community
tvc.dsj.org | November 29, 2016
5
On a Firm Foundation: I Choose Gratitude
By Mary Quilici Aumack
Executive Director
The Catholic Community Foundation
GRATITUDE: The virtue by which a person acknowledges, interiorly and exteriorly, gifts received and seeks
to make at least some return for the gift conferred.
When we were all in grammar school we learned
that after significant challenges in the “new world,”
people came together to share food, stories, warmth.
Did it actually happen that way? We of course will never
know. For generations we’ve been fed by the story, and
its invitation to gratitude.
True gratitude has three parts: acknowledgment
that a gift has been received, appreciation expressed
in thankfulness, and as far as possible some return for
what has been freely given with no obligation on the
donor’s part.
An important aspect of gratitude, for me, is the
expression, the “thank you.” In our family we have a
saying, “I know you know, but it’s important to say.”
When I was young my mom instilled the value of the
thank you note. That is a big part of my communication
to this day.
In the end we are not really grateful for things, but
rather for the source of them. While I was grateful for the
bike under the tree on Christmas, I was mostly grateful
to my parents.
In an age of entitlement, let me simplify things:
EVERYTHING is a gift. There, plain and simple.
So say “thank you,” to family, friends, co-workers; to
clergy, religious, parishioners.
It’s up to YOUTH
This year’s Faith Formation Conference (FFC) is being held in conjunction with
the National Catholic Conference for Youth Ministers
(NCCYM), Connect in Christ,
at the San Jose Convention
Center from December 1-3. In
preparation for this joint conference,
the focus of the Catholic Network to
End Human Trafficking (CNEHT) for
the past year has been working with
the high school youth in our Diocese
and helping them to address the issue
of human trafficking.
To that end, CNEHT will hold a
pre-conference workshop on Human
Trafficking featuring youth