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).

Let these holy words be inscribed in burning letters on your hearts! Always repeat: "What shall I, wretched, perishing, repay my Lord, Who hath repaid me so much? December 17, 1950 WEEK 31. ABOUT THE BLIND MAN OF HIREKHON. In today's Gospel reading, you have heard the story of the miraculous healing of a blind man in Jericho by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you noticed how persistently, how earnestly he asked the Lord for healing? He asked, he cried out, he pleaded, and the apostles of Christ forbade him to shout, so as not to disturb the Lord. And the Lord called him and restored his sight. Do you remember how persistently the pagan Syrophoenician woman begged the Lord Jesus Christ to heal her possessed daughter?

Do you remember how persistently the bleeding woman sought healing from Him, hoping that by one touch of His garment she would receive healing? Are not all these examples for us? Is it not a teaching that we, too, when we are in need of God's grace, must persistently, intensely cry out to Him, ask, ask, until we receive; by the persistence of their prayer they must be like the blind man of Jericho, the Syrophoenician woman, and the bleeding woman.

That's the first thing I wanted to tell you. And now let us deepen our thoughts and ask ourselves, why did our Lord Jesus Christ perform so many healings of the sick? Everyone who attentively reads the Gospel knows that all the miracles of Christ had as their goal the alleviation of human suffering. He healed the blind, the lame, cleansed the lepers – healed all the sick that came to Him in multitudes.

He fed a huge number of hungry people with five loaves of bread and two fishes. And if any of you have ever read the Muslim Qur'an, you must have been struck by the profound difference between Christ's miracles and those that Muslims attribute to their prophet Muhammad. Oh, how little resemblance, oh, how much magic in the miracles of Muhammad. How strange they are, how useless they are for people!

Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ in His miracles showed His love for people, His pity for the suffering, the unfortunate, and always tried to alleviate their sufferings. This is important, remember this. But perhaps someone will ask: "Is the circle of human misfortunes limited only to disease and hunger? Does not enough evil and misfortune, and suffering, and torment depend on the imperfection of the social and state system, on the injustice of this system?

"Oh yes, we know how many disasters people have endured at all times, in all countries, under all governments, for this very reason. And you may ask why our Lord Jesus Christ did not pay attention to these calamities, why in His earthly activity there was nothing similar to the deeds of the great reformers, the great legislators, who strove to eradicate social injustice, to put an end to the sufferings of people who depend on this untruth. I will answer this question to you.