by Stephen Fahrig, OMV
These words of St. Paul came to mind recently as I have been reflecting on the place of gratitude in the spiritual life. I've been rather down in the dumps lately, struggling with a host of stressful, painful and emotionally draining situations that have come my way. In the midst of this downward turn, I began rereading The Examen Prayer, a fine book from Fr. Timothy Gallagher on the practice of the so-called "examen of consciousness", a spiritual exercise developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola in order to help people become more aware of God's presence and activity in their daily lives. The examen prayer is a five-step process in which we are invited to recall the blessings of the day just completed, to ask God for grace to see how he is at work in our lives, to review the events of our day, to ask forgiveness for our failings, and to make a resolution as to how we will better live our next day with the Lord. It is significant that St. Ignatius insists that we start this process by reflecting on God's gifts. The founder of the Society of Jesus believed that ingratitude was among the worst sins we could commit against our Creator, who each day showers us with blessings, beginning with the very gift of our existence. To counteract the spiritual damage that a consistent attitude of ingratitude can wreak upon us, Ignatius suggests that we take time each day to consciously and specifically call to mind all of the blessings that have come our way in the course of a given day. His own experience and that of others convinced him that doing so regularly had tremendous transformative potential. Not only does a daily recounting of our gifts and blessings open us up to an awareness of God's love (making it possible to also speak to God about our sins and failings) but it also enables us to see that, no matter how bad a given day might seem to be, or how many struggles we are facing, we are never entirely bereft of divine favors.
After lapsing in the practice of the examen prayer, I have recently begun returning to it, and have found that St. Ignatius' conviction was spot-on. As tough as life can be at times, blessings are always present if we really look for them. I think St. Paul must have had a similar insight. In the quotation with which I began this post, Paul exhorts his audience in Thessalonica to give thanks in all circumstances. Now, the Christians in the Thessalonian church were not exactly living in a bed of roses. Like human beings of every time and place, they faced a host of personal trials and tribulations. Add to that their vulnerable position as members of a fledgling religion to which much hostility was being directed in the ancient world, and their struggles over various points of emerging Christian doctrine, and you have a group of people who must have found it very difficult to express their gratitude to God. Nevertheless, Paul urges them to do so, probably because he, like Ignatius of Loyola many centuries later, realized how important gratitude is in the spiritual life. And Paul was not one who failed to practice what he preached. Paul himself manifested a spirit of gratitude toward God, despite his many trials and persecutions (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 for a list of some of his sufferings!). Both St. Paul and St. Ignatius knew the value of thankfulness in the midst of sufferings, and did not hesitate to recommend it to others.
For what are you thankful today? How has God blessed you over the past 24 hours? Over the past week? The past month? The past year? Why not try taking a few minutes to recall the gifts of God in your life, even if - no, especially if - life seems dark and gloomy at the moment? The more we recall God's blessings and benefits, the more we can become aware that things aren't as bad as they seem, and find ourselves able to give thanks to God in all circumstances.
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