He Is Gracious

Posted by: L.E.S. on: October 14, 2013

• In: Everyday Life | Faith | Family
• 4 Comments

Thanksgiving Monday may be well under way and the long weekend nearly over, but I’m still thinking about thankfulness and gratitude today.

At Mass yesterday, we heard about the ten lepers Jesus cleansed, only one of whom turned back to thank Jesus and praise God for his healing (see Luke 17:11-18*). Our priest reminded us to do two things: thank God for our blessings and remember that all we have is a blessing from God and not simply the product of our own work.

Often we hear about “self-made” men and women who rose from humble roots to wealth and power. What we may not hear about is the teacher who encouraged that person as a child, the employer who gave that person a much-needed job and thus the means to pursue his or her dreams, the valuable contact that person made at a key moment. And if these people are mentioned, the timely meetings may be chalked up to “luck” and “good timing.” Not to blessings from God.

But as our priest pointed out in his homily, if we are born alive when others are stillborn, if we have hearing or sight or the ability to talk or walk when others don’t, if we have children when others can’t, if we have a job when others don’t, these are blessings that we should thank God for.

We tend to take life, good health, and physical and intellectual abilities—our own or loved ones’—for granted until they’re in jeopardy or lost. Instead, we focus on what we lack or would like to change.

For example, I could dwell on the fact that I’m 40 and not at my ideal weight—or I could be thankful that I’m alive and in good health overall. That I can still see a beautiful sunset and hear my favourite music.

Or I could focus on the challenges of parenting a teenager and the fact that we don’t always see eye to eye—or I could thank God that he is healthy and active, knows his own mind, and has goals and dreams to pursue.

Whether we celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday or plan to do so today, I pray that we would recognize and be thankful every day for the ways God has blessed us.

Praise the LORD!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

for he is gracious, and a song of praise is seemly. (Psalm 147:1)

(*Scripture reference and quote taken from the Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition.)

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Tags: blessings, Catholic, Christian, faith, God, gratitude, luck, religion, thankfulness, Thanksgiving