Thanksgiving Day
Reflection
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie
Prayer
When I have food, help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work, help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home, help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain, help me to remember those who suffer,
I thank you for friends and remember the friendless
I thank you for freedom and remember the enslaved.
And remembering, help me to be concerned enough to help; by word and deed, those who cry out for what I take for granted
Action
Let us be grateful… let us acknowledge the many blessings which are ours… let us think of our families and friends.. and let us give thanks in our hearts.
Suggested Reading
Always give thanks to God for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:20
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the God who is good; for God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 118:28-29
The world is in need of hope, and with gratitude — with this attitude of thanksgiving — we can transmit a bit of hope.
Pope Francis
To be a presence of perpetual thanksgiving may be the ultimate goal of life. The thankful person is the one for whom life is simply one long exercise in the sacred.
Joan Chittister
It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.
David Stiendl-Rast
Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life… a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year – and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God.
Ray Stannard Baker
If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.
W. Clement Stone
Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day.
Robert Caspar Lintner
Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.
Theodore Roosevelt
Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.
John Milton
Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.
Maya Angelou