Thanksgiving 2023 - Natural and Supernatural Gratitude

 

Thanksgiving is not an explicitly Christian holiday, it’s not a feast day of the Christian Church, even in the United States. Yet, it certainly has a religious dimension, the character of what the medieval called “the virtue of religion.” Even people without religion, do something, kind of religious today. 

The word “religion” comes from the latin word religare which means to bind. And so religion deals with the most important bonds in the human experience, our bonds--our relationships--our most important bond, our bond to God, and also the bonds of family, friendship, nation, the goods of the earth, and our neighbor. 

So even the civic holiday of Thanksgiving finds people even without religion, doing something that is part of our religious impulse, our religious hard-wiring. To give thanks. Now, the atheists among us, obviously do not turn their minds and hearts to God in thanksgiving. But even many atheists will acknowledge the importance of being thankful. To look at the good things that fill your life, and to express gratitude, even if it only means taking a day off work, to gather with loved ones.

And right there, in that exercise of religiosity, even the atheist becomes open to something bigger than themselves. 

Counting blessings, acknowledging the good things of your life, including the gift of life itself, makes for a more virtuous people. Gratitude is one of the pathways God uses to make Himself known to souls. Those who are practicing the natural virtues are well-disposed to begin practicing the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and charity. So, the more people who are grateful today, the better. Thankfulness is the soil in which the soul thrives.

So it is a very good thing, that our nation, amidst all of our political and social divisions, continues to celebrate this civic holiday. It is a day for refreshing society in the living waters of gratitude. 

Now many Catholics, like ourselves, rightly begin the day coming to Holy Mass. Even though today is not a holy day of obligation, we gather at the altar to pray for our nation, and pray for our families. We pray in gratitude for the good things that fill our lives, particularly our salvation in Jesus Christ of course, but asking God to help us participate well, in a dignified way, in an effective way in the civic holiday, asking God to bless the people we’re going to spend the day with, whether they are actively practicing Catholics or not. 

And to pray that, we may be good examples of holy gratitude for them. Because if non-Catholics don’t see gratitude in us today, why would they ever consider our way of life. If your practice of Christianity does not produce gratitude in you, you’re probably doing it wrong. For supernatural gratitude is a fruit of the Holy Spirit which grows in souls united to Jesus Christ.

So may God help us today to be truly thankful for the gifts with which we’ve been blessed, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 

 

That the pilgrim Church on earth may shine as a light to the nations.  

For the safety of travelers, the peaceful resolution of all family divisions and national hostilities, for protection from disease, for the lonely and forgotten, and harmony amongst all those who gather together today.

For the protection of our armed forces, police, and firemen and all those who risk their lives to preserve the security of our country.  

For the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the sick, the aged, the lonely, the grieving, those who are out of work, those who are facing financial difficulties, those with addictions, and the imprisoned: that God will draw close to them, and bless them with grace and peace.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom, 

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

Thanksgiving Day 2019 - The religious duty to give thanks

Thanksgiving is not an explicitly Christian holiday, it’s not a feast day of the Church, even in the United States. And yet, Thanksgiving Day certainly resonates with our deep religious impulse, what the philosophers call the “virtue of religion”.

 The word “religion” comes from the latin word religare which means to bind. And so religion deals with the most important bonds in the human experience, our most important bond, our bond to God, and also the bonds of family, friendship, nation, the goods of the earth, and our neighbor. To be religious is to fulfill our duty towards these bonds.

And so this civic holiday of Thanksgiving meets this universal religious impulse and religious duty to give thanks for these things. Which is why we fill Thanksgiving with the things we value and are most grateful: friends, family, food, football for some, and hopefully some prayer.

Many Catholics, like ourselves, rightly begin the day by going to Holy Mass, even though it’s not a holy day of obligation. Like the Leper in the Gospel today, having acknowledged that we have received blessing from God, we return to God to give thanks. We turn to God, with great gratitude, for the gift of our salvation, for the good things that fill our lives, and asking God to bless the people we’re going to spend the day with, whether they go to Mass or not.

Around the Thanksgiving table many families still have the very healthy practice of each naming something that they are grateful for. Naming blessings, counting our blessings, adding up the good things of your life, including the gift of life itself, is in a sense a religious duty. To call to mind the blessings and the sources of those blessings and to give thanks for those blessings.

St. Thomas Aquinas said that gratitude is the “mark of a happy disposition to see good rather than evil.” Thankfulness is the soil in which the soul thrives.

Now, it is not that we ignore the divisions, strife, pain, friction, brokenness, or sorrow in the world. In fact, gratefulness should lead us to help alleviate the troubles in the world. But, today we focus not so much on division, but on the real human need to stop and give thanks. Today is not so much a day for political arguments, but for refreshing society, our families, and our souls through gratitude for the time and blessings we’ve been given.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I forget how important it is to be thankful to God, but that makes today, and the celebration of thanksgiving so important, that what we do here today may carry over, into every day of our lives, for Christians are called to be a people who live in perpetual gratitude, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the pilgrim Church on earth may shine as a light to the nations.  We pray to the Lord.

That all people of good will may work together against attacks on religious liberty and the Christian Faith.  We pray to the Lord.

