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It is especially characteristic of a grateful and wise soul to thank God even in sorrowful circumstances, to glorify Him for everything - not only for blessings, but also for punishments. This deserves a great reward. By giving thanks for benefits, you are repaying a debt; and by giving thanks for disasters, you make God your debtor. He who enjoys prosperity and feels gratitude fulfills his due, and he who suffers adversity and glorifies God prepares his reward. For such gratitude, God grants many other blessings both here and here, so that even the disasters themselves are insensitive to us. No one grieves for what he thanks God for. Thus, from here we can get another benefit - to get rid of grief. If you lose property and give thanks, then the loss cannot upset you as much as the feeling of gratitude pleases you. This is a heavy blow for the devil; this makes the soul wise; this teaches us true judgment about real things (2). Nothing pleases God more than to be grateful to Him not only in happiness, but also in misfortune. This is especially what sacrifice is; This is the greatest offering! This is how Job became famous, this is how Paul was, this is how Jacob is, this is how each of the righteous became famous, giving thanks and gratitude to God, especially in difficult circumstances (2). Paul in all his letters gives thanks for the blessings of the entire universe. So we too will continually thank God for our own and for others’, for small and great blessings. Even if the gift were small, it becomes great because it is bestowed by God, or, better, none of His gifts is small, not only because they are communicated from Him, but also by their very nature, and, not to mention all the other blessings of God, which in their multitude exceed the sand itself, what can be compared with the economy of our salvation? For us - His enemies - God betrayed Him who was most precious to Him, His only begotten Son, and not only betrayed Him, but after the betrayal also offered Him to us as food. He himself did everything for us: he gave us his Son, and made us grateful for it (through the Sacrament of the Eucharist). Since man is mostly ungrateful, God takes upon Himself everything that relates to us and accomplishes it. And just as He reminded the Jews of His good deeds through places, times and festivals, so He did the same here, through sacrifice, instilling in us a constant remembrance of His good deeds. Thus, no one tries as hard to make us perfect, great and grateful in everything as God who created us. That is why He often does good against our will, and even more often without our knowledge. If this seems surprising to you, then I will show you how this happened not over someone unknown, but over blessed Paul. This blessed man, being in great poverty and suffering, often asked God to remove temptations from him; however, God looked not at his requests, but at the benefit, and showing this, said: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). The Lord, before revealing the reason to him, benefited him, despite the fact that the apostle did not want and did not know this. So, is His demand great when He commands us to be grateful for His care for us? Let us be submissive to Him and always observe this commandment. Nothing destroyed the Jews so much as their ingratitude; and nothing else but this very ingratitude subjected them to so many and frequent executions, and what is most important, it corrupted their soul even before these executions: “the hope of the ungrateful,” says the Wise One, “will melt like winter frost” (Wis. 16:29). Ingratitude makes the soul insensible and dead, just as cold makes the body. This comes from pride and from the fact that they consider themselves worthy of good deeds. The humble person will thank God not only for blessings, but also for what is considered disgusting; and no matter what he endures, he will not think that he suffered undeservedly. Likewise, the more we succeed in virtue, the more we will humble ourselves, because this also constitutes great virtue (6). “First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is proclaimed in the whole world” (Rom. 1:8). A beginning befitting a blessed soul and sufficient to teach everyone to dedicate to God the beginnings of good deeds and words and to thank Him not only for their successes in good, but also for the successes of others, because this makes the soul clean from envy and ill will and attracts greater favor from God to the grateful. That is why Paul says in another place: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). Not only the rich should give thanks, but also the poor, not only the healthy, but also the sick, not only the prosperous, but also those suffering adversity. There is nothing surprising in thanksgiving when our affairs are directed by a fair wind; but when there is a strong storm, the ship is capsized and is in danger, then gratitude is a great proof of patience and gratitude. For such gratitude, Job was crowned, stopped the shameless lips of the devil and clearly proved that in the days of prosperity he was grateful not because of benefits, but because of his strong love for God. Look also at what Paul gives thanks for - not for earthly and perishing things, such as authority, power and glory (after all, this is not worth a single word), but for true blessings, faith and boldness. And with what disposition he thanks! He did not say: God, but: “My God.” The prophets also do this, appropriating to themselves what is common to all. And what wonder if prophets do this? God Himself always explicitly does this in relation to His servants, calling Himself, in particular, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (11). Whether God deprives us of our property, He takes His own; whether he deprives you of honor, glory, body, soul, or your son, He takes not your son, but His servant - it was not you, but He who created him; you only contributed to its appearance, but God did everything. Let us be grateful that we are worthy to contribute to His cause. But what? Would you like to keep it forever? This is characteristic of an ungrateful person who does not know that everything he has is someone else’s and not his own. Just as those who separate complacently know that what they have does not belong to them, so those who mourn [when deprived] appropriate for themselves what belongs to the King. If we ourselves are not ours, then how is everything else ours? We belong to God in two respects - both by creation and by faith. So David says: “my composition came from You” (Ps. 38:8). Also Paul: “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28); and, discussing faith, he says: “and you are not your own. For you were bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:19, 20). Everything is God's. Therefore, when He demands and wants to take it back, let us not contradict, like ungrateful slaves, and appropriate for ourselves what belongs to the Master. Your soul is not yours: what about property - yours (12)? You might be interested in: