He chose this faithful people for Himself, and rejected the unfaithful and ungrateful. Are you not afraid to hear that jackals and ostriches are set up for you by God Himself? So be horrified at what you have deserved this heavy condemnation of God – be horrified at ingratitude! From the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to Timothy we know that the closer the time of the Last Judgment is, the more and more ungrateful people will become, and not only ungrateful, but also bad in all respects.

"Know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, proud, haughty, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unfriendly, irreconcilable, slanderers, incontinent, cruel, not loving good, traitors, insolent, pompous, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God..." (2 Tim. 3:1-4). Do we not see many such people among us and around us?

It is terrible to say, we see a lot, but it should not be so: we must not incur upon ourselves the terrible apostolic words about the ungrateful. Where does ingratitude come from in people, what are its roots, what nourishes it? Delve into this, think about who is grateful and who is ungrateful? Do you not know that every wretched, unfortunate, having nothing, defenseless and helpless bows down to you and thanks you even for the small alms that you give him?

If a weak old woman falls in the street, won't she thank the one who will help her up? He will certainly thank you with a low bow. They thank the sick, the suffering, the unfortunate whom we help. They are always grateful, because in their sufferings, in their misfortunes, they have become humble. And the root of gratitude is precisely in humility – only the humble are grateful. And who is ungrateful? All are proud, devoid of humility.

A rich person, a person in power, who occupies a high position in society, is always set up in such a way that he is above all others, and therefore all the inferior ones must serve him. He considers all good deeds rendered to him to be due, only for granted, for his mood is such that, as the highest of all those around him, everyone should serve him. Such proud, devoid of humility, exalting themselves above all, never give thanks: they suffer from the grave sin of ingratitude.

Rich people, and especially those of some high rank, believe that they have little, but should have much more and stand higher. The great St. Basil the Great speaks about this in the following way: "Now many fall into the vice of wicked people, not respecting what they have, and desiring what they do not have. For, not thinking about those who are inferior to them, they do not express gratitude to the Benefactor for what they have, but on the contrary, when compared with what and who is higher than them, they calculate what they lack, and not having what belongs to others, they grieve and murmur, as if they had lost their property.

The slave is indignant that he is not free; brought up in freedom – that he is not of high birth; a nobleman by birth complains that he is not too rich; the rich grieve and lament that he is not the ruler of cities and nations; a military commander who does not reign; a king who does not possess all the sunflower, but that there are still peoples who have not bowed under his scepter. From all this it follows that the Benefactor does not receive gratitude for anything."

This is where the roots of ingratitude lie in human insatiability; no matter how much a person receives, everything is not enough for him, he does not thank, but murmurs for not receiving more. And do we receive little from God? If jackals and ostriches thank God for the water He gave them in the wilderness, have we received less? Oh, immeasurably more! God has honored us with a mind that cattle do not have; God has given us His law, which shows us the way of life.

God cares about us, of course, more than about jackals and ostriches. For us the fruits of the earth grow, the earth gives us all the necessary grains. He helps us in everything, He helps us in everything. The sun shines on us, it rains on us, pouring out equally on the good and on the evil. But what is infinitely greater and more important is that God did not even spare to send His Only-begotten Son to earth to be crucified on the cross, to be humiliated and insulted. And it's not enough for us! We are all ungrateful. O our wretchedness, O terrible wretchedness!

Even the ancient sage Jesus the son of Sirach said this: "Whatever befalls you, accept willingly, and in the vicissitudes of your humiliation be long-suffering..." (Sir. 2:4). Accept willingly, accept with gratitude everything that God sends you, for everything is good for us: all our sorrows and sorrows are sent to us from God for our salvation. By them God leads us to good, and He demands of us that we accept everything sent from Him not only without complaint, without blasphemy against His holy will, but with gratitude.

Even when God takes away from us our neighbors – father and mother, brothers and sisters, our children – and then we must humbly bow our heads before His will – always good, always salvific, and thank Him for everything, for everything, even for the most difficult things. How few are there among us who always thank God for everything, who do not murmur when God visits us with sufferings and sorrows.

But those few who are always grateful for everything will receive from God great glory and honor, great grace. Know and remember that the gratitude to God that we offer in prayer, together with the repentance we offer to Him, profoundly, radically changes our hearts. If we are always grateful, if we confess our sins, then our spiritual gaze gradually becomes enlightened, and we receive the ability to see what is in our hearts; We learn to take care of ourselves, to notice what is not seen by people who are morally dissolute, people who are spiritual, not spiritual, and we gain the ability to concentrate more deeply.

The complete purification of our hearts and our gratitude to God gives us God's great grace. That is why it is so important, so necessary, to always thank God. That is why the Apostle Paul says in his Epistle to the Colossians: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks through Him to God the Father" (Col. 3:17).

All deeds, all thoughts must be directed to the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole structure of our life should be such that it is a continuous, unceasing praise to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see how great is the significance of gratitude, you see how profoundly bad and pernicious it is to be ungrateful. Let us, therefore, always be grateful, let us remember the words of the Psalm of David: "What shall I repay the Lord for all His good deeds to me?" (Psalm 115:3).