@Ultraviolet Most "humans" are forgetting their basics, their humanity, I'm not even talking about morality and moral behavior, but just what makes us different from animals. WE who can say "thank you" are forgetting to say it, and if we say it, we do not truly mean it which takes us back to square one, the same cycle of indifference, so yeah, unintelligent animals are today a good example of gratefulness, GOD made the donkey of balaam speak (Num 22:28), so yes animals can also say thank you if God wants them to do that, that donkey said more than two words my dear. Big lesson to learn.

"Most"? On what grounds do you make this claim about others? From what you see on the news, in magazines? If so, then you're seeing only what the media allows you to see and drawing a false conclusion from insufficient, invariably biased, information.

"and if we say it, we do not truly mean it which takes us back to square one"

...and how do you know what "we", your fellow humans, do or do not truly mean? Has the Lord graced you with the ability to read minds? Do you have polls supporting your claim? If not, then you have no business making such an uncharitable assumption.

"so yeah, unintelligent animals are today a good example of gratefulness"

So yeah, no. You're anthropomorphizing animals with a level of human reason they do not possess. Gratitude presupposes understanding a kind act when its cause isn't always visibly apparent, reasoning which individual was the cause of that act, and then feeling, in human terms, a sense of appreciation for the cause (i.e. the person).

Animals are not people nor do they possess human levels of intelligence.

God made -a- donkey speak. But donkeys, without God's personal intervention, do not speak nor did Balaam's donkey express gratitude.

So, no, even through a contrived misapplication of Scripture you still haven't shown that animals can express gratitude as humans do or with a human voice. Even if you were somehow able to prove that animals could speak and that God wishes them to speak, all you will have done is corroborate my original statement.

But you still not have contradicted the doubt implicit in my statement, i.e. animals can be MORE grateful than humans, which was the original claim (posed as a rhetorical question) advanced in the post.

You'd best take a few courses in logic before you can start deciding what "big lesson" I or anyone else has to learn. ..and even then, there's much to be said for experience. ;-)

@Ultraviolet

I think you are missing the point and getting things the wrong way, St. Francis of Asis and other saint spoke to animals, that's true? Adam spoke to animals even if the bible does not state that in a direct way. Something went wrong when man fell. We've lost many gifts given to us when Adam and Eve were created. Faith shows you that, and many other things, I would not be able to share holy things or pearls to you or people like you, faith works through charity (Gal 5: 6) meditate and make it yours, LIVE IT, then you'll see things more clearly.

Read the bible, and see Eucharistic miracles if that's not enough for you then I do not what else would, in Eucharistic miracles you can see animals genuflecting before the holy host, Fish rescuing the holy host, etc. And yes, God talks to animals and saints also talk to animals, at least some have, like St. Francis of Asis who preached to animals and animals gathered to listen to him preaching and showed they were grateful and rejoiced because the town's people did not want to hear him preaching to them.

So much anger, all your comments are always full of angry, what happened to you? who in the church disappointed you? The Pope? the priests? the religious? God?

You need a lot of healing dear one, I hope you find true peace in Jesus Christ. God bless.

You're welcome to think what you wish, tearlach Being able to support your thoughts factually and with sound reasoning is something else entirely. I don't know what St. Francis of Asis did, I know St. Francis of Assisi is famous for preaching to the birds.

However, there is no evidence in the saint's life the birds ever replied, much less in human voices. The medievalist Umberto Eco relates a fascinating (and largely forgotten) explanation why St. Francis preached to the birds. The birds were an object lesson, in parallel to Christ cursing the fig tree.

"...it's a story the order has revised today. When Francis spoke to the people of the city and its magistrates and saw they didn't understand him, he went out to the cemetery and began preaching to ravens and magpies, to hawks, to raptors feeding on corpses.... They were birds of prey, outcast birds, like the lepers... Francis wanted to call the outcast, ready to revolt, to be part of the people of God. If the flock was to be gathered again, the outcasts had to be found again. Francis didn't succeed, and I say it with great bitterness. "

St. Francis preaching to a raven pecking the eyes out of a corpse is wonderfully goth, might well have happened, but it's easy to see why the sanitized version was more enduring. The visuals make for better statues and prayer cards, as well.:D

"Adam spoke to animals even if the bible does not state that in a direct way."

...and many elderly women do the same with their pet cats and dogs. Yet, as you yourself tacitly acknowledge (however reluctantly), nowhere does Scripture say the animals replied. The Serpent (capitalization intentional), of course, wasn't a "serpent" at all. Or like Balaam's donkey, another force "opened its mouth", so to speak.

"Faith shows you that, and many other things, I would not be able to share holy things or pearls to you or people like you...

Indeed not, for me the intuitions of Faith must be supported by Scripture, The Church's Catechism and Canon Laws. I have complete and absolute faith the Church shall endure until the end of time. Why? Because Christ said so, which is why I'm not overly troubled by the sight of a buffoon sitting on the Chair of St. Peter or when reading the errors falling from his flabby lips. Both, sadly have precedent. However, Christ's teachings were explicit.

That is the basis of my faith, not well-intentioned conjecture. Your version of "faith", so sorry, is what Pope Francis calls being "guided by the holy spirit" ™

...which means your "faith" his "holy spirit" show you whatever you want to see, with predictable results.

"Read the bible, and see Eucharistic miracles if that's not enough for you then I do not what else would..."

I have, and your sanctimonious advice is as misplaced as it is patronizing.

You've obviously scoured the Old and New Testaments looking for Scripture's version of chatty cartoon animals and you've come up empty. Deflecting the discussion onto vague references to Eucharistic miracles where animals don't speak is a poor substitute for coming up with the necessary proofs.

"And yes, God talks to animals..."

Citation needed. Even if you want to fall back on Genesis and the "Serpent", even then the Serpent doesn't reply to God, does it?

"So much anger, all your comments are always full of angry, what happened to you?"

Rubbish. That's Pope Ignorant III you're talking about. He's the guy turning GTV into a daily defamation of the Jewish people. Or if you want an example of a guy with some real anger at the whole world, check out Canon 212. Ever see that guy's fern? The poor thing literally wilts at the bad vibes he gives off.

In contrast, most of my comments are either wry observations on the state of the world, factual corrections of errors so they won't mislead others (which is often, sorry to say, the writer's obvious intent), encouragement, or sheer flippancy

But, again, you're changing the subject onto me.. While it's more charitably delivered than most, Your Fallacy Is: