As fall continues and temperatures become cooler, most people begin looking ahead to the holiday season of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.
These holidays deserve preparation to foster hospitality and family celebrations, but looking forward can lead to missing the present moment and our need to reflect on the past.
As our focus begins to shift to holiday preparations, what can help us remain in the present?
Daily gratitude.
Beginning with gratitude
The month of November begins with the Solemnity of All Saints and the Feast of All Souls.
Remembering the holy men and women who spent their lives seeking the will of God and loving their neighbors, we celebrate their triumph and their place in Heaven.
These saints humbly intercede before God on our behalf, which is certainly cause for gratitude.
On All Souls’ Day, we remember all the faithful departed, particularly our own loved ones who have passed.
We intercede for them that they may enter into the wedding feast of the Lamb.
The Holy Souls in Purgatory have given witness to living holy lives and are also able to intercede for us.
Beginning the month with these feasts to remember the many holy men and women of God who have gone before us naturally leads the heart to gratitude for those whom we have encountered in our own lives and for those who intercede on our behalf.
In addition to beginning the month with gratitude, beginning each new day with gratitude fosters in one’s heart the gift of life given to us in each new day.
The gift of each day — my life, the rising of the sun, my family, my friends — is an immense outpouring of God’s unconditional love.
The great saint of the Little Way, St. Thérèse of Lisieux said, “Jesus does not demand great action from us but simply surrender and gratitude.”
There’s no better time than the morning to begin with a few minutes of prayer focused on a Morning Offering and gratitude.
Reflection and gratitude
The month of November brings us to the end of the liturgical year. The Solemnity of Christ the King this year is in the same week as the secular Thanksgiving holiday.
Any ending is a natural opportunity to reflect and give thanks.
This year, leading to Thanksgiving, take some time to reflect on Christ’s place in your life and in your heart.
How did you first encounter Jesus? Who has helped you to grow in your relationship with the Lord? How has Jesus been leading you and speaking to your heart over the past month? Over the past year?
Reflecting on these questions provides opportunities to give thanks to God for his many graces.
Daily reflection is also part of the rich Catholic prayer tradition.
The practice of a nightly examen always begins with gratitude for all the blessings of the day.
Reflection leading to gratitude precedes any examination of our shortcomings in the day.
God’s goodness and grace provide the proper lens to view our sins and areas of life in need of change.
The opportunity to repent and begin again then provides another reason for gratitude for God’s mercy.
Eucharistic thanksgiving
Every aspect of our gratitude to God is brought together in the Eucharist. The very word Eucharist means “thanksgiving”.
We come to Mass precisely to offer thanksgiving to the Father for all of his gifts, most especially the gift of redemption won for us through the sacrifice of Jesus.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it this way: “The Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits, for all that he has accomplished through creation, redemption, and sanctification” (1360).
Reflecting on all God has accomplished through creation, redemption, and our sanctification is another means to express gratitude. Bringing these reflections and a heart full of gratitude to the Mass cultivates a readiness to offer the sacrifice of Jesus to the Father with thanksgiving.
“In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Prayers of gratitude are a golden thread that weaves together all of life’s experiences, including both joys and sufferings.
The disposition of a grateful heart before the Lord is ready to receive or surrender all that God asks of us.
All of life’s circumstances then transform the human heart to become more like the heart of Christ. This is the gift of gratitude in all things.
Sarah Pandl is a member of St. Christopher Parish in Verona. She works for The Evangelical Catholic and loves living in tune with the liturgical calendar of the Church.