Day Forty-Three – An Attitude of Gratitude

Question: We’re well into Holy Week now, and tomorrow, we enter more fully into the Paschal Mystery with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Day. Some Brothers have said that this year, since closing the Monastery for renovation, has been a prolonged experience of dying and rising.  Can you tell us some of the ways in which this has been so?

Br Jonathan Maury: Oh, absolutely.  On the one hand, of course, there’s the experience of loss—and the grief that comes with that—loss of routine, work, access to belongings, etc., which can sound terribly petty, but these occasions are real opportunities to let go of something that we have held to tightly.  And on the other hand, well, there’s just abundance, God’s abundance, and the generosity of our benefactors that make this possible in the first place.  The key is gratitude—it’s not an accident that our highest form of worship is called the Eucharist, which means, thanksgiving.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­