From the Desk of Michael Philpott, 10/12/25

I once heard it said that gratitude was like the rarest flower atop a tall mountain. When I first
heard that, it rang true, but I didn’t quite grasp how important it was. But as the years added up,
so did the trials and heartaches of normal life. The reality of how long the road of life can feel
under those burdens sank in.

At the same time, the world seemed to become increasingly fraught with a worry and fear that
continued to grow into anger and conflict. I ask myself why this is so. What is the “thing” in
people’s hearts driving them into such states? I think at least part of the reason can be summed
up in one word: bitterness. Bitterness that life and the world did not turn out to be how they
expected them to be and how they themselves deserved it to be. This idea is also fueled by
social narratives of promises made and broken.

I came to this conclusion largely driven by being honest with myself and that I, at a certain point
in my life, was also succumbing to a version of this. Of course, I recognize that applying my own
experiences toward the rest of the world is inadequate as an interpretive lens, but I think it is at
least somewhat helpful to understanding at least part of what goes on in the hearts of others.
How is such bitterness allowed to grow in our souls? I believe it is a lack of gratitude.

Discontentment focuses on what we don’t have, and each and every one of us has a claim on it.
We’ve all been denied good things; we’ve all been disappointed in other people and in society
more broadly. But when we give in to these feelings, it is with an insistence on focusing on the
negative while ignoring the gifts and beauties that we have been given.

The leprous Syrian general Naaman in today’s reading from Kings and the cured leper from the
Gospel show us examples of gratitude. For sure. But in our darkest moments, these perhaps
may not be very helpful. After all, God cured them of a horrible disease. We think, “Of course it’s
easy to be grateful for that!” But what about when our sufferings are not cured?

Today’s second reading from St. Paul gives us the answer. “If we have died with Him, we shall
also live with Him; if we persevere, we shall also reign with Him.”

Life itself is a gift, but one that is sometimes hard to appreciate. But the greatest gift God has
given us is the love of His salvation, where He draws us into His loving bosom. While He
sometimes takes away some of our sufferings, this is an extra. The only promise He makes His
followers in this life is the cross. He gives us Himself, His sacrifice, union with His very heart,
and draws us into Divine Life that transcends all of the slings and arrows of this world. The
causes of worries and fears persist, but they weigh less, and our discontentment decreases.

It is replaced by gratitude. Gratitude for the good things in life and even gratitude for the cross.
And when we share that gratitude with each other in our daily lives and in communion with each
other in the Sacraments, we can persevere through all the parts of life that tempt us to
bitterness and frustration. And then finally one day, we will join in His reign in heaven and live in
the eternal bliss of His love.

And with that gratitude, we can fight the demons of bitterness that arise from an imperfect world.