Gratitude — which tradition also calls recognition or thanksgiving — is one of the most universally praised attitudes: no morality, no wisdom, no religion disputes it. And that is perhaps why it is one of the most misunderstood. By dint of being celebrated, it has been shrunk. The word at once evokes the polite "thank you" taught to children, the warm emotion of a festive evening, or — in its contemporary version — the "gratitude attitude" of personal development: keeping a thankfulness journal in order to feel better. It has been made into good manners, a pleasant mood, or a well-being technique.
Yet gratitude, in the sense of Christian moralists, is neither politeness nor mood nor a tool for feeling better: it is a virtue, a stable disposition of the soul. Saint Thomas Aquinas ranks it among the annexed virtues of justice: it is just to acknowledge a benefactor and to render him the honor due to him[1]. And since, before God, man has received everything — existence, faith, forgiveness, even the crosses that save him — Christian gratitude is first of all the truth of the creature: recognizing that nothing of what we are comes from ourselves. The most sacred word of the Catholic vocabulary says it plainly enough: the summit of Christian life, the Mass, is called the Eucharist, that is, "thanksgiving"[2].
"Give thanks in all circumstances: this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." — Saint Paul, First Letter to the Thessalonians 5:18[3]
This article reviews the most frequent misconceptions about gratitude, grouped according to whether they concern its nature, its object and exercise, or its source and value. For each, it states the error in its common formulation, shows why it is appealing, why it is false, and then recalls what the Church truly teaches, with supporting quotations.
This is neither a practical guide nor an anthology: for the degrees of gratitude and the concrete means of making it grow, see How to Grow in Gratitude; for the saints', Fathers', and mystics' own voice, see What the Saints Say About Gratitude. Here, as in the twin article Common Errors Concerning Fortitude, we clear the ground: we first learn to recognize counterfeit coins in order to better receive true gold.
Why is gratitude so often misunderstood?
A word shrunk to politeness and "well-being"
Few words have shrunk as much. In ordinary usage, "gratitude" means first of all the "thank you" one is supposed to say — a social convention, the opposite of rudeness. By extension, over the last few decades, it has become a word of personal development: people speak of the "gratitude attitude," of the "gratitude journal," of "practicing gratitude" to reduce stress and increase happiness. In both cases, gratitude is reduced to a means: a means of living well in society, or a means of feeling better about oneself.
Yet the Christian tradition, heir to ancient wisdom but fulfilled by the Gospel, has always known that gratitude is far more than good manners or mental hygiene. Cicero, long before Christ, already made it the queen of the virtues:
"This virtue is not only the greatest, it is also the mother of all the others." — Cicero, For Plancius, 33, 80[4]
For the pagan Cicero already, gratitude is "the mother of all the virtues," because it stands at the principle of piety toward parents, of love of country, of religion toward the gods: recognizing what one has received is the root of every duty. All the more so for the Christian, who knows that everything, absolutely everything, is gift. To reduce that to a formula of politeness or a well-being technique is to mistake the bark for the root.
A virtue confused with an emotion
A second source of misunderstanding, more intimate: people confuse gratitude as virtue with gratitude as emotion. There is indeed a feeling of thankfulness — that warmth that sometimes seizes us before a fine gesture, a joy received, a landscape. That feeling is good, but it comes and goes: it depends on mood, health, temperament. Some, naturally optimistic, feel it often; others, anxious or afflicted, almost never. People conclude that the former "have" gratitude and the latter do not — as one has warm or cold blood.
But emotion is not virtue. Gratitude as virtue is an act of the intellect and the will: I recognize that such a good is a gift, and I decide to give thanks for it — whether I feel it or not. That is precisely why Saint Paul can command it "in all circumstances"[5]: a feeling cannot be commanded, an act of the will can. Temperament is a starting gift or burden; virtue is the conquest of a lifetime. On this growth of gratitude beyond emotion, and on its concrete means, see How to Grow in Gratitude.
