Category: Thanksgiving

Wisdom 15:1-6: God’s Wrath
Wisdom 15:1-6: God’s Wrath

Friday, December 19, 2025

But you, our God, are good and true, slow to anger, and governing with all mercy.

It is easy to believe that God is full of wrath when we read the Old Testament; the New Testament tells us that this is not so. Yesterday’s Mass and MAGNIFICAT readings and prayers all tell us that we have much to be grateful for in God. They tell us that we have much to be happy about with God. They tell us that we have much to love through God.

God is our constant shepherd – even when we do not feel God’s presence, God is with us.

From the MAGNIFICAT Morning Prayer: The angel of God, who had been leading Israel’s camp, now moved and went around behind them. (Exodus 14:19)

The angel of the Lord . . . stood between the fleeing Israelites and their Egyptian pursuers during the exodus, and hid them from sight. God goes with us, guards us and guides us today with the same protective love.

The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher. While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: “This is the way; walk in it,” when you would turn to the right and to the left. (Isaiah 30:20-21)

Yesterday’s first reading was from Daniel 5 in which King Belshazzar asks advice of Daniel, the Jewish exile in whom the spirit of God rests. Daniel interprets “the writing on the wall” and brings God’s wisdom to those who would worship idols rather than the living God.

Yesterday’s Gospel from Luke 21:12-19: Jesus said to the crowd: “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

We may find all of this frightening – yet this is the work of Christ’s disciples.

We may find all of this exhausting – yet we draw strength from Christ.

We may find all of this overwhelming – yet we as disciples persist through Christ.

If we find all of this too confusing and too difficult, we will want to remember that Christ is God among us who comes to live as one of us – who brings us wisdom and strength.

If we find all of this too baffling and too crushing, we will want to remember that our perfection lies in our persistence – and that this is all that God asks of us.

If we find that all of this causes anger to rise within, we will want to remember that what we see as God’s wrath is God’s love.

And so we pray . . .

Dear God, From time to time our sight is blurred and our hearing dimmed and we must retreat for a time to take a journey inward, to ask your counsel, and to seek your wisdom. Bring us your comfort and strength. Set us on the right path. Teach us to put aside our anger and our ridiculous idols. Teach us to listen for you. Teach us to trust in you alone. Call us home to you. Amen.

A re-blog from November 24, 2011.

Image from: http://cldefelice.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

If we come to this hectic holiday season with too much anger, we may want to take a journey inward to examine who we are and how we behave. To take a journey in which we examine our own use of anger go to the Journey of Transformation page on this blog.

Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Morning.” MAGNIFICAT. 23.11 (2011): 317-318. Print.

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December 19, 2025

Belshazzar, Daniel 5, Exodus 14:19, Isaiah 30:20-21, journey, Luke 21:12-19, wisdom
2 Chronicles 26: Pride and Fall
2 Chronicles 26: Pride and Fall

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Rembrandt: King Uzziah Stricken with Leprosy

My mother warned us often: Pride goeth before a fall; she as likely referring to Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Today we are presented with a detailed story of how Uzziah takes so much that God has given to him – wealth, power and fame – and quickly loses it: But after he had become strong, he became proud of his own destruction and broke faith with the Lord, his God. Was it the flocks and vineyards he owned, the soldiers he commanded or the city fortifications he built that fogged his vision? We will never know what urged him to take over the office of the temple priest, but we do know his fate: leprosy broke out on his forehead . . . [and the priests] expelled him from the temple. He fled unwillingly, for the Lord had afflicted him. King Uzziah remained a leper until the day of his death. He lived in exile, in a segregated house, excluded from the Lord. We can imagine how difficult it must have been for Uzziah to process what had happened to him; and we can appreciate how difficult it must have been for him to deal with his heavy loss: a man who has all suddenly is separated from all that makes him powerful, rich and famous.

David: The Coronation of Napoleon
I remember an historical novel my mother gave me to read; it was by Annemarie Selinko and was later made into the film Désirée. It is the intriguing and convoluted story of Napoleon Bonaparte told from the point of view of a young woman he met, wooed and left behind. It was valuable to me as a young girl and it is valuable to me today as I recall its latent message of pride going before a fall, and I also recall a conversation I had with Mother about humility and gratitude being the antidotes that will inoculate us against the insidious, deadly workings of pride.

Pride can make us ugly. It can warp and distort our vision and hearing. It makes us the people we have pledged to never be. Gratitude puts us in proper relationship with self, God and others. It reminds us gently that we are not the alpha and omega. It whispers to us quietly that we have much to learn and that we cannot foresee or control the future. Humility reminds us to take the last seat at the table rather than the first. It gives us time to think, restrains us from making fools of ourselves and saves us from impulsiveness. Together, gratitude and humility can steer us away from the fall of pride but ultimately, we must be the ones who save ourselves from the hubris that stalks any successful man or woman.

Napoleon crowns himself king, I learned in high school, and when I saw the painting by David in our textbook, I remembered the story of the young girl who found out that the disaster of her inconstant suitor was salvation in disguise. Uzziah is king and enters the temple to act as a priest and make an offering on the altar. These are stories worth remembering. They are lessons worth learning. As we prepare to celebrate the coming of the Christ Child, let us call upon the twin angels of gratitude and humility, and keep them close at hand.

More details about Uzziah can be found at the following sites: http://www.christianlibrary.org/authors/John_L_Kachelman_Jr/kings-ot/uzziah.html and http://bibleencyclopedia.com/uzziah.htm

Images from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_King_Uzziah_Stricken_with_Leprosy.jpg and http://biblicalgenealogy.kavonrueter.com/Pictures-Ozias.htm

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December 17, 2025

gratitude, humility, Napoleon, Proverbs 16:18, Uzziah
Psalm 65: Sacred Rest
Psalm 65: Sacred Rest

Sunday, December 14, 2025

Several weeks ago, we celebrated Thanksgiving in the United States, a time when we traditionally set aside time for family and friends, a time when we traditionally acknowledge the goodness of the Creator and the generosity of Creation. It has also become a time for bargain shopping. Somehow we always manage to clutter up the time God gives us for refreshment and recuperation. It is as if we cannot stop ourselves from the neurotic filling up of time and space with meaningless objects and activity. A few brave souls have begun to push back against the opening of stores at midnight on Black Friday and we applaud this effort. For some of us to bargain shop, others of us must leave family and home to wait on us. I think we as a people are missing something. Rest.

An excerpt I recently read from Richard Rohr’s has set me to thinking. Today’s Noontime Psalm moves me further along in the same direction. Rest. We need to rest and reflect.

“The final experience of mysticism, after the optimistic explosion that we usually call hope, and the ensuing sense of safety, is of deep rest. It’s the verb I’m told that is most used by the mystics: ‘resting in God.’ All this striving and this need to perform, climb, and achieve becomes, on some very real level, unnecessary. It’s already here, now. I can stop all this overproduction and over-proving of myself. That’s Western and American culture. It’s not the Gospel at all.

“We’ve all imbibed the culture of unrest so deeply. We just cannot believe that we could be respected or admired or received or loved without some level of performance. We are all performers and overachievers, and we think ‘when we do that’ we will finally be lovable. Once you ride on the performance principle, you don’t even allow yourself to achieve it. Even when you ‘achieve’ a good day of ‘performing,’ it will never be enough, because it is inherently self-advancing and therefore self-defeating. You might call it ‘spiritual capitalism’.”

Rohr is telling us what we really know: we must step back from the high velocity life we have constructed for ourselves and we must give time over to God. We need to rest, reflect, and give thanks.

The psalmist intones: To you we owe our hymn of praise . . . to you our vows must be fulfilled . . . to you all flesh must come . . . There is no denying this truth. We owe all that we are and all that we have to God. For this we must give thanks. We all physically return to God. This is a truth that cannot be avoided.

You answer us with awesome deeds of justice . . . you are robed in power, you set up the mountains by your might, you still the roaring of the seas . . . the tumult of the peoples . . . There is no avoiding this reality. We might throw ourselves against our problems with childish anger but in the end it is child-like petition that brings us to our senses. This is a truth that cannot be ignored.

You visit the earth and water it, make it abundantly fertile . . . you adorn the year with your bounty, your paths drip with fruitful rain, the untilled meadows also drip; the hills are robed with joy . . . There is no tricking ourselves into believing that God has no interest in us whatever. God’s generosity is too enormous to reject; God’s kindness is impossible to refute. We may give ourselves credit for earning what we have gathered but it is God the Creator who makes the panoply of Creation available to us. This is a truth that cannot be argued away.

The pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys blanketed with grain; they cheer and sing for joy . . . There is no evading these simple facts. God creates. God provides. God rests. If we hope to rest at all . . . we must first rest in God . . . We must call our friends and loved ones to join us in this sacred resting . . . and we must together give thanks to the Creator for Creation.

A re-post from November 19, 2011.

Image from: https://medium.com/@jana.nightingale/sacred-rest-ca50b4a0a29

Following the Mystics through the Narrow Gate …Seeing God in All Things can be purchased at https://store.cac.org/products/following-the-mystics-through-the-narrow-gate-mp3?srsltid=AfmBOoqeK78jd9ls90a8Aeo9IThFmHAIzFaR9ZM7BiIjZkr7k2zj6pFj

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December 14, 2025

family and friends, God’s abundance, God’s generosity, God’s goodness, Richard Rohr, thanksgiving
Psalm 116: Making a Return
Psalm 116: Making a Return

Easter Thursday, April 24, 2025

In the NRSV translation, this psalm carries the title Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness, but what sort of illness might this be? Is our gratitude for a physical, psychological or spiritual restoration? Are we able to step forward into the healing grace of God?

I love the Lord, because he hears me;
    he listens to my prayers.
He listens to me
    every time I call to him.

Now that we have re-lived the story of Easter promise, do we continue to believe in our covenant with God when life challenges us? Are we able to remain steadfast in our beliefs when family or friends test us? How do we love our enemies when they plot and scheme against us?

And so I walk in the presence of the Lord
    in the world of the living.
I kept on believing, even when I said,
    “I am completely crushed,”
even when I was afraid and said,
    “No one can be trusted.”

As we journey through this week of EASTER celebration, are we willing to put aside our wilfulness of ego to reclaim our vow of willingness as servants of the Spirit? Do we step forward as builders of the kingdom of God? Do we shrink from the call to leave our comfort zones?

I am your servant, Lord;
    I serve you just as my mother did.
You have saved me from death.
I will give you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
    and offer my prayer to you.

Remembering the generous love of the Creator, living in the company of the risen Christ, and resting in the consoling mercy of the Spirit, we ask one another to give thanks to God.

In the assembly of all your people,
    in the sanctuary of your Temple in Jerusalem,
    I will give you what I have promised.

We ask our family, friends and foes to make a return for God’s unbounding courage, generous wisdom, and nourishing love.

Praise the Lord!

When we compare varying translations of these verses, we welcome the opportunity to make a return of God’s great love.

Images from: https://yoogozi.com/simple-secret-to-life-serving-others/ and https://how-to-find-god.com/god-quotes/praise/
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April 24, 2025

God’s love, God’s promises, recovery
John 14: Seek Presence
John 14: Seek Presence

Saturday, November 9, 2024

With the institution of the gift of Eucharist, Jesus promises that he will remain with us always. Matthew 26:26-28

With the gift of bread and wine as the real presence of Christ, the Spirit dwells in us today. Mark 14: 22-24

With the physical remembrance of transformed bread and wine, of God fulfills the promise to live among us. Luke 22:19-20

With the gift of Eucharist, or Thanksgiving, we have the way to be in the real presence of God. John 14

Richard Rohr, OFM writes: “The Eucharist is an encounter of the heart, knowing Presence through our available presence. In the Eucharist we move beyond mere words or rational thought and go to the place where we don’t talk about the Mystery anymore; we begin to chew on it. Jesus did not say, ‘Think about this’ or ‘Stare at this’ or even ‘Worship this.’ Instead, he said, ‘Eat this!’ It was to be a bodily action and a social action with the group . . . We are the very Body of Christ. We have dignity and power flowing through us in our very naked existence – and everybody else does too – even though most do not know it. This is enough to steer and empower your entire faith life”. (Rohr 299)

We can infer from these verses and Rohr’s words that realizing the true presence of God in our lives will not happen when we are alone in a quiet corner contemplating God’s existence. Rather, we best find God as we act as Christ asks us to act, when we abide in the Spirit as the Spirit urges, and when we agree to become the Body of Christ as God invites us.

Finding the True Presence, then, is more likely when we are moving through our days with Christ ever on our minds and in our hearts, hands, lips and feet. We find the presence of God when we are truly open and thankful. We encounter the presence of God when we remember that Eucharist means Thanksgiving, and when we thank God for all that we have and all we are.

Image from: https://prayerunlimited.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/praying-for-his-presence/

Richard Rohr, OFM. A Spring Within Us: A Book of Daily Meditations. Albuquerque, NM: CAC Publishing, 2016.

When we use the scripture links and drop-down menus to compare varying translations of these verses, we discover the presence of God within.
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November 9, 2024

Eucharist, openness, Richard Rohr
Daniel 2:20-23: Seek God
Daniel 2:20-23: Seek God

William Brassey Hole: Daniel Interprets the Dream of Nebuchadnezzar

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

A Canticle of Praise

If we want to seek God, we do well to begin with praising God. In the Northern Hemisphere as we bring in the harvests from a season of plenty, we reflect on one who praises God well.

The story of Daniel is well-known to us. He and his comrades were taken to the Babylonian court, as were many of the talented young Jewish men, and there he interprets king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. When he is graced with the gift of a vision from God, he reveals the mystery of the king’s dream. Daniel wisely acknowledges the source of his talent and so he properly and immediately thanks and praises his God with these beautiful verses. They are ones that we might recite each morning and each evening at the rising and the closing of our day.

God is wise and powerful!
Praise God forever and ever.

Daniel brings to full potential not only himself but also the Jewish nation in a creative, saintly way. He takes no care for his own circumstances – which are at the minimum unpleasant and at the worst life-threatening – because he knows that God will protect and guide him. Daniel is only concerned about fulfilling the part of God’s plan which he has been called to enact. He pushes himself toward the potential planted in him by God. So do the saints. So may we.

Let us praise God as Daniel does.

Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power are God’s.

What an awesome God we have. Let us join God and the community of saints as we seek to know ourselves better, to share ourselves better, to heal ourselves and others better.

God reveals deep and hidden things and knows what is in the darkness, for the light dwells with God.

Let us open to the light of the revealed Christ. Let us put that light on a lampstand for all creation to see.

To you, O God . . . I give thanks and praise, because you have given me wisdom and power.

Amen.

Image from: https://www.meisterdrucke.us/fine-art-prints/William-Brassey-Hole/935456/Daniel-Interprets-the-Dream-of-Nebuchadnezzar.html

Adapted from a Favorite from November 1, 2007.
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October 23, 2024

God’s power, God’s wisdom, Nebuchadnezzar, praise God
Psalm 120: Prayer for a Returned Exile
Psalm 120: Prayer for a Returned Exile

Soldiers marshaling people for a march

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Today we consider this prayer by those who returned from captivity and exile to find their holy Temple and city in ruins. Today we also consider our own response to the challenge of rebuilding, and the gift of transformation. Adapted from a reflection written on May 18, 2009.

There is a cycle of Psalms that pilgrims began to sing when they made their journey to Jerusalem each spring. This is the first of the fifteen Songs of Ascent. Pilgrims to this day still refer to this journey as an ascent – a going up – to Jerusalem. The holy city was God’s dwelling place, the new Sinai, the place where the Ark of the Covenant was kept in the temple’s Holy of Holies guarded by huge gold statues of cherubim – fierce and loyal winged celestial creatures.

Not only is this psalm an anthem of thanksgiving for having been rescued, it is also a petition for protection against the bands of attackers who lurked along the Jerusalem route to waylay and rob the innocent. The victim who is helped in the Good Samaritan parable is on the road to Jerusalem. The priest and the Levite pass by the wounded man and do not help him. If they are on their way up to Jerusalem, they will not want to break their fast or become impure in any way before entering the Temple. They leave the man in the ditch to be helped by the Samaritan. Joseph and Mary leave the protection of their clan to travel alone back to Jerusalem in search of the lost child Jesus. He is found with the elders of the temple discussing scripture.

Several years ago we reflected on this prayer during one of our Noontimes, and we spent some time with the following citation from the St Joseph Edition of Psalms. “Human beings are born to be pilgrims in search of the Absolute, on a journey to God. We advance by way of stages, from the difficulties of life to the certainties of hope, from the dispersion of cares to the joyous encounter with God, from daily diversions to inner recollection”.

When we make our Easter journey toward Pentecost, we feel a certain vulnerability. We have experienced friendship with Christ, and we have witnessed his death. He has returned and we are joyful; yet he speaks of going away to send us the Advocate. He reminds us that his love can never leave us. We hear his words and experience this love; yet we feel that there is something more, there is something missing. We lack an ingredient to an important lesson.

We have returned from exile with Christ’s resurrection. His act of humility and love has set us free. Let us thank him for our deliverance. Let us ask him to protect us against the bands of marauders that assault our days and nights as we journey home. In joy, we make our Prayer of Ascent.

From the MAGNIFICAT evening prayer last night, we pray: Make our love a sign of your presence in the world!

