Our Catholic Identity

by Ed Beckett '78, Assistant Principal for Spiritual Formation

Whenever Easter falls, March always brings us to Lent. I, for one, took great solace in the lengthening of days (from which the season gets its name) after the great snows of January and February. It is easy to be thankful after a time of testing, particularly when you’ve survived the test! However, how often do we think about gratitude as a spiritual virtue that can bear real fruit in our everyday lives?

My dear friend Tom Doyle was one of the most practical, patient and spiritual men I’ve ever known. He had a sign in his kitchen that read, “Begin each day with gratitude” and I remember commenting to him one day that it seemed like very good advice. His response floored me. “Ed, if you can’t count your blessings, you don’t count at all.” He then unleashed that whooping laugh that all of us who knew him miss so much. The lesson remains. At the heart of any health spirituality is a sense of gratitude. Evolutionary neuroscience points out that the human brain is far more sensitive to threats than previously imagined and that we seem hard-wired to remember our negative experiences more vividly as a result. Time spent on a daily basis recalling one’s blessings and giving thanks for the many gifts that surround us is a spiritual re-wiring of our consciousness that also puts us in touch with generosity.

At the core of the Christian vision sits not a judge nor an angry king, but a gracious and generous Creator whose very essence is love. All the beauties of this life, indeed, all of existence, spring from the heart of this loving and generous Creator. The Book of Genesis expresses the all-too-human heart of our sinfulness in our greedy grasping after what is not properly ours. Whether it be the fruit that will make us “as gods” or the life of our brother or the dazzling technical advances of towers reaching to the very heavens; the stories of Adam, Eve, Cain and the folks at Babel point to an overweening pride and greed at the heart of certain human endeavors and attitudes that wreaks havoc in God’s gracious creation. St. Paul points out that the essence of divinity is exactly the opposite. He proclaims to the Philippians, and to us, that “Christ emptied himself/ taking the form of a slave.” The grasping Adam is counter-posed with the self-emptying Christ who reveals God’s love definitively and humanity is saved. The Easter Vigil’s Exultet, proclaims the felix culpa –the “happy fault” – “which gained for us so great a Redeemer.” God’s generosity can only be properly recognized in gratitude for the gifts of our lives and of eternal life born of God’s infinite compassion for humanity.

Time and again the Gospels present Jesus as being “moved with compassion.” Isn’t this the heart of the Christian life? The ability to bear the burdens of others, to walk with them, to comfort them in their distress, and to support them in their time of need are the marks of Christian compassion. As Christ said, “whatever you do for the least of mine, you do for me.” Therein is the ripe fruit of gratitude for God’s generosity – a compassionate heart. Whether it is the patience we show a difficult colleague or family member, the healing word or presence we extend to those sick, suffering or hurting in our midst or the simple gift of desiring to understand the best within ourselves and others while refraining from judging the worst in haste, compassion is the best return we can give to God for the generous gifts we are so grateful to have received. When we look within, let’s look for gratitude, generosity and compassion. I’ve no doubt whose presence we’ll find there.

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