THANKSGIVING IS LIFE-GIVING

Bishop Paul S. Coakley

Thanksgiving is not only a uniquely American holiday, it is a profoundly Christian response.  As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week we will be taking stock of the blessings in our lives.  Our catalogue of blessings might include a grateful awareness of the gift of life, of family, of faith and freedom.  But let’s not stop at a generic “counting of blessings.” I challenge myself and you to take the time to consider these gifts in the concreteness and particularity of our own personal experience.  What, specifically, are we grateful for today?

Without a vivid sense of gratitude we begin to take even what is most precious in life for granted.  Gratitude and boredom cannot easily occupy the same heart.  Gratitude stimulates wonder.  Wonder, in turn, helps us lift our hearts and minds to God and give expression to the attitudes most proper for creatures that come before their Creator:  praise, thanksgiving and adoration.  These are the heart of the great act of Eucharist, which we offer through, with and in Christ every time we celebrate Mass. 

Gratitude makes us mindful of the loving God who is the source of all of our gifts, and whom we trust to continue to provide for all of our needs.  Gratitude is the foundation for all genuine Christian stewardship.  A Christian steward learns to count on God’s steadfast love and discovers the freedom to give, not only from ones abundance, but even from ones own substance and need.  Stewardship begins with thanksgiving, and an acknowledgement that, ultimately, all is gift.  Thanksgiving becomes life-giving when it becomes the very heart of our stewardship way of life.   

Speaking of thanksgiving, I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued generous response to Catholic Community Annual Appeal.  With your continued generous support we are drawing closer to our goal.  Your generosity in giving to the needs of your parish, our diocese and the needs of the universal Church is a concrete expression of your gratitude and trust in God.  Just as importantly, it is helping each of us to receive the joy that comes from responding to our need to give.