September 21st – Three world days of gratitude for peace and empathy

(Lao Tze, Cicerone, Santa Maria Eufrasia)

The ancient Romans, since the first century BC, considered gratitutidine as the mother of all virtues.  Long before that, in China, between the sixth and fifth centuries BC. Lao Tze, founder of Taoism seems to have pronounced the same maxim.

In our day gratitude is the memory of the heart is also attributed to our Foundress.  Saint Mary Euphrasia certainly experienced it deeply: both from the vulnerable women of her time for the welcome she received, from which the branch of the contemplative Sisters originated (Visit the section of the site: Our History, Renewed Itself in the 19th Century)  and in her ability to recognize the contribution of benefactors who have contributed in various ways to the development of the mission of the Good Shepherd.

Very difficult times, instead, the contemporary ones, for gratitude: in the society of indifference prevail the opposite feelings closer to hostility, resentment and envy. As if on a human level we found ourselves in an era of regression of the ability to love each other and we were more often confronted with the experience of ingratitude. It is often believed that gratitude is rare because people do not like to be reminded of their past frailties, of how they were when they needed help. The humanities, in tune with the ancients, suggest that ingratitude is rooted in the infantile megalomania from which today we can evolve with more effort. Nowadays people, more than in previous historical epochs (Visit the section of the site: The Challenges of the Strategic Plan
Epochal emergencies ) “forget” their previous state of dependence and their debts of gratitude because they live unconsciously following the path of an individualistic fantasy of autarchy that denies what good comes from outside, until “appropriating” it, as if it were self-generated.

In the human being, therefore, gratitude is not taken for granted, it starts off on the wrong foot: the adult “forgets” all too comfortably what happened to him in his very early childhood (not to mention the phase of intrauterine life). Being able to “remember” it is a troubled path: this is what ancient and modern sages suggest. Remembering that, as children, one tends to receive as due what is “good” is given and to consider instead a terrible injustice the rejection of one’s own requests, means growing up not only physically!

People who remain “simple”, especially in traditional systems, often show gratitude because they have the feeling that receiving an act of kindness, from those they consider socially superior, gives them the opportunity to enter, from a psychological point of view, into the orbit of a higher social stratum. Other times it happens, particularly in modern contexts, that any good deed by a “benefactor”, belonging to a more affluent social class, is underestimated by the internal thought of the benefactor, who focuses all his attention on the injustice suffered because he does not belong to the same socio-economic condition.

The Bible encourages us to cultivate gratitude. “Show yourselves grateful,” wrote the Apostle Paul. And he was the first to do so. For example, he “thanked God unceasingly” for the positive reaction others had had to his message (Colossians 3:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:13).

We are grateful to the Meditation Group of the United Nations from which, in 1977, the World Gratitude Day began, conceived as an opportunity for mankind to give thanks for life, for all the things we have received, for what we do, for modern heroes, for the extended family and for friends.

Established by the UN in 1981, the International Day of Peace aims to make all citizens of the world reflect on the value of world peace and non-violence.

The themes of peace are not only those of conflicts and wars that bloody so many countries, but they extend to many other aspects that, if not faced with courage and awareness by man, jeopardize the very essence of peace: the protection of democracy, respect for fundamental human rights, environmental protection, the fight against poverty and inequality, acceptance and solidarity.

This year, marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, the theme of the day is Shaping peace together – Let us shape peace, together: to face this new and unexpected challenge, which involves all citizens of the world, it is necessary to “join forces, put aside personal and national selfishness and work together for the greater good that is peace” (UN Declaration).

Millions of people in conflict areas of the world today find themselves exposed to the risk of crossfire: the violence of weapons is added to the threat of the virus with all its side effects.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that this World Day is celebrated at the same time as that of Gratitude and Peace.

Alzheimer’s is the most serious form of senile dementia of which no real cure is yet known, despite the fact that it has been discovered since 1901 by a German psychiatrist, Aloysius Alzheimer, from whom it takes its name. It creates pain and havoc in those affected, families and communities because it makes them lost, vulnerable and often aggressive. To accompany those who are lost in the maze of Alzheimer’s, it takes a lot of empathy, a lot of “heart memory” and a lot of ability to make peace in everyday life, through looks and gestures of daily solidarity that open the heart to the passion for good life together.