For the protection of our armed forces, police, and firemen and all those who risk their lives to preserve the security of our country.  We pray to the Lord.

For the safety of travelers, the peaceful resolution of all family divisions, and national hostilities, for protection from disease, and harmony amongst all those who gather together today.

For the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the sick, the aged, the lonely, the grieving, those who are out of work, those who are facing financial difficulties, those with addictions, and the imprisoned: that God will draw close to them, and bless them with grace and peace.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

Thanksgiving 2017 - Gratitude leads to happiness

Thanksgiving is not an explicitly Christian holiday, it’s not a feast day of the Church, even in the United States. Yet, it certainly has a religious dimension, the character of what the medievals called “the virtue of religion.”

The word “religion” comes from the latin word religare which means to bind. And so religion deals with the most important bonds in the human experience, our most important bond, our bond to God, and also the bonds of family, friendship, nation, the goods of the earth, and our neighbor.

The civic holiday of Thanksgiving acknowledges this religious impulse and religious duty to give thanks for these things. Which is why we fill Thanksgiving with the things we value and are most grateful: friends, family, food and football, and hopefully some prayer.

It is not that we ignore the divisions, strife, pain, friction, brokenness, or sorrow out there. But it is a very important human need to stop and give thanks. It’s not a day for political arguments, but for refreshing society.

Many Catholics, like ourselves, rightly begin the day by going to Holy Mass, even though it’s not a holy day of obligation. We turn to God, with gratitude, for the gift of our salvation, for the good things that fill our lives, and asking God to bless the people we’re going to spend the day with, whether they go to Mass or not.

Counting blessings, adding up the good things of your life, including the gift of life itself, makes for a more virtuous people precisely because it increases the virtue of gratitude in those who are thankful. For as Thomas Aquinas said, gratitude is the “mark of a happy disposition to see good rather than evil.” Thankfulness is the soil in which the soul thrives.

So, If you spend any moment of the day thinking about what people owe you, you’ve missed the point. Rather, focus on nurturing the virtue of gratitude today, for the time you’ve been given, for the people who have touched your life and continue to bless you, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the pilgrim Church on earth may shine as a light to the nations.  We pray to the Lord.

That all people of good will may work together against attacks on religious liberty and the Christian Faith.  We pray to the Lord.

For the protection of our armed forces, police, and firemen and all those who risk their lives to preserve the security of our country.  We pray to the Lord.

For the safety of travelers, the peaceful resolution of all family divisions, and national hostilities, for protection from disease, and harmony amongst all those who gather together today. We pray to the Lord.

For the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the sick, the aged, the lonely, the grieving, those who are out of work, those who are facing financial difficulties, those with addictions, and the imprisoned: that God will draw close to them, and bless them with grace and peace. We pray to the Lord.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray to the Lord.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

June 6 2017 - St. Norbert - Rendering unto God what belongs to God

In the “Pledge of Allegiance” to the Flag of the United States of America, citizens of this country proclaim liberty and justice for all to be among our highest values.

Every culture in the world has functioned out of some understanding of justice. Justice preserves order and peace.  Justice ensures that individuals rights are respected, that we govern our affairs honestly, that we refrain from deceit, it protects the rights of the helpless and the lowly, it safeguards us from abuses of power by those in authority, it establishes the social order.  Without justice we would have anarchy, warfare between rival interests, oppression of the weak by the strong, the triumph of evil.  Justice is to be practiced by every citizen, and everyone who seeks to be a citizen of this country must pledge to uphold it.

In the gospel today, Jesus says, render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s. He is certainly speaking here about Justice. Justice towards God, rendering unto God what is due to God is called the virtue of religion.  What do we give to God?  What do we owe to God? Our love, our devotion, our obedience, our reverence. In a sense, we are incapable of offering to God the infinite homage to which He is entitled.

But we seek to do our best, by acts of adoration, gratitude, penitence, and prayer. The Saints are those who have made this virtue of religion their life’s work.

For most of us, the spiritual life involves a growing realization of how important this work really is.

St. Norbert exemplifies this journey of faith. As a young cleric he was named personal chaplain to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. Though he was put in charge of dispensing alms to the poor, Norbert began to take on a lot of bad habits of the wealthy elite of the emperor’s court. As he grew in worldliness, his faith began to diminish.

A close brush with death caused Norbert to reexamine his priorities. He decided to give up his position in the imperial court and dedicate his life to the contemplation of Christ.

He was ordained a priest later that year. He renounced all of his worldly possessions and formed a religious order of like-minded men now known as the Norbertines.

Growth in this virtue of rendering God what belongs to God involves striving to enter into the spirit of filial love, obedience, and self-sacrifice Jesus had for the Father. Jesus is the supreme worshiper of the Father, who in His life and death glorified God to an infinite manner. Jesus, and the saints in imitation of Him, show this to be the purpose of our existence: to render unto God what belongs to God, to render Him everything, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty, may every prayer of our heart be directed, for it is His will that all humanity should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of all the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them, and deepen in them the virtues of justice and religion.

That the Norbertine Order and all those consecrated religious may inspire us to strive for greater holiness.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief, especially for the sick and victims of war and terror and natural disaster.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.