Suscipe

Prayer for the Day

Suscipe

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.

Reflection

Mom used to (and still does, when the situation presents itself) always remind us "Be thankful for what you have!" whenever we would begin grousing about what we didn't have.  I think Dad’s favorite was, “If you don’t stop whining, I’ll give you something to whine about!” It was a threat I never saw carried out, but it certainly made us kids understand that being grateful is always preferable to being deprived.   It occurs to me that throughout the Old Testament, God’s first inclination was to use the former method in dealing with the Israelites rather than the latter.  These are the first thoughts I had when reading Numbers 11:4-15 tonight.

The Israelites are roaming around the desert working their way to the Promised Land.  They are learning to be dependent on God. First they grumble about water, and now they are grumbling about food.  They weren't hungry, but they weren't satisfied.  They had full stomachs, but they craved greater variety and "better" food than what the manna provided.

I don’t believe the Israelites were intentionally ungrateful, unsatisfied, or unwilling to accept the gift they received for what it was and not what they wanted it to be.  They were just human, reacting on a sensory level instead of on a spiritual level.  They were overly concerned with the immediate and did not have enough concern for the bigger picture.  They were so blinded by the desire to have better food that they forgot the price they paid for the food was the loss of their freedom!

I know I have an attitude like the Israelites many times.  I suspect many of us have had this attitude of not being thankful for what we have.  I suppose most of us forget at times that all we have - our homes, and jobs, and families, and wealth, and health, and our very existence - are gifts from God.  And so we complain, or desire, or crave, other "better" things.  And yet, we have received from God all we need.  That is one lesson from the wandering in the desert - God will provide all we need.  We need to accept that truth - we need to be thankful for what we have.  This is a priceless gift, and we should rejoice in its simple power and be conscious of our gratitude.  Saint Ignatius Loyola’s prayer - the Suscipe - is a wonderful insight into the interconnectedness of gratitude and dependence.

Yet so many times we are ungrateful.  Today, my prayer is that I can be genuinely grateful for what I have, and not grumble about what I don't have, that I can give all back to God and take only what I need - the Creator's love and grace.