Fr. Rodney Kissinger, S.J.
Prayers for Thanksgiving Day 2019
We thank and praise You, our Heavenly Father, for establishing and preserving our nation in freedom, for giving us a rich land in which to dwell, and for providing us with an abundance of the fruits of the earth. In order that we might live in peace and be good stewards of all that You provide, grant us Your grace to recognize Your gifts and to live as good citizens. Give us grace to offer You ourselves as living sacrifices to the glory of Your holy name and the betterment of mankind. Of all Your many blessings, chief among them is the peace we have with You on account of the precious Blood of Jesus Christ shed for us for the full remission of all our sins. We thank You for Your great love in sending Your Son to be our Savior, in calling us out of our rebellion and into fellowship with Him. We give You thanks that You have done this apart from any worthiness in us.
Forgive us for those times when we grow complacent in Your love, not living out our baptismal identity but instead taking Your gifts for granted. As the great day of Christ's return draws ever closer, teach us each day to cling to You, that we may on the Last Day stand eternally before Your throne, giving You our unending thanks and praise; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
“Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” (Luke 17: 17-18)
Ingratitude has been called “the most unkindest cut of all.” Yes, it is so easy
to fall in love with the gift and forget all about the Giver; to admire a
painting and never think of the painter; to enjoy music and never know the
heart from which it came; to accept and love ourselves and not to care for the
One from whom we came.
We like to think of ourselves as doers and achievers but the
basic fact of life is that we are primarily receivers and transmitters not
achievers. We all started out as zero, zip, nada. We did not ask to be. We did
nothing to get here. My very existence is a gift of God. What am I anyway but a
conglomeration of the gifts of God? What do I have that I have not received?
Our most basic relationship with God therefore should be one of
gratitude.
On another level I really did not start out as zero, zip,
nada. In fact, I did not start out at all. I existed for all eternity. I
existed in the mind of God as one of an infinite number of possible beings,
beings that possibly could be. Out of this infinite number of possible beings
God freely chose to create me.
My parents did not want me. They may have wanted a child but
they did not know who I would be. But God knew exactly who I would be, and he
wanted me. “You have not chosen me, I have chosen you.” So from all eternity my
most basic relationship with God is one of gratitude. “Lord, give me a grateful
heart.”
To remember and give thanks. God gave us a memory so that we
can remember and give thanks. The memory enables us to bring forth from the
storeroom of the past the wonderful moments of success, love and happiness, so
that we can re-live, re-enjoy them and be grateful. “Lord, give me a grateful
heart.”
To remember and give thanks. That is what the Bible is all
about. The Bible is the written history of many of the wonderful gifts God has
given us from the very creation of the world and the promise of even greater
gifts in the future. In the beginning the memory of these gifts was handed on
orally to each succeeding generation and then under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit written down so that all could remember and give thanks. “Lord, give me
a grateful heart.”
To remember and give thanks. That is what the Mass is all
about. The Mass is the perfect act of thanksgiving that Jesus commanded us to,
“Do this in memory of me.” It is the perfect sacrifice Malachi foretold which
would be offered up from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.
“Lord, give me a grateful heart.”
To remember and give thanks. That is why we have a National
Thanksgiving Day. We live in a country of plenty in a world of want, a land of
religious and political freedom in a world of ethnic cleansing and zero
tolerance, a land at peace in a world at war. Yet we have to set
aside one day a year to remind us to give thanks to God. “Lord, give me a
grateful heart.”
To remember and give thanks. And in so doing we grow in the
love of God. It is in gratitude for the gifts that we grow in the love of the
Giver. As we say in the preface at Mass, “Our act of thanksgiving adds nothing
to your greatness but makes us grow in grace through Jesus Christ, or
Lord.”
Gifts are the language of love, the more one loves the more
one gives. Never has this language of gift-giving been spoken to me as God has
spoken it to me. If God would not give me one gift more I should be grateful.
But the best gift is yet to come. God will continue to look over me with His
Divine Providence and then at the end of my life he will give me the greatest
gift of all the gift of the Giver to be known, loved and possessed
forever.
“Lord, give me a grateful heart,” so that I may always
remember and give thanks, and in so doing I may grow in the love of You.
********
Fr. Roman Vanasse, O. Praem.
