The lives of the saints afford plenty of episodes, called ‘allegories’, illustrating this noble sentiment. One need but think of Saint Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio, or of Saint Anthony and the Fish or of Saint Jerome, who is said to have removed a thorn from a lion’s paw (see page 48).
Not so long ago an episode vaguely reminsicent of Saint Jerome highlighted a lesson in gratitude – a virtue we humans tend to neglect.
I am referring to a video which appeared on YouTube (the internet video broadcast yourself website) a few months ago. The video was shot almost 40 years ago, but YouTube has succeeded in making it so popular that millions of people have now seen it. And that YouTube, famous for broadcasting videos that stimulate negative curiosities, has become a vehicle for a positive message is good news in itself.
The video retraces the true story of a lion cub that two young furniture dealers, John Rendall and Anthony Bourke, bought from the famous Harrods department store in London, and called Christian. For a couple of years, Christian lived the high life of the furniture shop on the swinging King’s Road in Chelsea. This urban cool cat cruised the streets in the back of a Bentley, attended lunches at a local restaurant, and played football with his human companions in a nerby churchyard.
After two years, however, it was no longer possible nor safe to keep Christian confined in such a small area and, thanks to renowned environmentalist George Adamson, who was unfortunately killed by bandits in 1989, Chrsitian was taken to Kenya.
In 1972 the two young men travelled to the African country with the intention of reuniting with their beloved pet. Despite warnings from Adamson that Christian could, in the meantime, have turned into a ferous beast with formidable fangs and retractible claws, the two men ventured into the wilderness.
It was here that the video was able to capture something quite extraordinary. Christian the Lion immediately recognised the two young men who had so lovingly raised him up, and ran towards them like a faithful puppy, affectionately embracing them with its deadly paws – the ominous beast was the picture of love and gratitude.
However stunning the beauty of the animal kingdom, we human beings are created in the image and likeness of God and, unlike the animals, do not act merely out of instinct. A lion, despite all its beauty, kills when it is hungry or when a competitor invades its territory. Human beings, on the contrary, knowing good from evil, have the freedom to choose. We know that to kill is wrong, and in most cases avoid committing such a terrible deed.
Unfortunately, despite being perfectly aware of our debt of gratitude, we rarely practice it. How often do we really count our blessings? How often do we really return thanks for favours and benefits received? How many times do we return love to those who have loved us? Do we thank God for the gift of life? We have a strong tendency to take our health, our comfortable homes, our jobs, our meals, our loved ones, as our right and due.
I believe that in these cases, God uses different ways to send us warnings; one such way is through the animal world, as was the case with Christian the lion. What lesson did Christian teach us? That if a feroucious animal was capable of such loving gratitude, how much more should we human beings, the crown of creation, express the same in full measure? Unfortunately we all too often forget this, and thus we stand corrected… by an animal!
May the spirit of gratitude be with you and bless you, dear readers, in this New Year!
Updated on October 06 2016