The life of Christ Jesus was a perpetual prayer of love for God and gratitude for His goodness to His creation. When he was approaching the greatest test of his earthly ministry—his betrayal and crucifixion—the Way-shower called his disciples to sup with him. After the meal he took the cup and gave thanks. Then he invited his disciples to partake of it. This cup, which represents the cross of persecution, had in it the wine, which represents the inspiration of Love. In this ceremony Jesus indicated that the power of divine Love, acknowledged and accepted as ever present and ever operative, will carry any disciple of the Christ safely through every temptation or problem which crosses his path. Love and gratitude if cherished in the consciousness of the individual are powerful antidotes for all human ills. These two qualities lift one into the kingdom of heaven, into the enjoyment of the perpetual harmony and activity of Soul.
In the Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy writes (Art. XVII, Sect. 2), "Gratitude and love should abide in every heart each day of all the years." It is interesting to note that the meaning of the word "should" goes back to the word "owe." From our Leader's statement we may conclude that the expression of gratitude and unselfed love on the part of the individual is a perpetual debt which each one of us owes to God. One cannot truly love without being grateful. And when one is truly grateful he abides in Love.
How can we pay this debt of love and gratitude to God? How can we learn to abide in Love and thus express that gratitude which is perpetual? Our Leader points the way in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" in the following words (p. 3): "Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech."
