A Grateful Profile
As a catechist, it is important for your own spiritual development that you dig behind the vestments, the signs, and the wonders of the liturgy to find out what kind of people are grateful people—Eucharistic people. There are a few traits that these grateful and gracious people have in common. In living out these traits—theses grateful habits—people tell more about the Eucharist than whole libraries full of theology books.

As you go through the qualities of gracious people below. Look inside yourself. Look for the ways you share these characteristics. What you discover will tell you just how Eucharistic—just how grateful and gracious—you are.

A SENSE OF SELF   Grateful people know who they are. They have a sense of belonging to, with, and for others. It is this sense of self that makes them wonderful recipients of gifts. They can skip all the apologies ("Oh, you shouldn't have! For me? I can't accept this!"). They are comfortable with the wonder of gifts freely given.

A SENSE OF COMMUNITY   Gracious people understand that people who are gathered together are stronger than people on their own. They deeply appreciate the bond of human love that is needed to keep people together. They also know how important it is for people to spend time together. Gracious people drop in on their friends. They call on the phone. They write notes. They are in touch with others' needs and their joys.

In this bank of community, the grateful and gracious person is a depositor as well as a withdrawer. Only a person who invests in friends and family can really appreciate the wonder of all the love that can be found there.

GOOD LISTENING   Grateful people listen. One way a sense of thanksgiving is developed is being attentive to other people, to God, to nature, and to one's self. It may sound a bit strange to list "listening" as a characteristic of a grateful person, but it is listening that brings a sense of truth, a sense of wonder, and a sense of responding.

It is hard to sense gratitude in somebody who is always too busy. Someone who does all the talking is not very gracious. The good listener betrays an ability to accept and receiver from others. As someone said, "It is hard to learn anything with your mouth open," Listeners receive many gifts—and receive them well.

A SENSE OF MEMORY   Did you ever meet somebody who remembers your birthday, your anniversary, the names of all your children, and maybe more about you than even you remember? Grateful people remember. If your attitude is that people are gifts, you begin to remember details about those gifts. When you remember, you respond all over again. Family memory is the fuel that keeps people responding to one another. Lovers never tire of sharing the wonderful moments they have shared. The list of memories draws them closer as they build for the future.

Christians are people of memory. Christians keep the actions of God in human history as a treasure of memory. They never tire of listing God's gifts, too. The remembrances bind Christians to God and to one another as they gratefully build the future.

SHARING   Grateful people are almost always generous people. Because they have received so much, they feel that one act of gratitude is to give —and give without counting the cost. These people seem to have an inborn sensitivity to what is needed. If they have it, they will share it.

This sense of sharing is light years away from the kind of commercial gift swapping that sometimes goes on at weddings or for First Communions and Confirmations or at Christmas time. That is the giving that keeps the economic scales balanced. For my son's wedding, you gave him and my daughter-in-law a food processor valued at $179.95. I give your daughter and son-in-law a silver tea service valued at (you guessed it!) $180.00. We are even!

Gracious people do not look at price tags. Instead, they look hearts. Their sharing is not for their own personal recognition. It is motivated by a freehandedness that comes from a personal gratitude for all good gifts.

WILLING SERVICE   Perhaps the ultimate sign of grateful people is their willingness to serve others. They feel that they have received much, and, therefore, they have much to give. People who have the ability to say thank you usually have the ability to reach out to others in need.

The service that comes so freely from grateful people is not the service of social reform: "I am going to make you a better person by helping you out of the awful situation you are in." One could argue whether or not that is service at all. Gracious service comes from a simple recognition of need. It is the service Jesus himself described as the whole criterion for judgment—food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, clothes for the naked, visits for the lonely and sick.

From The Catechist Companion by Cullen Schippe, Chapter 3, "Let Us Give Thanks"