Radical Gratitude

by Mary Jo Leddy

Mary Jo Leddy's latest book is a meditation on the miracle of the everyday and a guide to discovering what is most real in oneself. That process leads to "radical gratitude" that allows the spirit to soar and experience a great paradox. The freer one becomes, the more one appreciates the earthy things that give true joy and become the path to greater authenticity. For Leddy, ever the wise spiritual director, the path to that authenticity and gratitude also becomes the path to a deeper relationship with the God of ordinary grace. Ever aware of the way zealots morale about changing the world, while themselves being slaves of anger and the need for external order to compensate for an inner void, Leddy unfolds the Christian life as a Way of responding to ordinary grace that in time will make an extraordinary difference. "In radical gratitude, " she notes, "the vicious dissatisfaction with life is broken. We begin to recognize what we have rather than what we don't ... we awaken to another way of being, another kind of economy, the great economy of grace in which each person is of infinite value and worth."

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Religion, Christian

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Mary Jo Leddy is a Canadian writer, speaker, theologian and social activist.

Leddy is widely recognized for her work with refugees at Toronto's Romero House. She began working for the centre as a night manager in 1991, and has been active in human rights issues and the peace movement. She is an adjunct professor, Regis College, University of Toronto, and an active member of the Ontario Sanctuary Coalition.

In 1973, she was the founding editor of the Catholic New Times, an independent Catholic newspaper.

Leddy was the recipient of a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Toronto with a thesis titled "The Event of the Holocaust and the Philosophical Reflections of Hannah Arendt." She studied under the direction of Emil Fackenheim, and she is currently a Senior Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto, and a board member of PEN Canada and Massey College. After thirty years as a member of the Roman Catholic Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, she left the congregation in 1994.

Leddy received the Human Relations Award of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews in 1987, the Ontario Citizenship Award in 1993, and the Order of Canada in 1996. In 2014, she was awarded the Massey College Clarkson Laureate for Leadership in Social Policy.

She has received several honorary doctorates: D.Lett from York University, Toronto; D.H.Litt from Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax; LL.D from University of Windsor; D.Litt from University of Waterloo, DD from Emmanuel College, University of Saskatchewan; and D.Min. from Catholic Theological Union, University of Chicago.

Her numerous awards include The Governor General’s Bronze Medal; the Canada Council Doctoral Fellowship; the Canadian University Presidents’ Award “Outstanding Young Woman of 1978”; the Ida Nudel Human Rights Award (1983); The Canadian Council of Christians and Jews Human Relations Award (1987); Award for Distinguished Contribution, Roman Catholic Communicators of Canada (1990); Best Publication Award, College Theology Society (Canada and USA); The Ontario Citizenship Award (1993); several press awards including best editorial, best news story, best theological reflection, best investigative journalism, best national newspaper, best campaign in the public interest. She has also received the Leighton Studio Residence (twice) Banff School of the Arts Award, Order of Canada (1996) and the Gunther Plaut Humanitarian Award (2011).

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a re-read from quite some time ago, but it was a worthy while one, especially in a year which ended the way it did. Leddy's examination of gratitude dates to the years after 9/11, but has a direct application to where we are in North American now. Her main thesis is that our capacity for gratitude has been reduced by the consumerist world that has taken hold of the West in the 20th century and has created conditions where simple gratitude has become counter-cultural. We are educated into feeling that there isn't enough, so a movement to being grateful for what we have is enough to call us to a simpler life and to seeking good for others. The gratuitude that Leddy talks about isn't that of Polyanna, but one which resonates throughout one's life.

I find that vision compelling, especially because the author, Mary Jo Leddy, has for the last thirty or so years or so has directed Romero House, a residence for refugees in Toronto (in fact, in my very neighbourhood, not more than three or four blocks away). Here is someone who has taken seriously the Gospel call to help those on the margins. Leddy's book is an excellent place to reflect on how to live in the world- both in seeking to be grateful in our own lives and for seeing where that gratitude takes us in the world around us.

[Donald Clymer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of us are more resentful than grateful because we compare ourselves with those who have more, who've done more. Leddy shows how even the miracle of our birth should be celebrated in gratitude.

[Iku · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed this one from my therapist and really helped me to ground myself in the mornings. Solid reminders here about what matters, kind of feels like reading a meditation. Heavy Christian influence as expected with Mary Jo Leddy’s background but I think anyone can benefit from many of the topic points especially if you are spiritual, just something to keep in mind.

[Loreli Cockram · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deep dive into the practice of giving thanks - beyond a surface-level practice to a radical shift in perspective and practice. One I'll return to.

[James Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful short and concise book. Leddy is a catholic philosopher but also cares a great deal about issues of social justice. Affordable housing is one topic she focuses on in this book. Her contention is that gratitude and joy do not need to be hitched up with consumerism and its best friend capitalism. She demands that joy and gratefulness can come from other places. She does not glorify poverty but she does confront, in a similar way to Margaret Visser in Beyond Fate, the uncriticized assumptions of the Western, capitalist worldview that we North Americans swim in every day. She dares to call us to better forms of community based on a worldview derived from Jesus and i suspect some philosophical hotshots like Aristotle and Aquinas.
Plus, she adds in some beautiful poetry! Don't be a suckah and read this book!

[Eileen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Individual chapters were quite good in places but they didn't hang together as a book. She got on my bad side from the beginning by being critical of people who consider themselves “spiritual but not religious” on the grounds that they aren't doing anything to improve the state of the world. (How she knows this, she didn't say.) It was probably good for my soul to read this, though, because I think she is a conservative, and yet I could see she was making some good, thoughtful points. Stretched me a little.

[Mary Banken · Rating 5 out of 5]

We live in a culture that induces perpetual dissatisfaction... most obviously through the marketed materialism of our daily lives and more insidiously through the goal-oriented achievement-driven power-seeking ways that we try to prove our success. Leddy leads us through an analysis of the choices that lead us away from gratitude, and the ways that we can return. I have read quite a few books in the "inspirational" category... And I found myself delighted by some of the fresh thoughts I found here.