Grateful People

We have all heard the expression, “Looking a gift horse in the mouth.”  Strange as it may seem, it is possible to apply this to our relationship with God just as much as it applies to our relationships with people.  Think for a moment about the gift of faith.  Faith is a gift from God that is available to all people without exception.  It is there for the taking.  It is true that some of us have received this gift as a result of having been raised by parents who were men and women of faith.  However, St. Bonaventure teaches us that the world is filled with “vestiges” of God’s creative genius that can lead anyone to faith if they are open and receptive to the gift. 

As I was listening to and praying about the first reading from today’s liturgy from the Book of Numbers, my thoughts turned to my response to God’s gifts in my life, including the gift of faith.  The Book of Numbers records that when the children of Israel arrived at the River Jordan after leaving the bondage of Egypt, they sent scouts to reconnoiter the land and its inhabitants.  They had been assured by God that this was to be their home.  Yet when the scouts came back to report what they had found, they decided that the people who were presently occupying the land were too big and too fierce for their little band.  Although Caleb and Moses put their faith in God’s gracious gift, the bulk of the community decided that it was too dangerous for them to cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land.  As a result God let them wander in the desert until two generations had gone by.  As a result almost all of the people who had left Egypt never settled in the Promised Land because they chose not to accept God’s gift. 

Before we sit back and criticize the children of Israel for this decision, we might want to take a look at our response to God’s gifts.  We have been given a voice with which we can praise God; do we use it for that purpose or do we choose to use our voices to criticize, demonize, scandalize or, as the Israelites did, murmur against God?  We have been given a “garden” in which to live, a world rich in resources; do we cherish this garden or do we exploit its riches for profit?  We have been given access to God’s mercy and forgiveness; do we utilize this gift or do we try to excuse our faults and failings or blame them on someone else?  We have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us in following God’s will; do we take the direction or do we choose our own way to go?  The list of things that God has done for us is lengthy indeed, yet even more lengthy is the list of ways in which we have failed to appreciate those gifts.

In the Gospels we have been told that more is expected of those who have been given much.  This means we cannot sit and compare ourselves to others in an attempt to maintain our own innocence when it comes to being grateful for God’s providence.  Rather we would do better to examine our lives for those areas in which we have been less than grateful so that we can bring a sense of conversion to that corner of our lives.  It has been said that the one virtue that all the saints have possessed is the gift of gratitude as well as the sense of not being grateful enough for all that God has done for us. 

As we receive the greatest gift God has to offer this morning, may we not fail to be God’s thankful people.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator