My son Joseph, now seven, started praying the Blessing Before Meals at dinner in our home about four years ago, right after he learned the prayer at his Catholic preschool. Back then, when he first prayed it, he would say:
“Blessed O Lord and these my gifts which we are about to receive from my bounty, through Christ Our Lord. Amen.”
He had a little problem with the “us” and “Thy” which he conveniently glossed over. It took a good year to convince him that his “my” should be “Thy.”
His slip was due to his age, but I know that even if I know enough to say “Thy”, I often act as though it is all about “my” and “mine.”
I remember an episode of the Simpsons where Bart Simpson echoed a similar sentiment, after saying the Grace Before Meals, Bart said: “Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing,” Again, the modern cartoon reflects a modern problem—people have ceased believing that everything we have is from God.
It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we are self-sufficient, especially when everything is going well in our lives.
But wait till things turn bad: suddenly we find ourselves unemployed or are diagnosed with a terminal illness, or something horrible happens to a loved one—then the realization hits us that everything we’ve ever had and will ever have has been a gift. Only God can save us from death.
Monsignor Muller when he was preaching on the annual Catholic Charities drive at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish had a placard hanging from the ambo. The sign read:
“Don’t Give God What’s Left, Give God What’s Right.”
That simple message hasn’t left me since that Sunday back in September.
One of the real blessings of this year, for me, has been Bishop Baker’s challenge for us in the Diocese of Birmingham to read through the Letters of Saint Paul during the Year of Saint Paul. I’ve greatly benefited from this exercise.
Saint Paul frequently in his letters will tell us to “give thanks” to God—not just in the good times, but at all times. In fact it is a consistent message of Saint Paul’s that we are to live our lives while “giving thanks” to God at all times. The Greek word for “giving thanks” that Saint Paul uses over and over is well known to us Catholics— it is Eucharist. If you listen at Mass, the Eucharist, you’ll hear the priest praying “we give you thanks” for all of us to God the Father. I have tried to do this in my life and found it to make a remarkable difference. When you give thanks to God at all times, you start to see the reality of the present moment in an entirely different light.
Let me give you a simple example. I travel on a horrible road every morning, and I’m frequently stuck in traffic. All the hand gesturing and cursing isn’t going to make the traffic move, but thanking God for that moment can change my entire attitude. I come to appreciate the slowing down of my hectic life. I often notice things along the route that I would otherwise have ignored.
And perhaps that is what is missing from modern life, we have become so preoccupied with my plan that we don’t have time to notice God’s plan for us. I think one of the reasons for this is that we fear the real world and try our best to avoid dealing with it.
This Thanksgiving, let’s truly be thankful for all God has given us, all that God has entrusted us with, and commit to doing what Saint Paul proclaims to us: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you,” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Then let’s keep thanking God at every moment for the rest of our lives!
Some Seed Fell… is a column of the Office of the New Evangelization and Stewardship, by the director of the office, Michael Dubruiel