Errors concerning the nature of gratitude
"Gratitude is a pleasant feeling: you either have it or you don't"
This is the most widespread misconception, and the most discouraging: gratitude is supposedly an emotion — the warmth one feels when one feels blessed. Whoever does not feel it need only wait for it to come, or consider himself incapable of thankfulness. The error is appealing because it corresponds to a real experience: there is indeed a feeling of gratitude, and it is sweet.
But this feeling is neither necessary nor sufficient for the virtue. Not sufficient: one can be moved for an instant before a benefit, then forget it at once without doing anything about it — once the emotion has passed, nothing remains. Not necessary: one can give thanks without feeling anything, in dryness, by the sheer will to acknowledge what one has received — and that is even, as we shall see, the purest form of gratitude. Saint Thomas places recognition not in emotion but in the affection of the heart and the will to return good: that is why, he notes, the poorest of men, who can return nothing materially, can be fully thankful, for gratitude is measured by affection, not by the gift returned[6]. Virtue is not the absence of emotion: it is the firm recognition that remains when emotion departs. A gratitude that depended only on feeling would not be a virtue, but a mood.
"Being thankful means saying thank you politely"
A social variant of the previous error: gratitude is supposedly a convention — the "thank you" required by good manners. It is taught to children like politeness, alongside "hello" and "sorry"; to be thankful would mean not forgetting to say thanks. The error is appealing because it contains a share of truth: gratitude does command saying thank you, and ingratitude often betrays itself by forgetting the formulas.
But politeness is only the bark of gratitude, and it can even be its counterfeit. One can say "thank you" a thousand times out of habit, without the slightest recognition of the heart; and one can be deeply thankful without finding words. Virtue lies not in the formula, but in the interior act it expresses: recognizing that such a good is a gift, and answering it with a return of love. Saint Thomas goes further: true gratitude is not content with "returning the like"; it wants to return more than it received, out of superabundant affection — for a benefit received freely calls for a recognition that exceeds strict measure[7]. Politeness settles a debt with a word; gratitude does not seek to be rid of its benefactor, but to love him. To reduce recognition to politeness is to take the gesture for the soul of the gesture.
"Gratitude is a well-being technique for being happier"
A very contemporary error, and the subtlest because it leans on something true: gratitude is supposedly a personal-development tool. Keeping a "gratitude journal," listing three positive things every evening, "cultivating gratitude" to reduce stress, sleep better, increase happiness. A whole literature — and real studies in positive psychology — praise the benefits of this practice. The error is appealing because it works: it is true that a thankful outlook makes one happier.
But this kind of gratitude, if it stops at itself, reverses the terms. For Christian gratitude is not turned toward the subject who gives thanks, but toward the Giver who is thanked. The "gratitude attitude" makes the happiness of the self the end, and recognition the means; the Gospel makes God the end, and joy is only its superabundant fruit. The danger is not finding oneself better off by giving thanks — that is real and good — it is thanking no one, or thanking oneself for doing well: a gratitude without an object, folded back on the benefit it provides. The Catechism puts recognition back on its axis:
"It is to live in thanksgiving: if God is the One, all that we are and all that we possess comes from him." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 224[8]
True gratitude looks to "the Father of lights" from whom "come down all perfect gifts"[9]; it does not ask "what is in it for me?" but "to whom do I owe what I have?" And, paradoxically, it is this disinterested gratitude, turned toward God and not toward the self, that makes one happiest — it is also the experience of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus: according to her sister Céline's testimony, it is recognition that draws the most graces from the good God[10].
Joy comes as a surplus, to those who do not seek it for its own sake. To make gratitude a mere happiness technique is to keep its effect while losing its source.
Errors concerning the object and exercise of gratitude
"We give thanks to men, not to a God we cannot see"
An error of object, often unconscious: people are grateful to persons — to a friend who helps, a doctor who heals, a loved one who devotes himself — but God is forgotten. He is invisible, and his greatest gifts — life, health, air, faith — are so constant that they seem to go without saying. We thank what surprises us and what has a face; not the silent Author of all. The error is appealing because it is convenient: it dispenses with the hardest part, recognizing a debt toward the One to whom we owe even our existence.
