Faith Building Gratitude

Our Eucharistic meal is faith mixed with gratitude and gratitude is a great builder of faith. We learn to thank God for His many blessings and this helps us to trust that He will be as faithful in the future as He has been in the past. 

At the very foundation of our gratitude is God’s work in Christ. We know that we cannot save ourselves from our sins. It does us no good to forgive ourselves for our sins. As David said, “Against the Lord, only, have we sinned.” And when we reflect upon His holiness, and our sin, we are put in our places and subject to fear.

But thanks be to God for the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, who did not despise the shame of the cross but went to it willingly for the joy that was set before Him on the other side. That joy is resurrection life. That joy is the forgiveness of sins to His people. That joy is our joy when we embrace Christ offered to us freely in the gospel.

How can we not be filled with immense gratitude? This gratitude lays hold of Christ, and like Jacob, will not let Him depart until He bestows a blessing upon us. And that is just what He intends to do. Bless you. Grant you life and healing and joy in the power of His Holy Spirit. We are grateful with a gratitude that builds our faith in Jesus. Amen.