Centering our lives in God and thereby living the First Commandment more fully, will inevitably mean that we gain a greater awareness of His goodness and come to a deeper appreciation for Him.
Our gratitude to Him, should follow our knowledge of Him. In this sense, gratitude becomes a matter of justice — of giving God His due.
As we come to recognize how completely good God is, and how helpless and hopeless we are without Him, we can’t help but respond by being grateful. Not surprisingly, two particular failures in this area are closely connected and require great diligence to avoid: indifference and ingratitude.
They can be thought of as not only fruit produced by the same tree, but as growing on the same branch. If I recognize one of them in me, I should look for the other as well.
Indifference is simply not caring about God or the things of God, or not seeing Him and His gifts as being as important or relevant as they are. Ingratitude fails to either recognize His lovability, or to respond to His love appropriately (Cathechism of the Catholic Church, 2094).
Naturally, if I don’t recognize the importance of God in my life, being grateful to Him becomes, for all practical purposes, impossible.
Seeing God Himself as being ultimately important means that I likewise come to be appreciative and thankful for what He has done — like gifting the Church with His Word, His presence in the sacraments and making Himself accessible to us in prayer.
Once recognized for what they are, our gratitude for God’s gifts is often best expressed by using them as He intended. And as we use them, another thing happens — our appreciation for them tends to grow ever deeper.
Of course the reverse can also be true. If I don’t strive to make God a priority or to use His gifts, I will very likely end up indifferent and ungrateful to God Himself, but also in regard to His gifts.
This is the key: God and the things of God will never be priorities unless I choose to make them priorities.
For example, prayer is a great gift and of great value, but it’s difficult to see it as such or benefit from it unless I practice it. And I won’t practice it unless I choose to make it a priority. The struggle for many people is that they recognize the value in things like prayer and practicing the faith, but don’t take the steps necessary to actually incorporate them into their lives. Failing to make them the priority when we see their value, is a great example of what indifference looks like in practical terms, and can easily lead to ingratitude.
Indifference and ingratitude, however, don’t necessarily equate to a complete rejection of God. One can be both and still believe in a good God. And this fact can make it particularly dangerous since we can be lulled into thinking that because I believe in God, I’m “OK” and don’t need to be concerned with maintaining, growing or practicing my faith. But an unlived faith is one doomed to a short life.
It’s not uncommon for someone to claim a belief in God and yet not really pray or go to church. Such indifference can sometimes lead to a drifting further and further away from God or any real practice of the Christian faith. Whatever faith may be claimed, it ceases to resemble Christianity in any meaningful way.
Of course, indifference, and with it ingratitude, can come in many milder forms as well and if not checked, have the ability to likewise grow and expand. In this case, our best defense may well be a good offense. Honestly examining our priorities and ensuring that God remains at the top in tangible, practical ways and verbalizing our gratitude as a part of our daily prayer, are great places to begin.