“Bearers of gratitude 
make the world 
a better place.” 
~ Pope Francis

I try not to get too religious in my blog posts, but today is a special day — Holy Thursday. On this day each year, the Church enters into the most sacred three-day period of the liturgical calendar: the Triduum. It can be a bit confusing, because the Triduum touches on four calendar days. So why the three-day designation? The Triduum begins on Holy Thursday evening, with the commemoration of the Last Supper. It ends at sundown on Easter Sunday. So even though it touches on four calendar days, it’s actually a 72-hour event.

It is on this day, Holy Thursday, that Christians recall the Last Supper, when Jesus and his twelve apostles gathered in the upper room for a meal. It was at this meal that Jesus broke bread, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take this, all of you, and eat. This is my body, which will be given up for you.” Jesus then took a cup, and before taking a sip of the wine contained in it, blessed it, and said, “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.”

In this biblical event, we see the origin of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Catholic Mass today is referred to as a Eucharistic celebration, beginning with the Liturgy of the Word (readings from Sacred Scripture) and coming to culmination in the Liturgy of the Eucharist (sharing of the Body and Blood of Jesus). The word “Eucharist” is derived from a Greek word meaning “thanksgiving.”

Gratitude is one of the foundational aspects of our faith,… and most other faith traditions, as well. During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the priest recites the Eucharistic Prayer. Think about it. The Mass is a celebration of thanksgiving. The Eucharistic Prayer is a prayer of gratitude. Yes, our faith is based on gratitude.

Gratitude is one of those strange gifts that has real value only when we outwardly express the gratitude we feel in our heart. Author William Arthur Ward wrote, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a gift and not giving it.” In other words, gratitude may be understood as a verb — an action word. Feeling grateful is good, but it is in expressing our gratefulness that our gratitude becomes real.