On Gratitude For Life

Here we see this almost confusing teaching again—that faith is a gift from God.  I say ‘confusing’ because this might lead someone to believe that man’s salvation is somehow predetermined (or predestined) by God’s decision to give faith to this or that person.  But predestination, as you know, is an idea rejected by the Catholic Church.  The next paragraph of the catechism specifically refutes the idea by describing faith as a human act.  That would also seem to contradict paragraph 152, unless that is, you’re able to accept certain paradoxes, and Catholic teaching is absolutely full of paradoxes.

Now as we said, faith is a gift.  But what if God doesn’t provide it.  What if God had decided this or that person wasn’t worthy of the gift of faith?  Does that happen?  Can that happen?  Is that person destined to never believe in his only chance of salvation.

Well it’s a bad premise, because the gift of faith is absolutely overflowing within us—all of us.  Oh, there might be certain situations in which a man might never receive the faith in its fullness.  As in, there are some people who will never know about the Trinity.  But faith has a starting point in the very psyche of the human existence.

We are created with some basic questions, and even with some basic answers.  The very first of the questions is, “Who made me?”  Some people might muddle this question with resistance to the truth, insisting that we were not made at all, but simply came into being.  But such a silly answer like that must be taught and accepted—it is not part of man’s starting point.  As a matter of fact, people must work very hard (and do work very hard) to overcome the assumption that man has a creator.

Now another natural question that is part of man’s being is, “What do I owe to this creator?”

This question is based on the assumption that man received something of value when he received life.  Every man recognizes this from the beginning, and it is only through denial of the truth and despair that man forgets this assumption.

And this is the starting point for faith.  Even if a man can never intellectually come to believe in God, he can spiritually come to understand that there is a greater being to which he owes his existence, and that this being deserves some sort of gratitude.  So faith is there with all of us, and it will grow as much as we allow it to grow.

How does it grow?  It grows when we cooperate with the grace of God (which is also a gift).  Once we recognize that life is good (even in our misery) and that we owe thanks for life, we prepare ourselves for growth.  Once we begin to give thanks, we actually start growing in faith.  So gratitude (some might think of it as ‘repayment’) is the very first form of growth that our faith can go through.

Now comes the big question: When is the last time you gave thanks for your existence?