Thankfulness
Dear Friends,
Near Thanksgiving Day every year, I write a reflection on thankfulness.
This seems more important to do this year than ever before.
It has not been an easy year.
The Covid-19 pandemic which has brought sickness, even death to some, the loss of jobs and financial troubles to many others, and some changes to daily life for practically all of us (maybe not having the usual family gathering for Thanksgiving dinner) – these and other factors have made 2020 difficult and maybe painful.
We cannot hide this.
And yet, tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, we are invited to give thanks.
This moment recalls for me the words of one of our Catholic spiritual writers: “In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline.”
Those wise words really speak to me this year.
Being grateful is a choice.
So, we can choose to thank God:
for this Thanksgiving Day and each day of life,
for the number of years of life we have had,
for the family and friends who bring life to us,
for the years we had with those close to us who have died,
for the love that has been shown to us and the love we have shown to others,
for food and water, for a home and health care, for a job and livelihood,
and for…
Jesus has given us the Eucharist, the sacrament of his real presence with us.
Our English word Eucharist comes directly from a Greek word that means to give thanks.
So, the heart of the Mass, the heart of the Eucharist, is our giving thanks to God.
Let’s choose to give thanks at Mass every week and to name one thing every day for which to give thanks to God.
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotation above from The Return of the Prodigal Son by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen.)
Near Thanksgiving Day every year, I write a reflection on thankfulness.
This seems more important to do this year than ever before.
It has not been an easy year.
The Covid-19 pandemic which has brought sickness, even death to some, the loss of jobs and financial troubles to many others, and some changes to daily life for practically all of us (maybe not having the usual family gathering for Thanksgiving dinner) – these and other factors have made 2020 difficult and maybe painful.
We cannot hide this.
And yet, tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, we are invited to give thanks.
This moment recalls for me the words of one of our Catholic spiritual writers: “In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline.”
Those wise words really speak to me this year.
Being grateful is a choice.
So, we can choose to thank God:
for this Thanksgiving Day and each day of life,
for the number of years of life we have had,
for the family and friends who bring life to us,
for the years we had with those close to us who have died,
for the love that has been shown to us and the love we have shown to others,
for food and water, for a home and health care, for a job and livelihood,
and for…
Jesus has given us the Eucharist, the sacrament of his real presence with us.
Our English word Eucharist comes directly from a Greek word that means to give thanks.
So, the heart of the Mass, the heart of the Eucharist, is our giving thanks to God.
Let’s choose to give thanks at Mass every week and to name one thing every day for which to give thanks to God.
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotation above from The Return of the Prodigal Son by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen.)
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