One of my favorite stories is the Lord of the Rings. The author, J.R.R. Tolkien, was a committed
Catholic and filled the story with many Christian themes. One powerful image is
the contrast between light and darkness, a metaphor for the conflict between
good and evil. Throughout most of the story, darkness is spreading throughout
the world called Middle Earth. The darkness is ominous; it threatens to engulf
the whole world and block out any light. At the risk of sounding over-dramatic,
I suggest that a similar darkness can spread can spread across our hearts.
The sufferings and difficulties we encounter can be a
darkness that engulfs our existence if we are not careful. The negative things
that happen to us can spread and cover our whole life like a fog so that it is
the only thing we see and focus on. One of the most interesting things about
suffering I read in a book by Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist and
holocaust survivor. In “Man’s Search for Meaning”, Frankl records his
experiences living in a Nazi concentration camp and some of the observations
that he was able to make about human nature. The whole book is very powerful,
but I was particularly struck by his reflection on suffering. Suffering, he
said, is like a gas. If you take a certain volume of gas and place it into a
container, the gas will expand to fill the whole container. This happens
regardless of the quantity of gas. Regardless if the quantity is small or
large, the gas will expand to fill the entire container. Suffering behaves the
same way in our life. Suffering will always spread to fill however much space
we give it in our life. The suffering can be great, like in a concentration
camp, or smaller, like the daily inconveniences of life. Regardless of the
objective amount of suffering we experience, if we are not careful this
suffering will expand to fill our whole life so that it is the only thing that
we see and focus on. If we let it, the negative things that we experience in
our life will be like a darkness that spreads over us so that it is the only
thing that we can see.
When this happens we easily lose sight of all the good
that Jesus does for us in our life. Because we tend to focus on the suffering
we experience, we are in the dark and ignore all the gifts that Christ
continually gives. Certainly we all
experience suffering in our life, whether it is big or small. At the same time, like the ten lepers in gospel,
Jesus has touched our life. He has given us gifts and continues to do so. Some
gifts were given long ago and we often take them for granted: our life, faith,
family, friends and living in Canada. In other, simple ways, Jesus communicates
His love to us, usually through other people. For example, a good conversation
with a friend, a nice meal with family or a smile from a stranger are really
gifts from Jesus. Jesus is always
working in our life but we often miss it. It is as though the negative experiences
of life form a cover of darkness, preventing us from seeing anything else.
Gratitude to Jesus cuts through the darkness that
suffering can cause in our life. When we give thanks to Christ for the gifts He
gives, we break up the fog caused by difficulties and negativities that blinds
us to all else. As we heard in the gospel today, gratitude is such an important
virtue. Jesus expressed His discouragement that only one out of the ten lepers
He healed returned to give Him thanks. Though all were healed, only the one who
returned back to give thanks is told by Jesus that He was saved. It was his
gratitude to Christ that saved Him. The same goes for us. This weekend we
celebrate Thanksgiving. In addition to eating turkey, this holiday is a great
opportunity to practice the virtue of gratitude. On this holiday we can
experience something of how we are saved through gratitude to Christ. When you are gathered with your family, when
you celebrate together, when you give thanks to God for all He has given, how
do you feel? Joy? Happiness? Isn’t it the case that you are less aware of
your sufferings and difficulties at this moment? Gratitude is not just a courtesy
that we offer someone who has given us a gift. When we show gratitude, we are
also doing ourselves a favor because we remind ourselves of the good things in
our life. Remember the analogy of Viktor Frankl. Suffering is like a gas that
will expand to fill the container you put it in. Gratitude is a way to ensure
that we keep our suffering in a small container. We cannot get rid of suffering
but we can limit the effect it has on our life. Gratitude to Christ does this,
it breaks through the darkness of suffering that can cover our life.
Being thankful to Jesus for His gifts is a habit that we
need to practice daily. It is important to show our gratitude to God on this
holiday of Thanksgiving, but it is really something that we need to do each and
every day. The first step in showing
gratitude to Jesus is being aware of the gifts that He has in fact given
us. For myself I realize that I do a
poor job of this. At the end of the day,
I easily remember all the bad experiences.
It is difficult for me to remember the good experiences. These events,
which are really gifts from Jesus, are ways He shows His love. I imagine that
your experience is similar. This is why it is very important for me to take a
short time each night to review my day.
St. Ignatius of Loyola calls this the “examen”. In an examen, you take 5 minutes or so to
review your day. You begin by looking for 3 or so “moments of grace”, simple
ways in which God was really present: a good conversation with someone, a time
of peace in prayer, an unexpected compliment. When I do this I am surprised because
I always remember many moments of grace that I would have completely forgotten
about otherwise. The practical result is that I become more aware that God does
indeed love me because He is giving me these gifts during the day. After
finding these moments of grace, the second step is simple: give thanks to Jesus
for them. As I continue with my examen I can go on to look for ways that I did
not follow Christ as best I could that day. But the first step though is always
to take the time to remember how God has blessed me and to give thanks. I find
this daily habit of showing gratitude to Jesus to be very powerful.
In the Lord of the Rings there is one moment when the
lead character, Frodo, finds himself in a place of extreme darkness. When this
happens, he is able to pull out from his pocket an object which is a powerful
source of light. When he does this the effect is dramatic. The darkness that surrounds him is pushed
back in a rapid, dramatic way. Taking the time to be grateful to Jesus can have
the same effect in our life. Test this in your own life. Today before you go to
sleep try to remember three moments of grace in the day and give thanks to
Jesus for them. On Thanksgiving this would be a great activity to do as a
family. Make a habit of this and you will notice a change in your life. Taking
time each day to show gratitude to Christ breaks the darkness that blinds us to
the reality that Jesus is always giving us gifts and shining His rays of love
upon us.
