Don’t Stop When You’re Winning: Keep Praying Thanks

A friend sent out this prayer at Thanksgiving. I give it whole at the end, but offer this piecemeal meditation:

Dear God giver of all Grace and of all Blessings…

Maybe we should make “grace” the first gift we thank God for consciously all day. It is the “favor” of sharing in the divine life of God. Shouldn’t that top our list?

I thank you for the gift of these friends and family...

God’s Being is relationship. God is – and can only be – as Three Persons in relationship (that is, interaction) with Each Other. Then all being, ours too, has to be relationship. To live is to interact with friends and family. The human race lives authentically in the measure we all become friends and family to everyone else.

I thank you for the gift of life…

Not just our life, but our existence is something God is giving us right now. He can’t just “put us out there” and forget us. God sings the word that creates us. We exist only as long as he holds the note. We exist by ongoing love.

for the breath that sustains us…

Take a breath. Hold it. You have only minutes to live. Unless you take another one immediately, you die. Life is ongoing dependence: on air, water, food, shelter, other people and God. We should make it ongoing gratitude.

For the food we will partake of on this Thanksgiving day that will nourish our souls and bodies... A monk (Brother David Steinl-Rast, OSB) once said: “When you eat, talk. When you keep silence, fast.” The tribal custom of the Ngamas in Chad forbids anyone to eat alone. The Bread of Life (Jesus) is only given in a communal meal, both at Mass and in heaven. There is no take-out. If we cannot forgive, accept others, and sit down together at table, we starve our bodies and souls. We have to nourish both together.

For the love of friends and family without which there would be no life…

There is no life without love. But there can be love without physical presence. Our deceased (that is, fully alive) friends and family are still with us. So are those who are absent. But without love, even those sitting next to us are distant.

I thank you for the beauty of this world that our eyes can see, for the joy that the ear may hear, for the mystery of our creation…

It is a principle of life: what we do not praise we will not appreciate. If you do not praise the beauty you see in others – constantly – you will not notice it. If you praise all the time, you will live surrounded by beauty. Test it. When you see anything good in anyone, tell them. Your whole life will be joy.

I thank you for the children who lighten each moment for us with delight, and for the unborn who offer us hope for the future...

Children give us hope. They don’t have the faults that discourage us. Jesus said, “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Do your faults discourage you? In God’s eyes you are a developing child. Accept that and grow with confidence.

I thank you for another day of life, one more day to show love and give love, for the opportunity to work for justice and peace, for your grace, and your promise to be with us to the end of times...

What a waking prayer! Why do you get up in the morning? Is it sometimes dread to get out of bed? If you want to “show love and give love,” you cannot fail. No one can take that from you. Do you want to “work for justice and peace”? If all you want is to work for it, you can be happy. If you want to succeed in it, your happiness will depend on your hope. Hope means trusting in Jesus until “the end of times.”

Thank You for being Our God and Our Salvation…

We thank God for many things, mostly for things he gives us: food, flowers, children, friends, health, success in our enterprises. Why not thank him above all, more often than for anything else, just for what he is? Why not do the same with the people we love, live and work with?

For these and all blessings on this Thanksgiving Day and every day I give you thanks, loving God, through Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour.

We celebrate Thanksgiving Day to remind us every day should be thanksgiving. We celebrate birthdays to remind us to give thanks every day for every person’s birth. We celebrate Mass to remind us that we experience every day what Jesus’ sacrifice did for us. To “celebrate” is to “single out for grateful remembrance.” Make every day a constant celebration. See, say and remember.

Amen. Happy Thanksgiving. So be it. Every day. And thank you, Eileen Forrest. Even if you weren’t Irish, we would love you!

Now read it as Eileen wrote it:

Dear God giver of all Grace and of all Blessings,

I thank you for the gift of these friends and family.

I thank you for the gift of life, for the breath that sustains us,

For the food we will partake of on this Thanksgiving Day that will nourish our souls and bodies.

For the love of friends and family without which there would be no life.

I thank you for the beauty of this world that our eyes can see, for the joy that the ear may hear, for the mystery of our creation.

I thank you for the children who lighten each moment for us with delight, and for the unborn who offer us hope for the future.

I thank you for another day of life, one more day to show love and give love, for the opportunity to work for justice and peace, for your grace, and your promise to be with us to the end of times.

Thank You for being Our God and Our Salvation.

For these and all blessings on this Thanksgiving Day and every day I give you thanks, loving God, through Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour.

Amen