Look toward tomorrow — think of how you might collaborate more effectively with God’s plan. Be specific, and conclude with the “Our Father.”