For all who live lives of loveless loneliness: may we embrace them in our communities of love: Make our love a sign of your presence in the world!

For all who have mistaken power and possession for love: may they discover the truth through the witness of Christian believers: Make our love a sign of your presence in the world!

For all who have died: may they live forever in the kingdom of God’s love: Make our love a sign of your presence in the world!

Amen.

THE PSALMS, NEW CATHOLIC VERSION. Saint Joseph Edition. New Jersey: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 2004. Print.

Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Evening.” MAGNIFICAT. 17.5 (2009). Print.

Image from: https://joyfulpapist.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/by-the-waters-of-bablyon-jesse-tree-day-20/
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October 15, 2024

God’s love, Jerusalem, return from exile, Songs of Ascent, The Good Samaritan
Psalm 9: The Book of God’s Wonders
Psalm 9: The Book of God’s Wonders

Monday, March 11, 2024

The MESSAGE version of this psalm speaks to us in our core. Anyone who has been wronged, anyone who has suffered injustice of any kind, anyone who looks for refuge in the storm of life will smile as they read these verses.

I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart, I’m writing the book on your wonders. I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy; I’m singing your song, High God.

What are the miracles of our relationship with God will we want to enter into the Book of God’s Wonders?

The day my enemies turned tail and ran, they stumbled on you and fell on their faces. You throw dirty players out of the game, wipe their names right off the roster. Enemies disappear from the sidelines, their reputation trashed, their names erased from the halls of fame.

We look for the patience to allow God’s plan to blossom and flourish.

God holds the high center, God sees and sets the world’s mess right. God’s a safe-house for the battered, a sanctuary during bad times. The moment you arrive, you relax; you’re never sorry you knocked.

We pray for the hope we will need to remember God’s promise of safety, and we pray for the courage to knock at heaven’s door as Jesus tells us we must.

Sing your songs to Zion-dwelling God, tell God’s stories to everyone you meet: How God tracks down killers yet keeps an eye on us, registers every whimper and moan.

We pray for the fortitude to weather the storm, knowing that although the horizon is dark, God navigates our lives.

Be kind to me, God; I’ve been kicked around long enough. Once you’ve pulled me back from the gates of death, I’ll write the book on Hallelujahs; on the corner of Main and First I’ll hold a street meeting; I’ll be the song leader; we’ll fill the air with salvation songs.

We pray for the courage to thank God in public and to share the stories we list in the Book of God’s Wonders.

They’re trapped, those godless, in the very snares they set, their feet all tangled in the net they spread. They have no excuse; the way God works is well-known. The cunning machinery made by the wicked has maimed their own hands.

We remember to intercede for those who would harm us.

The wicked bought a one-way ticket to hell. No longer will the poor be nameless—no more humiliation for the humble.

We ask for mercy for our enemies, and the grace to step away from the temptation to seek revenge.

Up, God! Aren’t you fed up with their empty strutting? Expose these grand pretensions! Shake them up, God! Show them how silly they look.

We ask God to steer us clear of all pretension. We ask that Christ lead us in the ways of the just. And we ask that the Holy Spirit abide in us forever, as we proclaim the wonders God has wrought for us.

When we use the scripture link and the drop-down menus to compare other translations of this Psalm, we discover that we have a great deal to record in The Book of God’s Wonders, and to share with all the world.

Images from: https://wallpaper4god.com/en/background_psalm-92-3-sing-praises/ and https://www.pinterest.com/pin/980377412622968942/
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March 11, 2024

courage, fortitude, hope, mercy, patience, persistence, pray for enemies, revenge, safety
Colossians 3:15-17: Be Thankful
Colossians 3:15-17: Be Thankful

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Colossae Ruins

Today we take a portion of Paul’s letter to the people of Colossae and we apply it to our own lives as we once again learn to . . .

Be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and . . . be thankful.

Teach and admonish one another in wisdom and . . . be thankful.

Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs and . . . be thankful.

Live with gratitude in your hearts and . . . be thankful.

In word and deed and in everything you do . . . be thankful.

In the name of the Lord, Christ Jesus . . . be thankful.

Amen.

When we explore other translations of these verses, we discover that a new sense of gratitude settles into our bones and sinews . . . so that we might live out God’s call to thanksgiving each day.

For more posts on gratitude, enter the word into the blog search bar.

Click on the post photograph to see more images and to learn more about Colossae, click on the image or visit: http://www.godsbreathpublications.com/colossians-introduction/
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February 13, 2024

Colossae, St. Paul