Blessings, Gratitude and Praise
(Col 3:12-17; Ps 113; Mt 7:7-12)
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Years ago, a Trappist monk happened to make a comment on TV that stayed with me: “A grateful person is a happy person.”
That simple statement can be an invitation on this Thanksgiving Day to count our blessings, be grateful and praise God for all God’s good gifts that have come our way this past year.
Christopher Leadership Course graduation, Thompson, Manitoba, 2008
The experience of doing that myself was enriching. I found myself grateful for the gifts of faith, family, friends, Oblate community life, people who helped me along life’s way in a variety of ways, ministry among the Indigenous peoples for over thirty years; the challenging but very rewarding experience of team ministry; the archdiocesan team and staff while I was shepherding there, and now, ministry at the Star of the North Retreat Centre, the board of the St. Dismas House project for ex-inmates, and many more blessings, including even the dark and difficult times that all had lessons to lessons to teach me and character traits to strengthen.
Star Trek fundraising walk for the Star of the North Retreat Centre
The readings that are suggested for this Thanksgiving Day are both well-chosen and very rich in content. St. Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, sets the tone of gratitude with statements such as, “be thankful,” “with gratitude” and “giving thanks to God the Father.” He first affirms us as God’s chosen ones: holy, beloved, compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient and especially, forgiving – all bound together under the umbrella of love. We can be grateful to Paul for these especially positive and encouraging words to us.
Jesus, in the gospel, teaches us to pray with confidence and perseverance, trusting that God will give us only good things. In the gospel of Luke, those “good things” become more specific – God will give the best of good things, the Holy Spirit, to those who ask. And if we are filled with the Spirit, all else will fall into place – another reason to be very grateful.
During a silent, directed priests retreat at Lumsden years ago, I found myself thanking God for all the things that did not work out in my life, which kind of surprised me. When I mentioned this to my spiritual director, she suggested that perhaps my healing journey had come full circle – a very consoling thought. That is especially made more plausible when we read in the scriptures that God turns everything to the good for those who love God.
Years ago, Gustavo Gutierrez, one of the fathers of the Liberation Theology movement in Latin America, spoke at Newman Theological College in Edmonton as part of the Jordan Lecture series. He offered important words of advice to this North American affluent audience: “If you want to come to Latin America because you are so angry at the injustice that we are suffering, don’t come – you won’t be of any help, because we have lots of angry people already. And if you want to come to Latin America because you feel guilty at having so much when we have so little, don’t come – you won’t be of any help, because we have lots of guilty people already. But if you want to come to Latin America because you are grateful for all the blessings that you have received, then come – you will be helpful, because we can always use more grateful people.
The Eucharist itself means “thanksgiving.” So, every time we celebrate it, we are thanking God for all God’s gifts, and especially for the gift of his only Son who died on the cross to show us the depth of the Father’s love for us.
So, on this Thanksgiving Day, let us count our blessings, strive to be grateful, and give God praise for all those undeserved blessings.
