Dear Friends,
“Ingratitude is part and parcel of pride and self-centeredness, a deep denial of how
dependent we are on God and one another. If we aren’t thankful, it’s because we don’t
think we owe anyone anything.”~ Tim Keller, the founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and one of America’s leading theologians
Ignatius of Loyola, the 16th-century Spanish theologian and founder of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, wrote that “ingratitude is one of the things most worthy of detestation before our Creator and Lord.” It is, he said, “a failure to recognize the good things, the graces and the gifts received.”
Gratitude may be the mother of all the other virtues. But it’s also an elusive one in a society that is always striving for more and in a world “more full of weeping than you can understand,” as W.B. Yeats wrote.
We all feel, from time to time, that things are never as good as they ought to be or as we want them to be. When one goal is attained, isn’t there always another one that needs to be seized? And isn’t dissatisfaction with the way things are the impetus to make things better?
Ingratitude leaves us in a state of perpetual discontent, short-tempered, rarely at peace, rarely at rest. Stripped of gratitude, we find ourselves frustrated and fearful, impatient and on edge. Ingratitude also blinds us to the good in our midst — beauty, the wonders of nature, the gift of friendship, the blessings of family.
Building on this point, Tim Keller, states, “Ingratitude is part and parcel of pride and self-centeredness, a deep denial of how dependent we are on God and one another. If we aren’t thankful, it’s because we don’t think we owe anyone anything.
But for many of us of the Christian faith, there are certain events that are sources of continuing thankfulness. Christmas, Good Friday and Easter Sunday are pre-eminent among them. They reassure us that while suffering is unavoidable, death is not final and hope is eternal, that there are things that lie beyond the joy and anguish of this life. There is gratitude in the conviction that the story doesn’t end and that there are endless new chapters to be written, and that ultimately there is reconciliation and redemption to be found for my broken life and our broken world.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
In gratitude,
John
