It seems to me that our sense of gratitude has diminished in recent years. How often do we send or receive thank you cards? How often do we express our appreciation to people in our lives, let alone to God who has given us the gift of life itself?
Most of us would have to be honest and say we don’t say “thanks” often enough. We take so many things for granted.
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Dear Friends,
Thanks to all who joined in prayerful support of us bishops as we recently met in Baltimore for our annual fall assembly. The meeting was very upbeat and very joyful – in very large part due to Archbishop Timothy Dolan, his wonderful wit and sense of humor, and his determination to expedite our proceedings using every possible tactic. The archbishop’s approach meant that we bishops had more time for fraternal companionship, and that the meeting was a time when the Holy Spirit, though Archbishop Dolan and our new, gracious, and warm Apostolic Nuncio, confirmed us in our faith.
On July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig enjoyed an early Thanksgiving Day. On Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium, the Hall of Fame first baseman told 61,808 baseball fans that he was the luckiest man on earth.
At age 36, he was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis); yet, he was thankful because God gifted him with great athletic ability, wonderful fans, teammates, and a good family.
Many years ago a missionary friend of mine told me about a beautiful tradition practiced by the people who live in Uganda, East Africa.
From a very young age children are taught to live with grateful hearts. The word they use is “webali,” which is an expression of gratitude for all God’s gifts no matter how seemingly insignificant.
For example, any time a person goes to another’s home, the host thanks that person for taking the time out of his day to visit and the guest thanks the host for welcoming him into his home. If someone has a conversation with another, that person thanks her for taking time to speak and listen to her.
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Dear Friends,
Like so many of you, I hope, I enjoyed an excellent Sunday this past week — with time for prayer and with some time for leisure.
In the first place, I was very happy to have the opportunity to say two of the Sunday Masses in Platteville, first at the local Parish of St. Mary’s, and then at the University Parish of St. Augustine’s. It was great to be at prayer with all of those good people, and I was very encouraged to see the new things happening for the Catholic community on the campus of the UW-Platteville.
Together with some generous donations, and some hard work by students and priests alike, the church at St. Augustine’s is looking more beautiful than ever, and the pieces are in place for continued growth in the faith activities of those students.
Thanksgiving is a time when we give thanks for all the blessings we have received. First among those blessings is the gift of life. Without life, we could not enjoy everything else God has given us.
Thanksgiving also comes just before the beginning of the Church season of Advent, a time when we prepare spiritually for the celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas. Christ, the son of God, took on the challenges of life — and eventually death on a cross — to bring us all the possibility of salvation.
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Dear Friends,
As I write this, I am freshly arrived back from the annual assembly of our National Bishops Conference, filled with hope indeed. On my way to Baltimore for the meeting, I had a stopover in Washington, during which time I had a good opportunity to visit with our seminarian who is a Basselin Scholar at the Catholic University of America, and some of the fellow seminarian friends whom he has met. The experience was totally upbeat and filled me with hope, both for the present and for the future.
Additionally, at meetings of the bishops conference, Tuesday night is usually the “free evening” for dinner and recreation for the bishops, though in many instances, bishops are very generously giving themselves, on Tuesday evenings, to the work of the various committees or sub-committees of our conference.
In an attempt to be “inclusive” and not to offend anyone, our society these days seems to be emphasizing the secular nature of our holidays and avoiding any mention of religion.
That’s perhaps why we often see turkeys pictured instead of Pilgrims at Thanksgiving time. That’s why, too, we see the term “holiday” trees used instead of Christmas trees.
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Queridos amigos,
Escribo esto recién llegado de la asamblea anual de la Conferencia Nacional de Obispos y lleno, realmente, de esperanza. De camino a Baltimore para este encuentro, me detuve en Washington y tuve la oportunidad de visitar a nuestro seminarista que tiene una Basselin Scholar (beca de tres años de filosofía para seminaristas) en la Catholic University of America, y a algunos de los seminaristas que ha conocido. La experiencia fue bastante buena y me llenó de esperanza, no solo para el presente sino también para el futuro.
Dear Friends,
It seems that Labor Day was just yesterday and here we find ourselves at Thanksgiving and the beginning of the “holiday season.” In the first place, I am grateful for all of you at Thanksgiving — you who are my brothers and sisters in the diocesan family. We are indeed a family, and the members of a family do not always get along perfectly. But, we are still family in Christ, and no one of us, myself especially, should ever forget that. And so we live and move forward together in gratitude, precisely the way every family does and must.