On Sunday morning, most of us go to something called
"Mass" - but the real word for it is "Eucharist". That word
means "thanks" in Greek and is still used today in modern Greece. I
still remember the first time I went to Greece and stopped at a
"taverna" or sidewalk café in Athens for some coffee. It was a warm,
sunny day and I enjoyed watching the people walk by. When I was ready to leave,
I asked the waiter for my check. When he brought it, I paid for my coffee and
then added a small tip. He said "efkaristo". I immediately recognized
the word as a variation of "Eucharist".
"Thank you" - these words express one of the most
important sentiments that we owe to one another. Gratitude is a virtue that is
practiced too rarely. We tend to take so many things for granted: our
parents, the country in which we live, the planet earth, the stars
in the sky, the flowers in the field, sunset and sunrise. If we truly realized
how blessed we are, our hearts would be filled with such gratitude that we
would be saying "thank you" every time we breathe. All it takes is a
little foreign travel to realize how much we have been blessed, and these blessings
have come to us freely. So, it is fitting that we take some special time
occasionally to focus on some of the things for which we should be especially
thankful.
In many of his letters, St. Paul thanks God for the graces
we have all received. Another word for "graces" is the expression of
love which God has bestowed on us, without our merit or any real effort on our
part.
The first among these is the gift of our faith. We believe
in Jesus. We believe in life everlasting. Because of our faith, we see the
whole world and everything in it from a different perspective than those who do
not believe. They see nothing but what they can touch, taste, see and feel. For
them, the world is limited to material things. But through the eyes of faith,
we see beyond the world of our senses to the wonderful world of the spirit and
the great grace of our redemption in Jesus Christ. The real beauty of the world
lies beyond what we can see with our senses.
Thanksgiving is a special day when we say thanks for all the
good things which have come to us throughout our lives. Let us be thankful for
being born in a time and place where so much is given to us, but most of all
let us give thanks for the great love which is ours in Jesus Christ. The best
way to give thanks is by sharing that love with one another.
The next time we join with Jesus in that great sacrifice, as
we receive communion and share in His Eucharist, let us say "thank
you" to God for all the many blessings which are ours, even without
asking. Amen.
********
Back during the dark days of 1929, a group of ministers in
the Northeast, all graduates of the Boston School of Theology, gathered to
discuss how they should conduct their Thanksgiving Sunday services. Things were
about as bad as they could get, with no sign of relief. The bread lines were
depressingly long, the stock market had plummeted, and the term Great
Depression seemed an apt description for the mood of the country. The ministers
thought they should only lightly touch upon the subject Thanksgiving in
deference to the human misery all about them. After all, there was to be
thankful for. But it was Dr. William L. Stiger, pastor of a large congregation
in the city that rallied the group. This was not the time, he suggested, to
give mere passing mention to Thanksgiving, just the opposite.
This was the time for the nation to get matters in
perspective and thank God for blessings always present, but perhaps suppressed
due to intense hardship.
I suggest to you the ministers struck upon something. The
most intense moments of thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when
difficulties abound. Think of the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. Half their
number dead, men without a country, but still there was thanksgiving to God.
Their gratitude was not for something but in something. It was that same sense
of gratitude that lead Abraham Lincoln to formally establish the first
Thanksgiving Day in the midst of national civil war, when the butcher's list of
casualties seemed to have no end and the very nation struggled for survival.
Perhaps in your own life, right now, intense hardship. You
are experiencing your own personal Great Depression. Why should you be thankful
this day? May I suggest three things?
1. We must learn to be thankful or we become bitter.
2. We must learn to be thankful or we will become
discouraged.
3. We must learn to be thankful or we will grow arrogant and
self-satisfied.
Thankfulness seems to be a lost art today. Warren Wiersby
illustrated this problem in his commentary on Colossians. He told about a
ministerial student in Evanston, Illinois, who was part of a life-saving squad.
In 1860, a ship went aground on the shore of Lake Michigan near Evanston, and
Edward Spencer waded again and again into the frigid waters to rescue 17
passengers. In the process, his health was permanently damaged. Some years
later at his funeral, it was noted that not one of the people he rescued ever
thanked him.
Our Daily Bread, February 20, 1994.
