Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”

Being grateful is one thing. It is an especially rich and gracious attitude toward life, a way of living. But what moves gratitude out of ourselves to make a positive impact on others is our expression of that gratitude in some way. A former student of the university who graduated with a major in chemistry models such expression. Retired after some thirty plus years as a physician, he wrote his professor of analytical chemistry whom he credits for his happiness in the medical profession. (This was a letter sent via the US Post Office, pen on paper, in an envelope with a stamp!)

Jeff’s message to the professor, also retired, was this. “Dr. RF, I don’t feel I have ever had a chance to fully express my gratitude to you for your encouragement when I was applying for medical school. I was grappling with doubts and uncertainty. You strongly encouraged me to continue with my medical school applications. You instilled in me a sense of self-confidence. In my mind, I can still feel the sense of gratitude that I felt after our meeting. I cannot possibly expect you to remember me, but I do want you to know how positively you affected my life at that point.” At the end of his letter to Dr. RF Jeff wrote: “I read some time ago, that if the only prayer we ever say is ‘Thank you’ and if we truly mean it, then we are right up there with the saints.”

So often in many of us, a sense of gratitude may well up at times, but to get to the point of actually thanking individuals who have done or meant so much to us is where we falter. We put it off till it finally becomes material for the eulogy. Besides, of course, family members whom we so easily take for granted and owe so much, there are individuals such as the one cited above. In his thank you note Dr. RF said what a pleasant surprise it was. I imagine there are many such — teachers, coaches, mentors, counselors, advisors — who would be happily surprised by such a letter.

(The repetition of this topic among these reflections is partly due to the need of the writer to express it and atone for his failures.)

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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