On Gratitude | National Catholic Reporter

On Gratitude | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Gratitude is the means to the end of finding God.  It is not what is needed when things are good, but instead when things are bad.  Penance and mortification are the Catholic way of trying to achieve that, but the effort cannot really get to that broken place that makes the need for gratitude real.  The atheist, Russell, has obviously been comfortable - however if he gives charity, whether or not he believes in eternal life does not matter - and he is correct that we cannot know - but that is the reason we have faith.  When others die we actually get to the place where gratitude can become Grace, as MSW experienced with David.



As for the author of Pro, it is interesting that she mixes a defense of abortion rights with a description of the joy of pregnancy - but I suspect she does so to reflect that most women who procure abortions do so out of a perceived need for their health and even that of her child.  Not having a Downs child is a bit selfish, since Downs children are the most grateful of all.  Still, even the pro-choice movement is a teachable moment for those who abhor abortion.  Going back to the bad old days where abortion was a semi-criminal act (doctors got fined - the same penalty as shooting your neighbor's dog) that lead to back alley and self-induced abortion is not an option - that still kills the child but also makes the mother ill.  Instead, gratitude requires that we actually take action to stop the economic danger of abortion - which means an adequate state supported family income at middle class levels (about a thousand per month per child - twelve times what we now give) and supportive care for Downs Syndrome children AND their parents.  Do that and abortion will likely only occur for medical necessity - when the mother is in grave danger or the child would never survive to birth - which is always a difficult choice and one that rarely is done from malice to the child. Indeed, even there, we can find God - not God the Ogre who is jealous of decisions of life and death, but the Spirit of Consolation, when mothers hope their child is in Heaven, not some state called Limbo. Limbo cannot exist, because it runs counter to the mercy of God.