Gratitude

Gratitude

It is clear that everything that exists was created by God, freely. There is nothing in the universe for which someone paid a price to create it. Life itself is a gift. The universe is a gift. Human bodies are a gift. Human intelligence is a gift. The soul and spirit of man are gifts. Fauna, flora, minerals are gifts. Everything is a gift: health, daily bread, and the bed in which we rest. And nothing has been given to God for each gift. God has given us all the works of his hands. (Cf. Ps 8:7) (Cf. A. 1068) Pope Francis summarizes this well: "I have no riches; my riches are the gift I have received from God. This gratuitousness is our riches."

Well, in this teaching in question, we are reminded that neither the money offered, nor the virtues offered, are our own, since we take from what belongs to God, little or much, to give it to him, according to our particular generosity; but ultimately, the offering is from God himself; if one possesses them, it is by divine grace and, therefore, their gift belongs to God. The following example illustrates what has been said: it is like the gift that children give to their parents with the money they have received from themselves. In conclusion, nothing that comes to man is his, by essence. All that is created is from God (Ps 8:4) and comes from him, directly or indirectly. Now, we are warned that there is only one thing that man has that does not come to him from God: this is sin, it is his only property, and it is exclusive to him, which can be offered to God, as his gift. This gift pleases God. Through it, his coming to the world, as the Savior, takes on its full meaning. Without him, everything would be useless and there would be no Savior. This is why every time man accepts his sin and offers it to God, he humbles himself and gives him the tribute of his recognition.

This has a double meaning: the creature assumes himself to be fragile, weak, sinful, and therefore in need of salvation and a Savior, and at the same time recognizes God as his Savior and his salvation. As Benedict XVI says: “So then, if the merciful love of God is infinite, so much so as to give his only Son as a ransom for our life, our responsibility is also great: therefore, in order to be healed, each one must recognize that he is sick; each one must confess his own sin, so that God’s forgiveness, already given on the Cross, may take effect in his heart and in his life.” In this way, man becomes worthy of such grace, in the sacrament of reconciliation, it is there that he becomes complete with the encounter of God’s Gift to man, which is God himself, and man’s gift to God, which in the same way, is man giving himself to God. This allows for an exchange of wills: that of God with man and that of man with God. That is why Jesus, as he did to the paralytic, first tells us: "Your sins are forgiven." Man, paralyzed by sin, needs the mercy of God, which Christ came to give him, so that, healed in his heart, his whole existence may be renewed.