WHY IS GRATITUDE such a hard reaction to foster? So often, my response to a difficulty is to stress out first. I’m a planner and a controller, so my instinct is always to try to solve my own problems. I let the difficulties of life send me into a loop of distraction while I brainstorm how to pull myself out, quickly forgetting how many of my problems have already been solved by Jesus.
No matter how difficult your current situation might feel, there’s always someone who has it worse. This is not to dismiss your crosses, but only to point out a truth. “There, but for the grace of God, go I,” as the saying goes. My kneejerk reaction to this realization is to be offended that God didn’t think I was strong enough to handle more difficulties. Then I quickly turn back to gratitude and humility that he has given me a relatively easy life. He knows exactly how much I could (or couldn’t) handle and leads me daily on my narrow path.
On this Divine Mercy Sunday, let’s focus with gratitude on the merciful love of Jesus that saves us repeatedly in this chaotic, sinful world. I often imagine how far afield I’d be if I hadn’t been born into a faithful Catholic family and raised with a strong religious education. It’s only the mercy of God that placed me in a Catholic home, because otherwise, I don’t think I’d ever have had the courage to convert to the Faith later in life.
As St. Josemaria Escriva put it, “Be grateful to your parents for bringing you into this world, thus enabling you to become a child of God. And be all the more grateful if it was they who placed in your soul the first seeds of faith and piety of your Christian way, or of your vocation.” Thank God for his merciful invitation for you to be a part of his Church.
I wonder how badly I might have strayed in my walk if God hadn’t placed my good and faithful Catholic husband in my path when he did. I was saved from so many temptations to immorality by God’s mercy and generosity. It reminds me of a quote from St. Therese of Lisieux in “A Story of a Soul”: “The father, aware that a dangerous stone lies in his son’s path, is beforehand with the danger and removes it, unseen by anyone. The son, thus tenderly cared for, not knowing of the mishap from which his father’s hand has saved him, naturally will not show him any gratitude, and will love him less than if he had cured him of a grievous wound. But suppose he heard the whole truth, would he not in that case love him still more?”
How many times in your life have you been saved from a sin before you even encountered the temptation? Praise God for this great mercy, even if you’re unaware of it. Whether your faith life has been blessed or a struggle, Jesus’ mercy has been with you every rocky step of the way. As St. Paul expressed in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Let us praise our merciful Lord for his many graces towards us, and beg his mercy on our fallen world, and on those who carry heavier crosses than we do. “Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. Amen.”