Being Thankful:
Top Quotes AT A GLANCE
- “Happiness is not what makes us grateful. It is gratefulness that makes us happy.” (David Stiendl-Rast)
- “To remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm, and to look forward to the future with confidence.” (Pope John-Paul II)
- “Gratitude is the foundation on which everything else can build, and we all need to go back there again and again (a bit like a ship going off course).” (Fr Ron Rolheiser, OMI)
- “There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.” (St Paul)
- “The ungrateful person can never have enough of anything…. Jesus’ act of gratitude for the few fish and bread he had is telling us to be grateful for what we have…. He focused his full attention on that, and took the time to be genuinely grateful for it.” (Fr Francis, OFM CAP)
- “The Eucharist is a Greek word that simply means thankfulness. The Church’s central act of worship is an expression of thankfulness…. A primary factor in the divine law of increase is gratitude. Without that, we will never have enough, but with it we will always be rich.” (Fr Francis, OFM CAP)
- “Lift up your hearts! Look at all the goodness in yourself, in your neighbours, and in your family! Dwell on that. That is life-giving. Encourage yourself and others. Remember each of us is a child of God—we’re good, not bad.” (Fr Eamon Devlin, CM)
- “To have this Christian joy, first, is prayer; second, to give thanks…. Let us give thanks to God for the good things that he has given us, above all the faith. This is a wonderful grace. Third, let us think where I can go to bring a little relief, a little peace, to those who suffer. Pray, give thanks and help others.” (Pope Francis)
- “Jesus is always thanking God… Gratitude enables us to come to Christmas…. Gratitude enables us to celebrate the Eucharist… Gratitude enables us to be Christian.” (Fr Paschal Scallon, CM)
- “The highest compliment you can give a gift-giver is to thoroughly enjoy the gift. You owe it to your Creator to appreciate things, to be as happy as you can. Life is meant to be more than a test. Add this to your daily prayer: Give us today our daily bread, and help us to enjoy it without guilt.” (Fr Ron Rolheiser, OMI)
- “Gratitude to God… is a feeling that makes the heart swell with joy.” (Dorothy Day)
- “Gratitude alone, gratitude for the faith, that most splendid gift, a gift not earned by me, a gratuitous gift, is enough to bind me in holy obedience to Holy Mother Church.” (Dorothy Day)
FULL QUOTES:
Being Thankful
“For happiness is not what makes us grateful. It is gratefulness that makes us happy.”
—David Stiendl-Rast as referenced by Fr Ron Rolheiser (in his book ‘Seeking Spirituality’, in his introduction to part 4; published by Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1998)
(NOTE: You might very much like to visit gratefulness.org, which features much of David Stiendl-Rast’s uplifting, happy attitude and teachings — and “supports the practice of grateful living”).
“To remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm, and to look forward to the future with confidence.”
—Pope John-Paul II in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, 2000, words that are increasingly used as a prayer
“Eternal life is therefore the life of God himself and at the same time the life of the children of God. As they ponder this unexpected and inexpressible truth which comes to us from God in Christ, believers cannot fail to be filled with ever new wonder and unbounded gratitude.”
—Pope John-Paul II, in his Evangelium Vitae encyclical from 1995, section 38
“Gratitude is the foundation on which everything else can build, and we all need to go back there again and again (a bit like a ship going off course, or a telescopic lens going off focus).”
—Fr Ronald Rolheiser, OMI
“There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we can love and honour…. Then the God of peace will be with you.”
—St Paul in his letter to the Philippians (4:6-9)
“With five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus and his disciples fed over 5,000 people…. How can that remarkable increase be explained? In terms of logic and reason, it cannot. In terms of faith, I can learn two things.
The first is gratitude…. The ungrateful person can never have enough of anything…. Jesus’ act of gratitude for the few fish and bread he had is telling us to be grateful for what we have…. He focused his full attention on that, and took the time to be genuinely grateful for it… To the early Church, the story clearly had Eucharistic significance. Jesus gave thanks for the bread, broke it, and gave it to the apostles. They, in turn, gave it to the crowd…. The Eucharist is a Greek word that simply means thankfulness. The Church’s central act of worship is an expression of thankfulness…. A primary factor in the divine law of increase is gratitude. Without that, we will never have enough, but with it we will always be rich.
