BE CONTENT AND GIVE THANKS

Continuing my reflection on this prayer of Saint Therese of Liseaux: "Today may there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content and give thanks in all situations. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."

Saint Therese says that we should be content and give thanks in all situations. Really? In all situations? How in the world are we to give thanks when our life is at sixes and sevens? How are we to give thanks when we are suffering and in pain, and it matters not whether the pain we are in is in of our own making or pain that came upon us because of something out of our control?

One has to wonder just what kind of world this young saint was living in when she wrote and prayed those words. It certainly does not seem like the world in which we are living where pain escapes no one, where trying to live a contented life does not come easily if it comes at all. Her world was one secluded away in a convent. How does she come off telling the rest of us to be content and give thanks in all situations when she never had to deal with what we have to endure?

Well, in her own way she had her share of pain and suffering. Just because it was not of the degree or kind that may be ours, pain is pain. Degree of difference is simply a matter of degree: it still hurts. What I think she is getting at is that when we are in pain, it is best to be content. The pain could be worse. Being content does not lessen the pain but it also does not make it worse. And then we are to give thanks that we have been given the grace and strength to endure the pain, however severe, however unjustified.

It is easy to be content and give thanks when all is well. Yet how often are we not and do we not? It is just as important to our spiritual lives to realize just how blessed we are when we are content as fat cats and then to give thanks for our many, many blessings. Instead, when we should be content because we are so blessed, we are not because we want more. Instead of giving thanks, we think we deserve more.

Even from her secluded life Saint Therese understood that it is sometimes easier to be content and give thanks when life is painful and not going well than when all is well and we are abundantly blessed. When all seems to be going well with us, it is often tempting to believe that we have earned the good life, that we have done something to deserve it. On the other hand, when pain shows up as it does for each and every one of us, we want to believe that it is somehow someone else’s fault – or at least think we have done nothing to deserve it. Maybe Saint Therese is on to something.