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An estimated 1.5 million people are living today after bouts
with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I
hear the voice of an eight-year-old named Christina, who had cancer of the
nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long
and hard and finally said, "I don't know. I have two sticker books and a
Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!" The kid is right.
Erma Bombeck, Redbook, October,1992.
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Why did only one cleansed leper return to thank
Jesus? The following are nine suggested reasons why the nine did not
return:
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do
anything."
One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."
Charles L. Brown, Content The Newsletter, June, 1990, p. 3.
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Forgive Me When I Whine
Today upon a bus, I saw a lovely maid with golden hair; I
envied her -- she seemed so gay, and how, I wished I were so fair; When
suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle; she had one foot
and wore a crutch, but as she passed, a smile. Oh God, forgive me when I whine,
I have two feet -- the world is mine.
And when I stopped to buy some sweets, the lad who served me
had such charm; he seemed to radiate good cheer, his manner was so kind and
warm; I said, "It's nice to deal with you, such courtesy I seldom
find"; he turned and said, "Oh, thank you sir." And then I saw
that he was blind. Oh, God, forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes, the world
is mine.
Then, when walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes
of blue; he stood and watched the others play, it seemed he knew not what to
do; I stopped a moment, then I said, "Why don't you join the others,
dear?" He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear.
Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two ears, the world is
mine.
With feet to take me where I'd go; with eyes to see the
sunsets glow, with ears to hear what I would know. I am blessed indeed. The
world is mine; oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
Source Unknown.
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In his autobiography, Breaking Barriers, syndicated
columnist Carl Rowan tells about a teacher who greatly influenced his life.
Rowan relates: Miss Thompson reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a
piece of paper containing a quote attributed to Chicago architect Daniel
Burnham. I listened intently as she read: "Make no little plans; they have
no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make
big plans, aim high in hope and work. Remember that our sons and grandsons are
going to do things that would stagger us."
More than 30 years later, I gave a speech in which I said
that Frances Thompson had given me a desperately needed belief in myself. A
newspaper printed the story, and someone mailed the clipping to my beloved
teacher. She wrote me: "You have no idea what that newspaper story meant
to me. For years, I endured my brother's arguments that I had wasted my life.
That I should have married and had a family. When I read that you gave me
credit for helping to launch a marvelous career, I put the clipping in front of
my brother. After he'd read it, I said, 'You see, I didn't really waste my
life, did I?'"
Carl Rowan, Breaking Barriers.
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In his book FOLK PSALMS OF FAITH, Ray Stedman tells of an
experience H.A. Ironside had in a crowded restaurant. Just as Ironside was
about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him.
Ironside invited his to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed
his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, "Do you
have a headache?" Ironside replied, "No, I don't." The other man
asked, "Well, is there something wrong with your food?" Ironside
replied, "No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I
eat."
The man said, "Oh, you're one of those, are you? Well,
I want you to know I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow
and I don't have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right
in!"
Ironside said, "Yes, you're just like my dog.
That's what he does too!"
Ray Stedman, Folk Psalms of Faith.
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It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old
broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his
death in 1973, he would return, walking slowly and slightly stooped with a
large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would
feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October, 1942, Captain Eddie
Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to
General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. But there was an unexpected detour
which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his
life.
Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became
lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched
their plane in the ocean...For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions
would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun. They spent many
sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft
was nine by five. The biggest shark...ten feet long.
But of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable:
starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the
salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them. And a miracle occurred. In
Captain Eddie's own words, "Cherry," that was the B- 17 pilot,
Captain William Cherry, "read the service that afternoon, and we finished
with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise. There was some talk, but it
tapered off in the oppressive heat. With my hat pulled down over my eyes to
keep out some of the glare, I dozed off."
Now this is still Captian Rickenbacker
talking..."Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a sea gull. I
don't know how I knew, I just knew. Everyone else knew too. No one said a word,
but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the
expression on their faces. They were staring at that gull. The gull meant
food...if I could catch it."
And the rest, as they say, is history. Captain Eddie caught
the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish.
The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull,
uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a
sacrifice. You know that Captain Eddie made it.
And now you also know...that he never forgot. Because every
Friday evening, about sunset...on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida
seacoast...you could see an old man walking...white-haired, bushy-eyebrowed,
slightly bent. His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls...to
remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a
struggle...like manna in the wilderness.