But forgetting the first Giver is to miss the root of all gratitude. Saint Paul brings all recognition back to a single question, which shatters the illusion of self-sufficiency:
"What have you that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" — Saint Paul, First Letter to the Corinthians 4:7[11]
Everything is received: not only what men give us, but those men themselves, and the life that enables us to receive. "Every best gift, every perfect gift, comes from above"[12]. That is why Scripture makes forgetfulness of God the very root of decadence: describing the fall of the pagans, Saint Paul sees in it first of all not a crime, but an ingratitude:
"Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him." — Saint Paul, Letter to the Romans 1:21[13]
There lies the first step of every going astray: to cease giving thanks is to take oneself for the source of one's own goods. Gratitude toward men is good and necessary — it is even the school of gratitude toward God — but it remains truncated so long as it does not rise back up to the One who gives the giver himself.
"We give thanks only for good things"
An error of exercise, the most natural: people give thanks when all is well — for a healing, a success, a joy — and fall silent as soon as life hardens. Gratitude would be suspended on good news; in trial, it would no longer apply, and it would even be indecent to give thanks. The error is appealing because it seems obvious: how can one give thanks for what hurts?
But Saint Paul's instruction is without reserve: "Give thanks in all circumstances"[14] — not "when circumstances are good." It is not a matter of thanking God for evil as if it were good — sickness remains an evil, bereavement a wound — but of giving thanks in trial, because one believes that no circumstance escapes a loving providence. The Catechism notes that, as with the prayer of petition, every event and every need can become matter for thanksgiving[15]. This is the gratitude of Job stripped of everything:
"The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord!" — Book of Job 1:21[16]
Above all, it is that of the saints in the night. Saint John Chrysostom, a bishop driven from his see and dying in exile, left as his last word a thanksgiving that sums up everything:
"Glory to God for all things." — Saint John Chrysostom, last words before his death in exile (407)[17]
"For all things": not only for benefits, but for exile, sickness, injustice suffered. This is exactly the point where gratitude ceases to be a pleasant reflex and becomes faith. On the degrees of this gratitude that holds firm in trial, see How to Grow in Gratitude.
"Giving thanks means resigning oneself and passively accepting everything"
A graver error, touching the nature of the act: "giving thanks in all circumstances" is supposedly a form of resignation — a pious way of giving up, of accepting everything without changing anything, even a disguised fatalism ("it was written, let us give thanks"). Gratitude would pass for the virtue of the passive, the opposite of the courage that fights. The error is appealing because it confuses thanksgiving in trial with surrender before it.
But giving thanks is not resigning oneself: it is the most active spiritual act there is. Job's "blessed be the name of the Lord" is not a sigh of defeat — it is a positive act of blessing, wrested from pain by faith. Resignation endures; thanksgiving offers. The former looks at evil and bows; the latter looks beyond evil, toward the God who can draw good from it, and pays him homage. It is so little a passivity that the Church has made it the summit of its most important act: the Mass, "Eucharist," thanksgiving, in which she does not endure the world but offers it to the Father. The Catechism stresses it:
"Thanksgiving characterizes the prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the Eucharist, reveals and becomes more fully what she is." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2637[18]
Giving thanks in trial in no way prevents acting to overcome it: one can treat a sickness and give thanks, fight an injustice and bless God. Gratitude does not paralyze just action — it purifies it of revolt and bitterness. It is not the opposite of combat, but what keeps combat from turning into hatred.
"Gratitude means feeling crushed by a debt"
An affective error, frequent in scrupulous souls: to recognize that one has received everything would mean discovering oneself an insolvent debtor, weighed down by a debt impossible to repay. Gratitude would become a heaviness, a permanent feeling of guilt — "I owe everything, I return nothing, I am unworthy." The error is appealing because it is born of a just intuition: it is true that, before God, man can never settle his account.
