When I was a little child, I would occasionally try to imagine what it was like to be blind. I would close my eyes and walk around the backyard, trying to feel my way around the familiar landscape.
After a few minutes, I would open my eyes to the wonder of the brilliant sunlight, the vibrant colors of the grass and the sky, and the reassuring familiarity of beloved faces.
This little experiment always made me appreciate the gift of sight with greater gratitude and gave me empathy for those who could not see.
As the saying goes, the things we see every day, we never see at all.
Because of our over-familiarity with the daily and the distractive worries of our human course, we easily become blinded and immune to the wonder of the world, the miracle of life, the beauty of love, and the sacredness of our existence.
As we once again celebrate Thanksgiving, the holiday invites us to sit back and take stock of the gracious enormity of God’s generosity to us.
Life as a gift
The gift of life itself, our bodily senses, family and friends who love us, food, clothing, and shelter; education; books; travel; work; our experiences of beauty, truth and, goodness all flow from the Lord’s abundant heart.
In the spiritual realm, we have Jesus, the Church, the sacraments, the Scriptures, prayer, the forgiveness of our sins, the promise of eternal life, and our identity as beloved children of the Father.
The wondrous luminosity of our pilgrimage through this world fills us with amazement, gratitude, and joy whenever we take the time and opportunity to ponder the remarkable gifts we have received from the hands of the Father.
Can we move to a deeper spiritual place where we can even be thankful for the Cross, and the disappointments, setbacks, and sufferings that come our way?
The saints so deeply entered into the mystery of the Lord’s love for them, that they could rejoice in the Cross of Christ and felt privileged to share in the redemption of the world by uniting their sorrows to the saving redemption wrought by Jesus in His Passion, death, and Resurrection.
The Cross gives us ample opportunity to trust, surrender, persevere, hope, and believe even when our experience of the dark night tempts us to run away.
I always picture suffering as the needed sandpaper to smooth out the rough edges of my soul.
Our human temptation is to take for granted the blessings and gifts that come our way and to chafe at the contradictions and difficulties.
From a supernatural perspective, God invites us into a humble posture of gratitude for all of it.
Gratefulness saves me from complacency, selfishness, despair, self-pity, entitlement, jealousy, anger, and parsimony.
In a culture of egocentrism, victimhood, indifference, and entitlement, gratitude draws us into the astonishing grace of the Lord, which is all around us, if we have the eyes to see.
Always grateful
“Eucharist” means “thanksgiving,” which reminds us Catholics that gratitude to the Lord cannot be pinned down to one little square of the November calendar.
We constantly go to Mass to praise and thank the Father for saving us in Jesus Christ the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.
When I realize in my mind, heart, and soul that God Himself took my place on the Cross so that I could live freed and forgiven, then my heart overflows with thankfulness and praise.
Does the fact that most Baptized Catholics do not go to Mass on Sunday say something about our fundamental lack of gratitude as a people?
The attitude that we earned what we have, that we are entitled to more, that we are the center of the world leaves us trapped in a selfish hall of mirrors.
When I can see my life and everybody and everything in it as a sheer gift from God who loves us infinitely and completely, I find the exhilarating liberation to be generous, forgiving, joyful, faithful, and committed to the service of the Lord and the salvation of my neighbor.
Historical critics may debunk the mythology of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, but my heart moves when I think of these brave wayfarers pausing to thank God with their perilous journey across the sea behind them and the unknown dangers of hunger and disease in front of them.
As we sit down with family and friends this Thanksgiving, I pray the Lord renews us with a deeper sense of gratitude and wonder as we ponder the remarkable gifts that He has poured into our lives.
I encourage everyone to go to Mass on Thanksgiving. It is the perfect way to praise and thank God for the gift of Jesus!
Shut your eyes for a moment and then open them to perceive with fresh wonder the miracle of our existence!
Happy Thanksgiving!