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November 21, 2023Dear Sisters and Brothers,
This November edition of the Baltimore Beacon comes on the cusp of Thanksgiving Day and what is hopefully a long holiday weekend for you to enjoy some great food and restful time with family, friends, and community. Thanksgiving Day draws us together from within the circles of our lives to give thanks for all the blessings we enjoy and for the gift of one another’s presence and friendship. As a special holiday it moves our hearts to an attitude of gratitude for the real experiences of blessing in our lives.
As people of faith, we celebrate all our blessings, and especially one another, as gifts from our provident God, to whom we offer our great and joyful thanksgiving. In the words of Scripture, we are a people called to be dedicated to thankfulness (Col3:15) who give thanks in all things (1Thess 5:18).
Thomas Merton speaks eloquently to the deep meaning of a spirit of gratitude in the heart of the person of faith.
To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and he had given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense grace from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.
Gratitude and gratefulness ground us in the conviction that all is gift and into the felt spiritual experience that we are graced by God’s unconditional love. Saint Paul’s reminder to us in 1 Corinthians 4:7, ‘What do you have that you did not receive?’ makes giving thanks not just a virtue for a special holiday, but even more, our very way to being more fully alive every day of our lives.
Today, when value is often defined by achievement, self-sufficiency, and productivity, the ‘I’m owed, I deserve it, I earned it’ mindset can easily dull our sense of gratitude for all the blessings that we have received from God and from others. An attitude of gratitude and the regular practice of giving thanks promotes well-being, good will, and greater prospects for peace and harmony within oneself and with others. May the gift of the holiday deepen our resolve to live gratefully for our own good and for the hope and healing of the world.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and to all you hold close in your heart! Count your blessings and be grateful for the gift that they are to you - on Thanksgiving Day and always! Be assured of our grateful prayer as Redemptorists for the blessing of your presence, friendship, and support for our community and for our ministry to God’s people.
Peace, blessings, and many thanks!
Fr. John Collins, C.Ss.R.
Provincial