Paul Aurandt, "The Old Man and the Gulls", Paul
Harvey's The Rest of the Story, 1977, quoted in Heaven Bound Living, Knofel
Stanton, Standard, 1989, p. 79-80.
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The first American Thanksgiving didn't occur in 1621 when a
group of Pilgrims shared a feast with a group of friendly Indians. The first
recorded thanksgiving took place in Virginia more than 11 years earlier, and it
wasn't a feast. The winter of 1610 at Jamestown had reduced a group of 409
settlers to 60. The survivors prayed for help, without knowing when or how it
might come. When help arrived, in the form of a ship filled with food and
supplies from England, a prayer meeting was held to give thanks to
God.
Today in the Word, July, 1990, p. 22.
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A 12 year old boy named David was born without an immune
system. He underwent a bone marrow transplant in order to correct the
deficiency. Up to that point he had spent his entire life in a plastic bubble
in order to prevent exposure to common germs, bacteria, and viruses that could
kill him. He lived without ever knowing human contact. When asked what he'd
like to do if and when released from his protective bubble, he replied, "I
want to walk barefoot on grass, and touch my mother's hand."
Source Unknown.
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To All Ye Pilgrims: Inasmuch as the great Father has given
us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, beans, squashes, and
garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea
with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of
the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom
to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now, I, your
magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and little ones,
do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the
day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th of the year of our Lord one thousand
six hundred and twenty-three, and third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye
Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor, and render thanksgiving to ye
Almighty God for all His blessings.
William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth Colony.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------In
a sermon at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, Gary Wilburn said:
"In 1636, amid the darkness of the Thirty Years' War, a German pastor,
Martin Rinkart, is said to have buried five thousand of his parishioners in one
year, and average of fifteen a day. His parish was ravaged by war, death, and
economic disaster. In the heart of that darkness, with the cries of fear outside
his window, he sat down and wrote this table grace for his children: 'Now thank
we all our God / With heart and hands and voices;/ Who wondrous things had
done,/ In whom His world rejoices. /Who, from our mother's arms,/Hath led us on
our way/ With countless gifts of love/ And still is ours today.'"Here was
a man who knew thanksgiving comes from love of God, not from outward
circumstances.
Don Maddox.
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First National Thanksgiving Proclamation
Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the
providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits,
and humbly to implore His protection and favor; Whereas, both the houses of
Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the
people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be
observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of
Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to
establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!"
Now therefore, I do recommend next, to be devoted by the
people of the states to the service of that great and glorious being, who is
the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that
we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for
His kind care and protection of the people of this country.
George Washington, 1779.
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Two 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamations which are said to be by
Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln's
Thanksgiving Proclamation
of 1863
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled
with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties,
which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from
which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a
nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is
habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and
severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke
their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been
maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed
everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has
been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the
Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields
of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the
shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and
the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded
even more abundantly than heretofore.
Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste
that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the
country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is
permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of
freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand
worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High
God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless
remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be
solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by
the whole American People.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of
the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning
in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next,
as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in
the Heavens.
And I recommend to them that while offering up the
ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings,
they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and
disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows,
orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are
unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty
Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be
consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony,
tranquillity and Union.
A. Lincoln, October 3, 1863.
Abraham Lincoln's
Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863
It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their
dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and
transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance
will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in
the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed
whose God is the Lord.
We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals,
are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly
fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a
punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of
our national reformation as a whole people?
We have been the recipients of the choisest bounties of
heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have
grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious
hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened
us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all
these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel
the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God
that made us.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be
solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one
voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens
in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who
are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of
November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who
dwelleth in the heavens.
A. Lincoln, October 3, 1863.
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Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his
uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be
grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member
thought to himself, "Certainly the preacher won't think of anything for
which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this." Much to his
surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, "We thank Thee, O God, that it
is not always like this."
Daily Bread, August 26, 1989.
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In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains,
"Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I
do?"
The rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with
you." The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. "Do
as I say and come back in a week."
A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than
before. "We cannot stand it," he tells the rabbi.
"The goat is filthy."
The rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat
out. And come back in a week."
A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming,
"Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat
-- only the nine of us."
