More thoughts on Thanksgiving

 

A Day of Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving in America began with noble sentiments and is surrounded by traditions, rituals, and stories of hardship, sharing, and giving thanks for survival in a new land. A friend of mine, widely known for her cooking skills, often bemoaned the fact that her children, even as adults, wouldn’t let her vary the turkey and trimmings menu. I’m amused when grocery stores helpfully group all the ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal in the center aisles for convenience and as a help to those who cook only occasionally and have no idea what they need. We might think that the commercialization of Christmas is a twenty-first century phenomenon, but the classic 1947 movie Miracle on 34th Street reminds us that the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade has long been the kick-off to the retail Christmas season. In just the last decade, we’ve seen the creep from crack-of-dawn Black Friday shopping sprees to late-night Thanksgiving deals, to all-day Internet shopping on Thursday. Each year there’s a growing movement to discourage stores from being open on Thanksgiving Day on the premise that it’s not fair to the people who have to be away from their families due to work schedules. And it’s OK to have one or two days a year with no shopping. But we need to remember that gratitude is at the center of this day of giving thanks. It’s not a bad way to begin the hubbub of the Christmas season. 

—from the book The Peace of Christmas: Quiet Reflections from Pope Francis
by Diane M. Houdek

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

 

Remembering Others

O God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
help me to destroy my complacency;
bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.

Amen.

—by Samuel F. Pugh, via jesuitresource.org

Thoughts on prayer

 

Why Pray?

Why should I spend an hour in prayer when I do nothing during that time but think about people I am angry with, people who are angry with me, books I should read, and books I should write, and thousands of other silly things that happen to grab my mind for a moment? The answer is: because God is greater than my mind and my heart and what is really happening in the house of prayer is not measurable in terms of human success and failure. What I must do first of all is to be faithful. If I believe that the first commandment is to love God with my whole heart, mind, and soul, then I should at least be able to spend one hour a day with nobody else but God. The question as to whether it is helpful, useful, practical, or fruitful is completely irrelevant, since the only reason to love is love itself. Everything else is secondary. The remarkable thing, however, is that sitting in the presence of God for one hour each morning—day after day, week after week, month after month—in total confusion and with myriad distractions radically changes my life. God, who loves me so much that he sent his only son not to condemn me but to save me, does not leave me waiting in the dark too long. I might think that each hour is useless, but after thirty or sixty or ninety such useless hours, I gradually realize that I was not as alone as I thought; a very small, gentle voice has been speaking to me far beyond my noisy place. So, be confident and trust in the Lord. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on time

 

Time Speeds by Us

Time speeds by, one event falling into another. I see this now. Was I in danger of reaching the end without stopping to see what was being given? I kept looking up and another year was gone. Another holiday. Another birthday. I was living in my mind. I wasn’t really here. Now a door swings open and life is looking back at me. The roses, the trees, the birds, the stars. Everything is watching. I ask myself, where have I been? While I was lost in lists of things to do and goals to realize, where was I?

—from the book Stars at Night: When Darkness Unfolds as Night

Thoughts on despair and division

 

Stars in the Night Sky

In this world darkened by despair and deep division, we fumble dimly, to see past self-interest, fears, and endless feuding. But even looking down we can see beyond, like the pilgrim seeking clarity who found a limpid pool, and bending down glimpsed the Milky Way mirrored in the deep. Then gazing heavenward, gaped and gasped at the cosmic show above, while awe-filled silence taught: the stiller you become, the clearer will your reflection be.

—from the book Wandering and Welcome: Meditations for Finding Peace by Joseph Grant

Thoughts on All Souls Day

 

All Souls Day Prayer

Merciful Father,

On this day, we are called to remember those who have died,
Particularly those who have died in the past year,
And pray for their joyful reunion with you, their loving creator.
As your son taught us to call the stranger 
neighbor, our fallen are many—

Names we will never know,
Voices we have never heard,
In lands we may never visit,
Yet brothers and sisters all.
And so we pray.

For victims of war, caught in the crossfires of
conflicts we could not quell,
for soldiers and civilians,
adults and children, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For those migrants who have died seeking a
haven where they hoped to find safety
and opportunity for themselves and for their families, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For victims of hunger, denied their share in the
bounty you have placed before us, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For victims of AIDS, Malaria, Ebola, and other infectious diseases,
who died before adequate care could reach them, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For those refugees seeking asylum from war,
who died in a land that was not their home, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For victims of emergencies and calamities everywhere,
who died amid chaos and confusion, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

Lord, as you command, we reach out to the fallen.
We call on you on behalf of those we could not reach this year.
You raised your son from the dead
that all may share in his joyful resurrection.

In Jesus' name, we pray …

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiescant in pace.

Amen

—via Catholic Relief Services

Thoughts on Halloween

 "Today, salvation has come to this house." St. Luke loves the word "today." We find it throughout his Gospel, and once again this Sunday. Salvation is always a present experience for Christians. Focusing on the past or the future only brings us desolation, as St. Therese warns us. God's presence is only found in the present moment--"I am who AM." 

Some of us are gearing up for Halloween now, the eve of All Saints technically (Hallows Eve). Gauging by the decorations we see on many front lawns, one could lament that this has partly degenerated into a national holiday for dabbling with darkness. Might we be invited to focus instead on becoming more like the saints who overcome that darkness? To bask rather in the "today" of God's conquering grace, as they did? How might God be wishing to sanctify and strengthen me today? How might I be more open and disponible to his inspirations? Today is indeed the day of my salvation. No other day. May you and I rejoice and be glad in the victory we are meant to experience, today!

-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