For Aquinas, gratitude is a particular virtue under the cardinal virtue of justice.
Justice is the virtue by which we give another their proper due. Gratitude involves giving thanks to someone that is properly due to them. All we have in life has been given to us in some capacity. Ultimately, all that is good comes from God.
There is much to be grateful for in the Erie area.
Presque Isle, the Bayfront, the sunset, a beautiful spring, summer, and fall, and even the winter, which provides for ice fishing, 2-hour delays, sled riding, and a good snowball fight, are worth being grateful for. Splash Lagoon, Tom Ridge Environmental Center, Waldameer, the Zoo, and numerous museums are just a few places to be thankful for.
Aquinas saw gratitude as giving thanks to our benefactors, and he believed that we are bound to give thanks to every benefactor in our lives in a fitting way. For instance, Aquinas believed that more minor things, such as favors, are best responded to in gratitude by saying “thank you” sooner rather than later.
However, there are times when Aquinas thinks it is best to regard the disposition of the giver (in other words, their interior atmosphere) and respond in gratitude at a more meaningful time when the person can best receive the gratitude due to them.
Aquinas thought that the Eucharist has three names and one of them involves gratitude.
The first name is that of sacrifice (Christ’s sacrifice on the cross). The second name is communion (the present reality of the Body of Christ, the people, coming together). The third name is Eucharist (thanksgiving) because it anticipates the wonderful thanksgiving to come in heaven at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.
Therefore, gratitude is at the heart of the sacrament of the Eucharist.
A pitfall in the spiritual life is to fall to ingratitude from the many riches provided for by God. Aquinas advises us to enter more deeply into the prayer of the Our Father, which we pray together at every Mass. In the Our Father, we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” According to Aquinas, the words “Give us” are a beautiful reminder that all good things come from God, and this acknowledgment helps lead us toward gratitude.
Ultimately, gratitude leads the soul to spiritually smile like Rudy Daniels’ joyous smile painted on the Methodist Towers in downtown Erie.
There is much to be grateful for in Erie. However, there is much more to be grateful for in the Eucharist which is a great gift that is given to us by our greatest benefactor - who is God.
+ Fr. Luke Daghir