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How grateful are you in life? Now, that question is something of a spoiler alert, as people say about movies, since the first step of the Examen is one of gratitude. But the question can be asked not simply about your life, day by day, but overall. Do you have, as the saying goes, an “attitude of gratitude?” Thirty years ago, as a Jesuit novice, I was working in a hospital in Boston for seriously ill people. Many of them had profound physical limitations thanks to injuries or illnesses. During my time there, I met a woman named Doris, who was severely physically disabled.
Doris, who used a wheelchair to get around, was incredibly cheerful and kind. At one point, I participated in a Bible study with her and about ten other patients, and we started to talk about sacrifice. Doris said that she used to see her wheelchair as a sacrifice and a burden, but now, she said with a huge smile, she was so grateful for it, since it helped her get around. I’m not embarrassed to say that I’ve been thinking about that remark for the last 30 years. It was so challenging to me, someone who has the tendency to be focused on the negative. I’m not saying that you need to think exactly like Doris does. But I wonder if her way of looking at life might help us be more grateful. Even just a little bit.
Happiness is correlated with gratitude. If a person is grateful for what they have, no matter how little, they will be happy. If they are ungrateful and have millions, they will not be happy.
I believe I'm a very grateful person. Doris's attitude is a Grace, yes, Grace may come packaged as a wheelchair. I also agree 100% with J. Cosgrove's post, which essentially says it all in two lines! I wish I were able to be as concise, another kind of Grace!
It started with a Cane, then to a Walker, now it's the Wheel Chair for me like Doris, used when leaving the house as I can no longer walk unaided.. How do I see the Wheel Chair? It's like a Ciborium (Jesus' Wheel Chair) without which He get's nowhere. getting "pushed around" or carried (like me) from place to place. Faith which produces and enhances Grace assures me I (we) are the Body of Christ, so that's how I feel when "pushed around" and that can happen a lot to the infirm!
My gratitude helps me see the Wheel Chair as a Eucharistic thing, reminding me of a priest I knew that said Mass seated in a Wheel Chair. One day at Mass as I served I saw his face glow, not with light, but with profound peace. If I live long enough I hope to grow to his level of acceptance, of gratitude. Capuchin Father Rudolph Multerer, pray for us!