Giving Thanks

Friday, Nov. 24, 2023

Dear God,

As we celebrate the national holiday dedicated to giving thanks, I would like to offer you all due glory and praise. I am the first to admit that I have much for which to be thankful: I am healthy, as are many of my friends and family; I have a job that I enjoy that pays all my bills; I live in a peaceful place where I am unafraid to worship and go about daily life. But even within my own little sphere not all is well: most especially, family and friends are facing debilitating illnesses.

Outside my personal space, things are even worse. The prayer list grows daily for the family and friends of friends who are sick or facing unemployment or other personal difficulties. Violence seems to be increasing, even here in the United States, where scarcely a week goes without yet another mass shooting. Acts of racism and anti-religious sentiment are rampant.

The situation in other parts of the world is so grim I can scarcely look at the headlines. Last week I read that children in Gaza – children! – are writing their names on their limbs so that they can be identified if they’re blown to bits in the war between Israel and Hamas. What has it come to, that children worry about being blown to bits and buried without their family knowing which body parts are theirs?

I could list other atrocities, but that would just depress me even more.

Amid all this I’m finding thankfulness hard to muster, but if I look I can see that, to quote Samwise Gamgee, “There is some good in the world.” For example, a few days ago the local news reported that an emergency crew responded to a call of a woman who fell off a ladder while hanging Christmas lights on her house. After transporting her to the hospital, the crew returned to her house and finished hanging the lights.  

I, too, am making an effort to contribute good to the world, especially now that the holiday season is upon us. Although I cannot do great things, I can do small things with great love, to quote Mother Teresa. For example, I was in a shop the other day, and needed quite a bit of attention from the clerk, who was the only one present. While I was there, two other customers came in. I could tell each of them needed only a couple of minutes of the clerk’s time, so I told him to help them; I wasn’t in a hurry. I’m not sure either of the other women noticed my gesture, but the clerk did, and after I’d made my purchase he thanked me.

Not that I made the kind gesture so I could get kudos. Having worked in retail, I know how stressful it can be when customers line up behind one person who is taking her or his own time, so it made me feel good that I could make things easier for the clerk, and for the other women, even if they didn’t know it.

Writing this, I’m wondering how many times people have done kind acts for me of which I wasn’t aware, and so I have added to my prayers at night a thank you for the good I have not seen each day. My prayers are also for all those in need of healing, for those who are suffering from whatever slings life has cast at them, but please, God, let me remember always before sleep to, in the words of St. Alphonsus Liguori, “thank you for the many graces you have bestowed on me this day.”

And, please, God, pour out your blessings on this world, on this diocese, and all my friends and family, especially on this day of thanks.

Amen.