But this unpayable justice does not crush: it frees. For gratitude toward God is not of the kind of debts one repays by being rid of one's creditor. One does not "repay" God — one loves him back. Christian recognition, without ceasing to be justice, is carried and transfigured by charity: it does not seek to free itself from its benefactor, but to enter into his friendship. That is why true gratitude is joyful, not guilt-ridden: the child who knows he owes everything to his father is not weighed down by it, he is happy about it. The infinite debt toward God is not a burden, but the ground of an endless joy:
"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift." — Saint Paul, Second Letter to the Corinthians 9:15[19]
To confuse gratitude with a debtor's guilt is to turn a present into a bill. The thankful person does not say "I must repay," but "I am loved, and I can love in return."
Errors concerning the source and value of gratitude
"Gratitude humiliates: it is for the weak"
A proud error, ancient and ever current: to acknowledge that one owes everything to another supposedly lowers a person. The strong man makes himself; he owes nothing to anyone. Gratitude would be a virtue of dependents, of obligors, of little people — good for those who need help, unworthy of those who stand alone. A culture of absolute autonomy sees in "I answer to no one" the height of dignity. The error is appealing because it flatters the desire to be one's own source.
But refusing to acknowledge what one has received is not strength: it is a lie, and the most fundamental of all. For no one has given himself existence; no one keeps himself in being for a second by himself. To believe oneself one's own origin is to deny reality. Gratitude, far from humiliating, simply states the truth of the creature — and this truth, the Catechism calls adoration:
"To adore God is, in respect and absolute submission, to acknowledge the 'nothingness of the creature' who is only by God." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2097[20]
To acknowledge that one is "only by God" lowers no more than acknowledging that one breathes air one did not make. Proud ingratitude, for its part, does not elevate: it dries up. Saint Bernard gave it the harshest image:
"Ingratitude is a burning wind that dries up for itself the fountain of goodness, the dew of mercy, the streams of grace." — Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, LI[21]
Far from being the virtue of the weak, gratitude is the clear-sightedness of the strong, who know from whom they hold their strength. It is pride that is a weakness — that of the man who lies to himself about his own origin. Luisa Piccarreta heard Jesus say it bluntly: "Pride is the most terrible ingratitude toward God...; it blinds the soul completely"[22].
"I will be thankful when I have good reasons to be"
An error of source, which suspends gratitude on circumstances: people will give thanks when life justifies it — when troubles are past, when they have what they await, when they "feel" something to be thankful for. Meanwhile, they consider themselves dispensed. The error is appealing because it seems reasonable: why give thanks before having received?
But waiting until one "has reasons" means never having enough: the goods already received become invisible from being always there, and one keeps looking at what is missing. The thankful person, on the contrary, does not wait for life to convince him: he decides to see first what is given. Gratitude is not a conclusion drawn after inventory; it is a gaze one chooses. What is more, the highest Christian gratitude thanks before having received, out of trust: Christ himself, before the still-sealed tomb of Lazarus, gives thanks "for hearing me"[23] — before the miracle. This anticipated recognition is the reverse of anxiety: instead of worrying about the future, one gives thanks in advance for the way God will provide in it. It presupposes and nourishes trust (see How to Grow in Trust and How to Grow in Surrender to God). To wait until one has reasons to give thanks is to put gratitude in tow behind life; virtue, on the contrary, precedes the event and sheds light on it.
"Gratitude goes without saying: there is nothing to learn"
A last error, from overconfidence: gratitude is supposedly natural — a spontaneous reflex that every well-born man possesses. There would be nothing to cultivate: either one is thankful, or one is ungrateful, with nothing in between. The error is appealing because it flatters: everyone readily believes himself on the right side.
But the Gospel says exactly the opposite: gratitude is rare, and ingratitude is the slope. The scene of the ten lepers is without appeal — ten healed, only one returns to give thanks, and he is a stranger:
"Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?" — Gospel according to Saint Luke 17:17-18[24]
The proportion is terrible: one in ten. Receiving is easy; coming back to say thank you is rare. For habituation quickly dulls recognition: the greatest gifts — sight, health, loved ones, faith — are precisely those noticed least, because they have been there all along. Gratitude is therefore not an inborn acquisition: it is a virtue, and like every virtue, it is acquired through repeated acts, until it becomes a habit. One is not born thankful; one becomes so, by re-educating one's gaze. This is the whole object of growth in gratitude, developed in How to Grow in Gratitude. To believe gratitude goes without saying is to condemn oneself to remaining one of the nine.