George Mikes, How to be Decadent, Andre Deutsch, London.
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Two men were walking through a field one day when they
spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they darted toward the nearest
fence. The storming bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon
apparent they wouldn't make it.
Terrified, the one shouted to the other, "Put up a
prayer, John. We're in for it!"
John answered, "I can't. I've never made a public
prayer in my life."
"But you must!" implored his companion. "The
bull is catching up to us."
"All right," panted John, "I'll say the
only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: 'O Lord, for
what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.'"
Source Unknown
****************
One of my favorite Peanuts comic strips is the one that came
out some years ago just a few days before Thanksgiving. Lucy's feeling sorry
for herself and she laments, "My life is a drag. I'm completely fed up.
I've never felt so low in my life."
Her little brother Linus tries to console her and he says,
"Lucy, when you're in a mood like this, you should try to think of things
you have to be thankful for; in other words, count your blessings."
To that, Lucy says, "Ha! That's a good one! I could
count my blessings on one finger! I've never had anything and I never will have
anything. I don't get half the breaks that other people do. Nothing ever goes
right for me! And you talk about counting blessings! You talk about being
thankful! What do I have to be thankful for?"
Linus says, "Well, for one thing, you have a
little brother who loves you."
With that, Lucy runs and hugs her little brother Linus as
she cries tears of joy. And while she's hugging him tightly, Linus says,
"Every now and then, I say the right thing
Welcome to this celebration of Thanksgiving. This is a day
we count our blessings. For many of us, our focus will be on our material
blessings. Our warm house. The comfortable car. The stylish clothes. A table
bountifully spread. And yet, in the long run of things, these are the least
important of all our blessings.
Our lesson for the day from John's Gospel takes place just
after Jesus has taken five small barley loaves and two small fish and had fed
about five thousand men and an unknown number of women and children. Amazing is
too small an adjective for such an extraordinary feat. Now the crowd is seeking
him out in earnest.
Jesus isn't impressed with their sudden interest. "I
tell you the truth," he says, you are looking for me . . . because you ate
the loaves and had your fill." Then he gives a word of warning, "Do
not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which
the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of
approval."
What Jesus is saying is beware of focusing on the physical,
the material blessings in your life. These blessings are generally trivial and
transitory. It is a cliché, of course, to say that money can't buy happiness.
But the proof is bountiful. There are many, many people who are blessed
materially who are miserable...
****
From Fr. Tony Kadavil’s Collection:
1: “Thank you.” Mother Teresa
told this story in an address to the National Prayer Breakfast in
1994. “One evening several of our Sisters went out, and we picked up four
people from the street. One of them was in a most terrible condition. So I told
the other Sisters, “You take care of the other three: I will take care of
this one who looks the worst.” So I did for the woman everything that my
love could do. I cleaned her and put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful
smile on her face. She took hold of my hands and said two words in her
language, Bengali: “Thank you.” Then she died. I could not help but
examine my conscience. I asked myself, “What would I say if I were in her
place?” My answer was simple. I would have tried to draw a little
attention to myself. I would have said, “I am hungry, I am dying, I am in
pain.” But the woman gave me much more; she gave me grateful love, dying
with a grateful smile on her face. It means that even those with nothing can
give us the gift of thanks.”
2: But
whose hand? A school teacher asked her first graders to draw a
picture of something they were thankful for. She thought of how little these
children from poor neighborhoods actually had to be thankful for. She reasoned
that most of them would no doubt draw pictures of turkeys on tables with lots
of other food. She was surprised with the picture that Douglas handed
in. It was the picture of a human hand, poorly drawn. But whose hand? The other
children tried to guess. One said it was the hand of God because He brings the
food to us. Another said it was the hand of a farmer because he raises and
grows the food. Finally, when the others were back at their work, the teacher
bent over Douglas’ desk and asked whose hand it was. "Why, it’s your
hand, teacher," he mumbled. Then she recalled that frequently at recess
she had taken Douglas, a scrubby, forlorn child, by the hand. She did it with
many of the children and never thought much about it.
But Douglas did. You see, she refreshed his spirit and he never
forgot it.
3: Two lists: Perhaps Daniel Defoe
gave us some good advice through his fictional character Robinson Crusoe. The
first thing that Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to
make out a list. On one side of the list he wrote down all his problems. On the
other side of the list he wrote down all of his blessings. On one side he
wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it's warm and
I don't really need any. On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost.
