Today, our nation pauses to give thanks. I’ll be taking time today to help serve meals to the homeless and homebound. As we gather with family and friends today, let’s not forget those who are struggling in these days.
Early this morning, I began my ‘litany of thanks’ beginning with gratitude to God and my dependence upon him! I give thanks for my faith, that allows me to believe in God and be grateful for his many blessings; the beauty of creation and everything within it. I was even able to give thanks for the wind (that is a rare occasion!) as I walked this morning.
I give thanks for the Incarnation, for the gift of God’s Son and his gift of the Holy Spirit. I am grateful for the Church and the People of God who make up the Body of Christ. I am even grateful for God’s call to lead his people as a bishop. I am grateful for this nation and the freedoms we share.
I am grateful for family and friends. I give thanks even for the challenges of life that help me realize how dependent I am upon God’s grace, mercy, love, and providence. I am grateful for those who work with me in service to the Diocese of Cheyenne. I am grateful for our priests, deacons, religious and seminarians and all who strive to grow God’s Kingdom and make this world a better place.
On this day when there we will be celebrations around banquets of plenty, I am grateful for the food placed before us, the many elements of creation required to grow our food, from sun to soil, the body that appreciates the taste and the sustenance it provides, the many people who labored to plant, cultivate, harvest, ship, process and prepare our meals.
Let us give thanks to the Lord for his many blessings, this day and always:
Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
9 You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
11 You crown the year with your bounty;
your paths overflow with richness.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy. (Psalm 65)
With gratitude for all of you, and praying that you have the grace to recognize God’s manifold grace at work in your life, Happy Thanksgiving!
Peace,
+pde
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