A lawyer had a jury trial in a very difficult business case. The client who had attended the trial was out of town when the jury came back with its decision, which was for the lawyer and his client. The lawyer immediately sent an email to his client reading "Justice has triumphed!"
The client wired back, "Appeal at once!"
Our sense of gratitude to God for the many gifts we enjoy is probably as skewed as the sense of justice of the client in the above story. God put us on a planet that has chocolate for Pete's sake!
In "The Sun Shines in Our Windows" Fr. Brendan McGuire relates the story of a young boy who lived in a house on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley. As the sun set, this beautiful house that sat opposite in the hills would shine and glisten like a ball of gold.
The boy goes to visit the house, arriving just before sunset. The magnificent house was nothing more than a little cottage nestled in the woods. But the family is gracious and nice, and invites him to stay the night.
A girl his age talks to him about how beautiful the valley is and about this beautiful house that lights up in the morning. Next morning he looks across the hills and sees a house that dazzles with the rising sun. It was his own little cottage.
McGuire points out how wonderful it would be if we could see God shining upon our lives. What gratitude we would feel if we had the vision to see God's gifts on the hills around us.
The greatest gift evades us most of the time. In "Vestigia" Bliss Carmen says, "I took a day to search for God". Carmen finds God in the beauty of nature all around him. If we take time to search for God we will have a pleasant surprise because God is searching for us!
Jesus taught us about giving thanks. The night before his passion and death he celebrated the Eucharist, a word that means Giving Thanks. That may seem unnatural to us. A loved one is about to leave us forever and we gather to give thanks?
Yet we have had the gift of someone near and dear to us. Should we not be grateful for that life shared? Even with all the pain and sadness of parting besetting us?
There is humility in giving thanks. Saying thank you acknowledges what we have received from another. How deep our thanks should be for the one who gave everything away for us, who felt the twisted thorns, the bite of nails and the bruised body.
I am not trying to be dramatic here, but to point out the greatest sacrifice Christ made. He did this for us even before he knew us. Even before there was any sign we would ever seek his love and his presence.
As we need to say so many times throughout the day: Thank you Lord!