On the other side he wrote: But there's plenty of fresh fruit and water on the
island. And on down the list he went. In this fashion he discovered that for
every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect,
something to be thankful for. It is easy to find ourselves on an island of
despair. Perhaps it is time that we sit down and take an inventory of our
blessings.
4. “ Where are the rotten ones for the pigs?” There
was once a lady who complained about everything and everybody. Finally, her
pastor found something that she couldn’t complain about. The lady’s crop of
potatoes was the finest for miles around. He said to her, “For once you
must be pleased. Everyone is saying how splendid your potatoes are this year.” The
lady glared at him and said, “They are not so bad, but where are the
rotten ones for the pigs?”
5. The turkey with a high fever! When
I think of "Turkey Day," I am reminded of the story of the
little boy who saw his mother putting a thermometer in the
turkey. He said, "If it is that sick, I don't want
any!"
6. "Christopher hit me!": It
was Thanksgiving Day. Breakfast was over and the kids were playing
in a room full of toys. Their parents lingered over a second cup of
coffee. In a short while, the parents heard the sound of a brief
scuffle. Then Mary, their three-year-old, burst into the kitchen in
tears. "Mommy! Daddy! Christopher hit me!" she
sobbed. Before either of them could think of a reply, the calm voice
of their nine-year-old daughter came from the play room, "It's
Thanksgiving Day–we must be thankful. Thank God, he didn't bite
you!!"
7. "I can chew my food”: It
was Thanksgiving season in the nursing home. The small resident population had
been gathered around their humble Thanksgiving table, and the director asked
each in turn to express one thing for which he or she was thankful. Thanks,
were expressed for a home in which to stay, families, etc. One little old lady,
when her turn came, said, “I thank the Lord for two perfectly good teeth
left in my mouth, one in my upper jaw and one in my lower jaw. They
match so well that I can chew my food.”
SIMPLE THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR.
I am thankful for the mess to clean up after a party because
it means I am blessed with friends.
I am thankful for the taxes I pay because it means that I am employed.
I am thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snugly because it means I have had enough to eat.
I am thankful for my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.
I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.
I am thankful for all the complaining I do about the government because it means we have freedom of speech.
I am thankful for the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.
I am thankful for my big heating bill because it means I am warm.
I am thankful for the lady behind me in church who sings off-key because it means I can hear.
I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.
I am thankful for weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.
I am thankful for the alarm that goes off early in the morning because it means I am alive.”
I am thankful for the taxes I pay because it means that I am employed.
I am thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snugly because it means I have had enough to eat.
I am thankful for my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.
I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.
I am thankful for all the complaining I do about the government because it means we have freedom of speech.
I am thankful for the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.
I am thankful for my big heating bill because it means I am warm.
I am thankful for the lady behind me in church who sings off-key because it means I can hear.
I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.
I am thankful for weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.
I am thankful for the alarm that goes off early in the morning because it means I am alive.”
Let me share my little secret. When I
feel that the world is caving in and my tears of hopelessness are just about to
fall, I look down at my hands. I stretch my fingers and I start to count ... my
blessings. I say to myself, “I have 10 fingers ... 1-2-3-4-5 ... I can
move all of them. My skin is clear. I can see. I can hear. I can talk. I can
walk. I have a family. I have a home. I have friends. I have a job. Not
everyone has these. I am a very lucky person. I am whole and I can cope with
this minor setback.” Try it. In your darkest hour, at the height of a most
unfortunate situation, count your blessings by starting with your fingers.
—Ruby Bayan-Gagelonia
—Ruby Bayan-Gagelonia
Gratitude
Today, upon a bus, I saw a very handsome man,
And wished I were as beautiful.
When suddenly he rose to leave,
I saw him hobble down the aisle.
He had one leg and wore a crutch.
But as he passed, he passed a smile.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have two legs; the world is mine.
I stopped to buy some candy,
The lad who sold it had such charm,
I talked with him, he seemed so glad,
If I were late, it'd do no harm.
And as I left, he said to me,
"I thank you, you've been so kind.
It's nice to talk with folks like you.
You see," he said, "I'm blind."
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have two eyes; the world is mine.
Later while walking down the street,
I saw a child I knew.
He stood and watched the others play,
but he did not know what to do.
I stopped a moment and then I said,
"Why don't you join them dear?"
He looked ahead without a word,
I forgot, he couldn't hear.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine,
I have two ears; the world is mine.
With feet to take me where I'd go,
With eyes to see the sunset's glow,
With ears to hear what I'd know.
With loving family friends to enjoy life
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine,
I've been blessed indeed, the world is mine.
And wished I were as beautiful.
When suddenly he rose to leave,
I saw him hobble down the aisle.
He had one leg and wore a crutch.
But as he passed, he passed a smile.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have two legs; the world is mine.
I stopped to buy some candy,
The lad who sold it had such charm,
I talked with him, he seemed so glad,
If I were late, it'd do no harm.
And as I left, he said to me,
"I thank you, you've been so kind.
It's nice to talk with folks like you.
You see," he said, "I'm blind."
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have two eyes; the world is mine.
Later while walking down the street,
I saw a child I knew.
He stood and watched the others play,
but he did not know what to do.
I stopped a moment and then I said,
"Why don't you join them dear?"
He looked ahead without a word,
I forgot, he couldn't hear.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine,
I have two ears; the world is mine.
With feet to take me where I'd go,
With eyes to see the sunset's glow,
With ears to hear what I'd know.
With loving family friends to enjoy life
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine,
I've been blessed indeed, the world is mine.
Thanksgiving Day Prayer
Oh, Heavenly Father,
We thank Thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank Thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank Thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank Thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.
May these remembrances stir us to service,
That Thy gifts to us may be used for others.
Amen
Amen
Prayers for Thanksgiving Day 2019
We thank and praise You, our Heavenly Father, for establishing and preserving our nation in freedom, for giving us a rich land in which to dwell, and for providing us with an abundance of the fruits of the earth. In order that we might live in peace and be good stewards of all that You provide, grant us Your grace to recognize Your gifts and to live as good citizens. Give us grace to offer You ourselves as living sacrifices to the glory of Your holy name and the betterment of mankind. Of all Your many blessings, chief among them is the peace we have with You on account of the precious Blood of Jesus Christ shed for us for the full remission of all our sins. We thank You for Your great love in sending Your Son to be our Savior, in calling us out of our rebellion and into fellowship with Him. We give You thanks that You have done this apart from any worthiness in us.
Forgive us for those times when we grow complacent in Your love, not living out our baptismal identity but instead taking Your gifts for granted. As the great day of Christ's return draws ever closer, teach us each day to cling to You, that we may on the Last Day stand eternally before Your throne, giving You our unending thanks and praise; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Thanksgiving Prayers for Thanksgiving Day 2019
Response to priests’ prayer: We
give You thanks, and bless Your holy Name.
Priest: Let us cry aloud our thanks to the
all-blessed Trinity:
P: For the tender love You show Your whole
creation. , We give You thanks,
and bless Your
holy Name.
P: For the food we eat, the
clothes we wear, and the homes in which we live.
P: For our families, for husbands and
wives, and especially children with their
joy and their trust, for
grandparents and grandchildren, for aunts and uncles.
P: For the fields and their harvest,
for farmers and their labors, for the good earth and all its bounty.
P: For our nation and all its people, and
for the freedoms we enjoy, especially
for the freedom to
worship You in peace.
P: For the sufferings that come upon us and
for the reminder they bring of the one thing needful.
P: Above all for the Incarnation of our
Lord, for His suffering and death, for His glorious Resurrection and Ascension
and for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
P: For the holy Church, for the
divine waters of Baptism, for the comfort of Holy
Absolution, and for the
life-giving Sacrament of the Altar.
P: For the
Sacred Scriptures, for the holy Law that shows us our sin, and for the
Holy Gospel that reveals
the righteousness of Christ as Your gift to us.
P: For these and all Your mercies, mercies
beyond number and measure, for all
of which it is our joy to
stand before You and give You thanks.
P: You are indeed blessed and holy and
worthy of all honor and praise, O Father Almighty, O only-begotten Son, O
Spirit of Holiness. To You alone do we give all glory now and ever and unto the
ages of ages!
C: Amen!
