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Thirteenth Monday after Pentecost
- caelidomum
- Sep 7
- 4 min read
Thirteenth Monday after Pentecost. Gratitude towards God.
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation.
We will consider to-morrow in our meditation: 1st, that if, in accordance with what we meditated upon this morning, we owe gratitude to men for their benefits, we owe much more to God; 2d, how we ought to acquit ourselves of this gratitude. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to make acts of gratitude towards God at the sight of the heavens, the beauties of nature, and still more at the sight of churches and of crosses; lastly, for every good thought with which the goodness of God inspires us; 2d, to be faithful in making our thanksgiving after holy communion, after our meals, and in the evening. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the song of the Church: “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.”
Meditation for the Morning.
Let us give thanks to God, teaching us the duty of gratitude towards Him, first by His Apostle: “In all things give thanks” St. Paul says, “for this is the will of God” (I. Thess. v. 1 8). “Give thanks always for all things” (Eph. v. 20); then by His Church, which every day at the holy sacrifice proclaims it loudly: “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God; it is truly meet and just, right and salutary, that we should always, and in all places, give thanks to Thee, O holy Lord.” Let us bless Him for this lesson, and with this object in view render to Him all our homage.
The Duty of Gratitude towards God.
We owe thanksgivings to God: 1st, on account of our existence, which is a gift of His love; He has chosen us from out of millions of possible creatures to give us a being; 2d, for our preservation, which is, as it were, a second creation, belonging to every moment, and which consequently calls for, on our part, a continual hymn of thanksgiving; 3d, for all the evils of the soul and the body which He spares us from in preference to numbers of others who are attacked by them; 4th, for all the sins which we have not committed, thanks to His preventing grace; 5th, for all spiritual and corporeal benefits, whether they are those which are common to all or those which are conferred specially upon us; 6th, for all the beings which surround us and which have been created for us, animals and plants, air, water, fire, the heavens and the earth; 7th, for the care His providence takes of us at every moment, directing the course of the world, dis posing the seasons, sending His rain upon the earth, regulating all events with so much attention that it presides over even the fall of one of the hairs of our head, with so much assiduity that even during our sleep it watches by our bed side. And where shall we find words to express what we owe Him for the numerous benefits which belong to a superior order? A God incarnating Himself in the bosom of a virgin; a God born in a crib; a God living by labor and toil; a God scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified between two thieves; a God covered with ignominy; a dying God; a God surviving Himself in the Eucharist and remaining there hidden, forsaken, so often offended by irreverences, profanations, and sacrileges; a God pursuing us with His graces, offering us His sacraments, instructing us by His Church, which He always maintains as a faithful depository of His doctrine ! O my God ! my God ! how can I ever thank and bless Thee sufficiently ? “Let us, therefore, love God, because God first hath loved us” (I. John iv. 19). We should be all the more inexcusable not to be grateful for so many marvels, seeing that our interests render it a duty that we should be so. The more grateful we are towards God, the more new graces will we attract towards us. Like the waters of rivers which return to the sea and afterwards come back transformed into clouds, dews, and rain, which reproduce the same rivers, so the waters of grace, carried back by gratitude to God, who is their principle, will return to us in rains of divine grace; whilst in gratitude stops the course of graces, dries up like a burning wind the source of piety, the dew of mercy, and places an obstacle in the way of all the designs of God with regard to us (St. Bernard, in Cant. Serm. li.). Oh, what a wrong we have hitherto inflicted upon ourselves by reason of the little gratitude we have shown for all the benefits which we have received !
The Manner in which to Pay our Debts of Gratitude to God.
The Church teaches us this, when she says in the preface of the holy sacrifice that we must thank God always and everywhere, 1st. We must thank Him always. As in our existence there is not a single moment which is not a benefit bestowed by God, there is therefore not one in which our gratitude ought not to ascend to God. Every moment at our waking, as well as every evening when we lie down, we should say, “Thanks, my God!” Every time that the clock strikes, when considering how many persons here below are tried by troubles which we are spared, how many have died during the past hour, we must exclaim, “Thanks, my God !” Lastly, our life ought to be an uninterrupted thanksgiving towards God, our benefactor. 2d. We must thank God everywhere, that is to say, in the home, where Replaces us and provides for all our wants; in our travels, wherein Refurnishes us with means for going from one place to another; in the town, where He brings together all that is necessary to supply the necessaries and the com forts of life; in the country, where He makes the earth bring forth its harvests and the fruits which make us live; at table, where He gives us suit able food; at recreation, wherein He arranges our amusements and pleasures; everywhere, in a word, since everything is full of benefits.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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