Error and truth at a glance
The table below sums up the misconceptions covered: on the left, the error in its common formulation; in the middle, what makes it false; on the right, what the Church truly teaches, with its source. It reads line by line, as a quick antidote to received ideas.
| Common Error | Why It Is False | What the Church Teaches |
|---|---|---|
| Gratitude is a feeling you either have or don't | Emotion comes and goes; virtue remains when it departs | Recognition lies in the affection of the heart and the will (Thomas, II-II q. 106 a. 3)[25]; commanded "in all circumstances" (1 Th 5:18)[26] |
| Being thankful means saying thank you politely | Politeness can be empty; gratitude wants to return more than it received | Recognizing the gift and answering it with love, beyond strict measure (Thomas, q. 106 a. 6)[27] |
| Gratitude is a well-being technique | It reverses the terms: thanking no one, to feel better oneself | "All that we are comes from him" (CCC § 224)[28]; every gift comes "from the Father of lights" (Jas 1:17)[29] |
| We give thanks to men, not to God | Forgetting the first Giver is the root of every going astray | "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor 4:7)[30]; ingratitude, the fall of the pagans (Rom 1:21)[31] |
| We give thanks only for good things | The instruction is without reserve: "in all circumstances" | "Blessed be the name of the Lord!" (Job 1:21)[32]; "Glory to God for all things" (Chrysostom)[33] |
| Giving thanks means passively resigning oneself | Resignation endures; thanksgiving offers — it is the most active act | The Mass, "Eucharist," the active summit of the Church (CCC § 2637)[34] |
| Gratitude crushes under an impossible debt | God is not repaid; he is loved back: the debt becomes joy | "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift" (2 Cor 9:15)[35] |
| Gratitude humiliates: it is for the weak | No one has given himself being; denying it is a lie, not strength | Acknowledging the "nothingness of the creature who is only by God" (CCC § 2097)[36]; ingratitude "dries up" (Bernard)[37] |
| I will be thankful when I have reasons | By dint of waiting, one sees only what is missing; gratitude comes first | Christ gives thanks before the miracle (Jn 11:41)[38] |
| Gratitude goes without saying: nothing to learn | The Gospel calls it rare: one leper in ten returns | "Where are the other nine?" (Lk 17:17-18)[39] |
Thank-you, recognition, thanksgiving, praise: do not confuse them
Many errors come simply from a fuzzy vocabulary, in which the outward gesture is taken for the virtue, or one degree for the whole. A few classic distinctions suffice to dispel the haze. The thank-you is the outward sign, the word or gesture: it expresses gratitude, but can be empty when the heart does not follow. Recognition is the interior act: acknowledging that such a good is a gift, and knowing oneself bound to the one who gave it. Thanksgiving is that recognition turned toward God and expressed before him — the Catechism sees in it what "characterizes the prayer of the Church," manifested in the Eucharist[40]. Praise, finally, rises a notch: one no longer thanks only for what God gives, one blesses him for what he is.
"Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God! It sings of him for himself, it gives him glory, beyond what he does, because HE IS." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2639[41]
These words are therefore not synonyms: the thank-you is the sign, recognition the act of the heart, thanksgiving its ascent toward God, praise its fulfillment. To confuse gratitude with the mere polite "thank you" is to stop at the sign; to confuse it with emotion is to miss the act of the heart; to cut it off from God is to take away its object. On the deep unity of these three movements — recognition, thanksgiving, praise — see How to Grow in Gratitude.
Restoring gratitude to its true greatness
Once the counterfeits are set aside, the virtue appears in its light. Gratitude is neither politeness, nor emotion, nor a well-being technique, nor resignation, nor a humiliating debt: it is the loving recognition that everything is gift, and the movement by which the creature, knowing itself wholly received, turns back toward its Giver to love him in return. It is, as Cicero already said, "the mother of all the virtues"[42] — for whoever knows he has received everything can no longer long remain proud, miserly, or rebellious.
That is why the Church has made it the very name of her holiest act. The summit of the Christian faith is called neither "sacrifice" only, nor "memorial" only, but Eucharist — "thanksgiving"[43]. Everything is there: receiving from God the greatest of gifts, his own Son, and giving him thanks. The holy Curé of Ars grounded on this measureless gift his indignation against miserliness of heart:
"What ingratitude it would be to show oneself miserly toward a God who shows himself so lavish! Did he not give all his blood for us on the cross? Does he not give himself wholly to us in the Holy Eucharist?" — Saint John-Marie Vianney[44]
And its finished model is a woman: Mary, the most thankful of creatures, whose Magnificat does not linger over the gifts received in order to glory in them, but rises at once to the Giver — "The Almighty has done great things for me; holy is his name!"[45]. All Christian gratitude holds in this turning of the gaze: never stopping at the gift, always rising back to the Love that gives.
Gratitude is finally the only spiritual attitude that will not cease: faith will yield to vision, hope to possession, but the thanksgiving of the blessed will last forever. Learning to give thanks already now is beginning Heaven. There lies the true greatness of this humble virtue, which the world's slogans never understood — the exact opposite of the caricatures that disfigured it. "Give thanks in all circumstances: this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus"[46].
For further reading
- How to Grow in Gratitude — the practical guide: nature, three degrees, the saints' concrete means, pitfalls and fruits, gratitude in the Divine Will.
- What the Saints Say About Gratitude — the anthology: the voice of the Fathers, doctors, and mystics, from Saint Paul to Elizabeth of the Trinity.
- Common Errors Concerning Humility — the root of all gratitude: only the humble acknowledge that everything is gift.
- Common Misconceptions About Trust — anticipated gratitude, which thanks in advance because it trusts God.
- Common Errors Concerning Hope — thankful memory of the past as the foundation of hope.
- Common Errors Concerning Fortitude — the twin article of the same series: the misconceptions about the virtue that holds firm in trial.
Notes and References
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 106 (De gratitudine — thankfulness) and q. 107 (ingratitude). Thankfulness is treated there as a virtue "annexed" to justice: rendering to the benefactor the honor due to him. Reference edition: Summa Theologiae, Éditions du Cerf.
1Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1328. The name "Eucharist" comes from the Greek eucharistein (Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24) and eulogein, which point back to the Jewish blessings (berakah) proclaiming the works of God: creation, redemption, and sanctification.
2 43First Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians 5:18, English rendering after the official liturgical translation (AELF). "Give thanks in all circumstances: this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." The verse closes the triad joy / prayer / thanksgiving (1 Th 5:16-18), presented as "the will of God."
3 5 14 26 46Cicero (106-43 BC), For Plancius (Pro Plancio), 33, 80: "Etenim, iudices, cum omnibus virtutibus me affectum esse cupio, tum nihil est quod malim quam me et esse gratum et videri. Haec est enim una virtus non solum maxima, sed etiam mater virtutum omnium reliquarum" — "This virtue is not only the greatest, it is also the mother of all the others." Cicero links to gratitude piety toward parents, love of country, and religion toward the gods.
4 42Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 106, a. 3: thankfulness resides first in the affection of the heart (in affectu), not in the thing returned. That is why the poorest man can be fully thankful, even if he can return nothing materially: gratitude is measured by intention and love, not by the gift given back.
6 25Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 106, a. 6: the thankful person must seek to return more than he received, out of superabundant affection (superexcrescere) — a benefit received freely calls for a recognition that exceeds the strict measure of commutative justice, because it proceeds from the liberality of the benefactor.
7 27Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 224, sub-section "Living in 'thanksgiving'": "It is to live in thanksgiving: if God is the One, all that we are and all that we possess comes from him." English rendering after the official French edition, Mame/Plon, 1992.
8 28Letter of Saint James 1:17, English rendering after the official liturgical translation (AELF): "Every best gift, every perfect gift, comes from above; it comes down from the Father of lights, who is not, like the stars, subject to periodic motion or eclipses." Every authentic good originates in God.
9 12 29Saying of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897) reported by her sister, Sister Geneviève (Céline Martin), in Conseils et Souvenirs, Éditions du Cerf (1st ed. 1952). As the exact page could not be verified, the wording is given here as a reported saying, not as a textual quotation. English rendering after the French text.
10First Letter to the Corinthians 4:7, English rendering after the official liturgical translation (AELF): "What have you that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" Scriptural foundation of gratitude as the recognition that everything is gift; Saint Augustine's decisive argument against Pelagian pride.
11 30Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans 1:21, English rendering after the official liturgical translation (AELF): "Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him." Saint Paul makes ingratitude — the failure to give thanks to the God one knows — the root of pagan decadence (Rom 1:18-23).
13 31Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2638: as in the prayer of petition, "every event and every need can become an offering of thanksgiving"; Saint Paul's letters often begin and end with thanksgiving, and Christ is always present in it. Foundation of "giving thanks in all circumstances."
15Book of Job 1:21, English rendering after the official liturgical translation (AELF). Job's thanksgiving stripped of everything: "Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, naked I shall return. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord!" Biblical type of the gratitude that holds firm in trial.
16 32Saint John Chrysostom (c. 349-407), last words before his death in exile at Comana in Pontus (407), reported by his biographer Palladius of Helenopolis, Dialogue on the Life of Saint John Chrysostom. Traditional Greek form: Δόξα τῷ Θεῷ πάντων ἕνεκεν — "Glory to God for all things." The formula has remained in Eastern Christianity a summit of thanksgiving.
17 33Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2637: "Thanksgiving characterizes the prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the Eucharist, reveals and becomes more fully what she is."
18 34 40Second Letter to the Corinthians 9:15, English rendering after the official liturgical translation (AELF): "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift." Final doxology of Saint Paul's development on generosity, where grace received calls forth an overflow of thanksgiving.
19 35Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2097: "To adore God is, in respect and absolute submission, to acknowledge the 'nothingness of the creature' who is only by God." Adoration is the first act of the virtue of religion (§ 2096); gratitude follows from it as the recognition that all being is received. English rendering after the official French edition, Mame/Plon, 1992.
20 36Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon LI. Latin text: "Ingratitudo ventus urens, siccans sibi fontem pietatis, rorem misericordiæ, fluenta gratiæ." English rendering after the French trans. in the Œuvres complètes de saint Bernard, trans. A.-L. Charpentier, Librairie Vivès, 1867, vol. 4, p. 396.
21 37Luisa Piccarreta (1865-1947), The Book of Heaven, vol. 1, éditions Résiac, 2015, p. 21. Pride — brother of ingratitude — is designated as "the most terrible ingratitude toward God," which "blinds the soul completely." English rendering after the French text.
22Gospel according to Saint John 11:41, English rendering after the official liturgical translation (AELF). At the still-sealed tomb of Lazarus, Christ gives thanks before the miracle: "Father, I thank you for hearing me." Foundation of anticipated gratitude, which thanks out of trust.
23 38Gospel according to Saint Luke 17:17-19, English rendering after the official liturgical translation (AELF). After the healing of the ten lepers, only one — a Samaritan — returns to give thanks: "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ... Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you." The Gospel page of reference on the rarity of gratitude.
24 39Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2639: "Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God! It sings of him for himself, it gives him glory, beyond what he does, because HE IS." Distinction between thanksgiving (for what God does) and praise (for what he is).
41Saint John-Marie Vianney (1786-1859), the holy Curé of Ars, Pensées, éd. Artège, 2015, p. 18. Miserliness of heart toward a God "lavish" unto the Cross and the Eucharist is denounced as ingratitude. English rendering after the French text.
44Gospel according to Saint Luke 1:46-49 (the Magnificat), English rendering after the official liturgical translation (AELF): "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord ... The Almighty has done great things for me; holy is his name!" Mary's canticle at the Visitation, daily prayer of the Church at Vespers; the finished model of thanksgiving, which rises from the gift back to the Giver.
45