The other lesson we can learn touches on the subject of generosity…. Jesus shared it with the crowd and somehow, in that act of sharing, it became enough and more than enough. Life always seems to work that way. The person who has too little to share will probably never have enough to share. If we are not generous with little, what reason is there to believe that we would be generous with much? Be generous and watch the divine law of increase at work. When it comes to the finest qualities of life, sharing will never diminish our supply.”
—Fr Francis OFM CAP in a “weekly homily” entitled ‘Be grateful and you will always be rich’ in ‘The Universe’ newsaper, 2nd June 2013 (a little research shows this to be Fr Francis Maple, also known as ‘The Singing Monk’)
(About St Paul’s letter to the Philippians 4:6-9)… “easier said than done. What voices do we listen to? It’s up to us to make strong choices—how we think, who we listen to, and to decide not to be overwhelmed by begrudgery in society. Lift up your hearts! Look at all the goodness in yourself, in your neighbours, and in your family! Dwell on that. That is life-giving. Encourage yourself and others. Remember each of us is a child of God—we’re good, not bad. Each of us is deserving of the utmost reverence and respect, now and always. Seeing the good, the world takes on a different perspective.”
—Fr Eamon Devlin, CM, sermon, 2nd October 2011
“To have this Christian joy, first, is prayer; second, to give thanks.
And what do I do to give thanks? Reflect on your life and think of the many good things that life has given you: so many. “But, Father, it’s true, but I have also received so many bad things!” — “Yes, it’s true, it happens to us all. But think of the good things” — “I have a Christian family, Christian parents, thank God I have a job, my family is not suffering of hunger, we are all healthy…”. I don’t know, so many things, and give thanks to the Lord for this. This accustoms us to joy. Pray, give thanks… Let us give thanks to God for the good things that he has given us, above all the faith. This is a wonderful grace.
Third, let us think where I can go to bring a little relief, a little peace, to those who suffer. Pray, give thanks and help others.”
—Pope Francis on a visit to a Roman Parish during Advent 2014 (14th December, ‘Gaudete Sunday’) in a homily, parts of which can be seen here in a Rome Reports youtube video
“Gratitude is a grace…. Jesus is always thanking God… Gratitude enables us to come to Christmas…. Gratitude enables us to celebrate the Eucharist… Gratitude enables us to be Christian.”
—Fr Paschal Scallon, CM, sermon, St Peter’s Church in Phibsboro, Dublin, 10am Mass, Sunday 30th November, 2014
“1) Be grateful…never look a gift universe in the mouth!
Resist pessimism and false guilt. To be a saint is to be warmed by gratitude, nothing less. The highest compliment you can give a gift-giver is to thoroughly enjoy the gift. You owe it to your Creator to appreciate things, to be as happy as you can. Life is meant to be more than a test. Add this to your daily prayer: Give us today our daily bread, and help us to enjoy it without guilt.”
—Fr Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, in one of his weekly columns published in 60 newspapers worldwide and online, ‘Guidelines for the Long Haul — Revisited’, 28th April 2013
“This month of thanksgiving will indeed be one of gratitude to God. For health, for work to do, for the opportunities He has given us of service, we are deeply grateful, and it is a feeling that makes the heart swell with joy.”
—Dorothy Day (page 76 of her book, ‘Selected Writings’; 2005, London: Darton, Longman and Todd; excerpt is noted as ‘November 1936’; an editorial from her newspaper ‘The Catholic Worker’)
“I do know that my nature is such that gratitude alone, gratitude for the faith, that most splendid gift, a gift not earned by me, a gratuitous gift, is enough to bind me in holy obedience to Holy Mother Church and her commands…. My gratitude for this sureness in my heart is such that I can only say, I believe, help Thou my unbelief. I believe and I obey.”
—Dorothy Day (page 173 of her book, ‘Selected Writings’; 2005, London: Darton, Longman and Todd; excerpt originally published in ‘Ave Maria’)
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