Thoughts on Thanksgiving

                                            Is your heart a grateful heart?

In her new book Come to Me: Living the Nine First Fridays, Sr. Anne Flanagan reminds us that "thanksgiving is the foundation of everything in the spiritual life. We can never thank God enough for having created us—and especially for creating us to live with him! We have an infinite future ahead of us.... We can look forward to [heaven], taste it in anticipation, and be refreshed in trials by the thought of it."

But like everything else, gratitude takes practice. It is a habit. We need to practice it daily, and the more we do, the more our heart awakens to the generosity and goodness of God.

As Thanksgiving weekend approaches for our readers in the United States, and as all of us prepare to step into the holy season of Advent, use these tips from Come to Me to welcome the gift of gratitude into your heart:

• Give thanks for the blessings that come to you through your 
  family members, one by one.
• Bless the Lord for the teachers and mentors (at school, 
  at work, in times of crisis) who have been a support and 
  example to you.
• Go day by day through your week, or month by month 
  through the year, or year by year through your life (this may 
  end up taking quite a while!), recalling the moments of grace 
  you have lived and experienced.
• Take a mental road trip to the cities and neighborhoods 
  where you’ve lived, gone to school, worked, and traveled. Name 
  and give thanks for the blessings you have encountered in 
  those places.

"Even if your life has been marked by sufferings of the worst kind, by betrayals and crushed hopes, this part of the journey will not last," writes Sr. Anne. “Give thanks for everything. This will lead to amazement with God, and less preoccupation with self."

"Make this ... a day of amazement and gratitude for the gift of existence."

In Christ,
Daughters of St. Paul