Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli

[From the very beginning of our country’s history, there have been days of thanksgiving set aside to express gratitude to God for his blessings. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made the last Thursday of November “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens…” This year, as we gather with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving Day, it is good to reflect on how important it is to give thanks to God.]

The famous 4th century Greek philosopher Diogenes lived an extremely simple life even to the point of living inside a barrel. He was the archetype of the Cynics, a philosophical school that rejected wealth and promoted self-sufficiency as a means to contentment. One day, the philosopher Aristippus, who had won a place at the court of Dionysius of Syracuse, confronted Diogenes. He said to Diogenes, “If you would learn to compliment Dionysius, you would not have to live on lentils.” Diogenes replied, “But if you would only learn to live on lentils, you wouldn’t have to flatter Dionysius.”

Those who are ambitious to have more and more of the comforts of this world are never content with what they have. If we are not thankful for what we already have, we will always long for something more. And, in fact, the very attaining of something more cannot fulfill our desire for happiness. Nothing in this world can. Only God can. As St. Augustine once prayed, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.”

However, in this world, gratitude brings us peace, contentment and even physical well-being. Individuals who express their thankfulness for what they have and for the kindnesses others show them are less likely to suffer depression or anxiety or to become dependent on drugs or alcohol. In response to a Gallup poll, more than 90 percent of adults and teenagers in our country responded by saying that, when they express their gratitude, they themselves feel happy. In a word, gratitude lifts up our spirits and fills us with a sense of satisfaction.

The Roman statesman and orator Cicero once said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all of the others.” Gratitude keeps us connected with others. It fosters a positive attitude to all the circumstances of life. “Gratitude magnifies the sweet parts of life and diminishes the painful ones. It is the wellspring of humility and ambition, the magnetic pole for prudence, the platform for courage, the inducement to charity and mercy…” (Jonathan V. Last, “Gratitude: The Parent of All Other Virtues,” Acculturated, Nov. 25, 2016).

The Old Testament provides many examples of those who give thanks. After the Hebrews had passed safely through the Red Sea, leaving their dreaded enemy to drown in the water, Moses’ older sister Miriam gave thanks to God while playing the tambourine and dancing with joy (Exod. 15:20-21). After the sterile Hannah gave birth to Samuel, she returned to the sanctuary at Shiloh to thank God in song (1 Sam 2:1-10). After conquering the Philistine, David sang a fifty-verse long hymn of thanksgiving (2 Sam. 22:2-51; Ps 18). Thanksgiving was the lifeblood of Israel’s faith of Israel. Israel’s book of Psalms is saturated with prayers of thanksgiving and praise for God’s goodness.

The New Testament likewise gives many examples of thanksgiving. Like Hannah who thanked God for her child; Mary, at the birth of Jesus, breaks into the Magnificat, a great hymn of thanksgiving. The Samaritan leper healed of his disease returns to Jesus and gives thanks (Luke 17:11-19). And, the great apostle Paul never fails to give thanks for the gift of his new converts (1 Cor 1:4-10; Phil. 1:3-11).

For the person of faith, giving thanks is not the occasional response for blessings we receive in this life. Giving thanks springs spontaneously from a heart centered on God. C.S. Lewis once said, “We … give thanks for all fortune: if it is ‘good,’ because it is good, if ‘bad’ because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country” (C.S Lewis, Aug. 10, 1948 Letter to Don Giovanni Calabria). True gratitude is a constant attitude because, beyond the things of this world, it lays hold of God who gives us all we have and who alone can satisfy the deepest yearning of our heart. In fact, when we are called from this earth to heaven, we will be happy to join our voice to “the voices of many people…, saying, ‘Thanks to our God, the One Who saves. Honor and power belong to Him’” (Rev 18:1). Truly thankfulness is the key to happiness in this life and the next.