GRATITUDE

28th Sunday C Oct 14, 2007 7:30 AM STORY: Winston Churchill loved to tell this story. A young boy fell off a pier into the rough ocean waters. An older sailor dived into the water despite the danger. After struggling, he brought the boy to shore. Two days later the mother of the boy came to the pier. She asked the old sailor, “Are you the one who saved my boy?” “I am,” the sailor answered modestly. “Then,” the mother asked, “where is his hat?’ Before you judge this mother harshly for her incredible lack of gratitude, try to remember the many times when you concentrated on what you lacked instead of what you had. For example, you might say – even just to yourself – I wish I could take a month-long trip, forgetting to be grateful for the good health that would make such a trip possible. Or I wish my son was making more money, ignoring the fact that he is a tender husband and solicitous father. For you here today, men and women of faith, gratitude is an awareness that should be reflected in every moment of your lives. Like the Samaritan in today’s gospel story, you realize that you are being healed despite the problems you face or the hurts you must endure; that your blessings far outweigh your struggles; that you have many more reasons to hope and rejoice than you do to sink into despondency or be convulsed by anxieties. There is a story about a police department in New England that implemented an interesting program. A lady told of her experience to mine. She was driving along when she saw those frightening lights in her rearview mirror! The officer leaned over to her window and said, “Here’s a ticket, Ma’am, commending you for such good driving! It’s great to have people who obey the law as well as you do and we want to acknowledge you for it!” Others in the town began sharing similar stories. They shared the odd feelings of having a policeman pull them over to give them a compliment! “It’s unfortunate that people’s first reaction when they see a policeman is usually fear,” the police said. They wanted to change that to an attitude of relief, of gratitude and so this New England community responded with deep gratitude. Affirmation is one way of expressing gratitude. A friend of mine said, “If only we would tell people when they’re alive all the good things we say about them at their funerals.” In his book, Seeds of Sensitivity: Deepening Your Spiritual Life, Robert J Wicks says “One of the main obstacles to gratitude is bitterness. Bitterness prevents us from letting go of hurts; bitterness holds on to what we have lost or are convinced we never had. In the movie, Marriage Fool, Walter Matthau, a widower is talking with Carol Burnett, a widow. He says, “I’m really proud of my three sons.” She asks, “Do you ever tell them?” He mumbles a no. She says, “My husband, God rest him, absolutely adored our daughter. Then he died. The first thing my daughter asked me was, ‘Mom, what did Daddy really think of me?’” Affirmation is one way of expressing gratitude. Isn’t it true that an attitude of gratitude is the oil that makes the wheels of human relationships run smoothly? Isn’t gratitude the balm that can heal all those wounds so often unconsciously inflicted just from living together or associating with one another? Isn’t thanks as contagious as laughter and meant to be shared. And like laughter, doesn’t a word or gesture of thanks lighten you heart, revitalize your energy and make you feel that life is worthwhile? Another obstacle to gratitude is selfishness. Let me leave you with a story about selfishness that is humorous but may be a stimulant for you to show more gratitude than you’ve been doing. STORY: A man went to the doctor for a physical checkup. The doctor pulled the man’s wife aside. “Your husband is under great stress. It could be a matter of life or death.So you have to shelter him. Every morning make him his favorite breakfast. Make him a nice lunch. Spend the afternoon cleaning the house. Then make him a luscious dinner. You must do this each and every day. And remember, it’s a matter of life or death.” On their way home, the husband asked his wife what the doctor had to day. “The doctor said,” his wife replied, “that you’re going to die.” THOUGHT: Always strive for a gratitude that counteracts selfishness.