Grateful Book project invites St. Rose of Lima parishioners to be thankful for their blessings

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LAYTON — In October, the Catholic Women’s Council at St. Rose of Lima Parish had some presentations about how to keep safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. From that virtual gathering came an idea for a yearlong project about gratitude.

“Fr. Clarence [Sandoval, the parish pastor] talked with us after the presentations about taking on a spiritual focus in order to attract more women to our group,” said Juanita Topham, the group’s president.

The council has focused on service and holding fundraisers for various parish needs, “so the spiritual focus was a challenge to pick up another piece of stewardship,” she said

Sue Bedard, one of the CCW members, suggested creating a Grateful Book, in which all members of the parish could document what they are thankful for despite the challenges brought by the pandemic.

“Living with an attitude of gratitude is difficult for me in this time of COVID-19,” Bedard said. “One morning I was thinking of what I was going to do for Thanksgiving and I felt a deep sense of loss. I was not going to be able to celebrate with a traditional dinner with my family.”

Instead of focusing on what she thought was wrong, however, she made a commitment to find things to be grateful for, she said.  

“When the topic came up at the [CCW] meeting I shared my idea. I started out with things that I have taken for granted. Mike [her husband] and I are not sick; we have a home that is warm and safe,” said Bedard, adding that as she thought about it, she became aware of all her family and friends who have shown love through simple ways.

“As the month progressed, I found I was able to really appreciate how blessed I am. Gratitude changed my perception of what is important,” she said.

Bedard started experiencing the power of faith to transform sadness, pain, anxiety and the isolation of the moment, and “my gratitude shifted my focus from myself to the love and mercy of God. Gratitude showed me I need Jesus more than ever. In the end, I discovered that gratitude is a gift I give myself.”

With that in mind, and with all that is going on at this holiday season, “we decided to make this a yearlong project,” Topham said.

The project, now in its beginning stage, has some parishioners starting to document what they are grateful for. Parishioners have been invited to share their thoughts of thanks and gratitude, which will be put into a notebook at the church.

“Those who have responded have cited their family, their health, their Savior,” Topham said. “As for me, I count my COVID blessings. These are situations that would not exist if we didn’t have COVID.”

One of those things that she is grateful for is a garden her husband planted.

“He created [it] this summer since he was working from home and had time that he would have had to use commuting to work. He was also able to spend more time with his grandchildren, who were living with us for much of the last year,” she said.

The Grateful Book Project is important because “it reminds us that God is ever present with his mercy and graces,” she said. “Even when we forget, he does not forget. And if we look for how he is shaping our lives and blessing us rather than focusing on the negatives, we can discover those gifts that Sue [Bedard] talked about.”  

Contributions to the book may be made at the parish; people are asked to bring their own paper (three-hole punched), or thoughts can be emailed to Laurell Martinez, lmartinez546@gmail.com; or to Juanita Topham, Jschenck57@gmail.com. The contributions will be printed and added to the book.