One day a year hardly seems adequate

O God, of Whose mercies there is no number, and of Whose goodness the treasure is infinite; we render thanks to Your most gracious majesty for the gifts You have bestowed upon us, evermore beseeching Your clemency, that as You grant the petitions of them that ask You, You will never forsake them, but will prepare for the reward to come. We ask You this through Christ our Lord.  Amen. ===================================================================

Not everyone will be sitting down to a homespun Thanksgiving feast this week.  In fact I’m one of those who won’t.  I have to work because of some unforeseen circumstances so I will be about 250 miles from home on Thanksgiving Day.  Am I disappointed?  Yes!  But I am still thankful for lots of things: the love that I share with my wife and kids and grandchild and my mother, my recent healing, I am employed, etc., etc.  I could go on and on!  I am truly blest!  I only wish I were worthy to receive all of the blessings God bestows on me!

And if you really think about it, we all have reasons to be thankful.  In these exhausting economic times, if you're finding yourself stretched for one, try to look at the most astonishing of our blessings, which we share with each other purely because we enjoy the same awe-inspiring Creator:

"May you be praised, O Lord, in all your creatures, especially brother sun, by whom you give us light for the day; he is beautiful, radiating great splendor, and offering us a symbol of you, the Most High. . . . May you be praised, my Lord, for sister water, who is very useful and humble, precious and chaste. . . . May you be praised, my Lord, for sister earth, our mother, who bears and feeds us, and produces the variety of fruits and dappled flowers and grasses. . . . Praise and bless my Lord, give thanks and serve Him in all humility."  (St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Creatures)

St. Francis doesn’t even mention the very air we breathe, or the gift of awareness and self-knowledge that is unique to the children of God!  Thank God that He made Himself known to us so we can thank Him!

Each of us is directed to give our Lord praise and thanksgiving, today and every day that His Love commits us here. - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Para. 344

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death

So that’s my intention for today—to give thanks and praise to our Lord; Glory be to the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be!  Amen!