Now that we have considered the rudiments of our Advent Fast, let us return to the happy celebration at hand – it’s Thanksgiving!, or it will be soon, and here in Cor Unum Abbey, we are filled with gratitude.

Please be so kind, if you feel you are not quite in that frame of mind, to trust that gratitude belongs to you, too. Thankfulness is not withheld from us, thanks be to God! Sometimes we must wait to see the answer to our prayers, at least until we learn to see them by faith and to believe that we receive what we have asked (Mark 11:24, 25)

            “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

All of this, all of life, all of destiny, has so much to do with believing that God loves us enough. If there are any cracks or fissures, we fill them in believing that God loves others just as much! If neither we nor they live up to the love of God, we give thanks all the more, because His love does not fail, it does not ebb and flow, He does not offer His love like a carrot with which to catch a rabbit.

Oh, let us look to Jesus and be glad! His was the perfect demonstration – the Father loves us! To the gift and sacrifice of His own and His only begotten Son, He loves us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! How much more will His love prepare us and bring us into the Presence of the Living God!

Here I share with you a personal word … gratitude will change your lives, my dear ones! Gratitude can save your life. I will tell you a story next Monday, a true one at that, of how it came to be that we practice deep, daily thanksgiving here in Cor Unum Abbey. In the meantime, if it pleases you, perhaps you will see if you can fill up these last days before Thanksgiving with … thanksgiving! You will be glad you did.

“Prayer Before the Meal”

Vincent van Gogh, 1882

public domain