A day set aside to give thanks on purpose. On this Thanksgiving I wonder if we have considered how our heart is? Is it full of gratitude? Is it aware of blessings? Is it just considering it to be just another day with the bonus of a bigger meal?
Philemon of Gaza, a monk from the sixth century wrote: “Ingratitude is a serious spiritual malady that affects the heart and soul. Ingratitude is a kind of interior leprosy” (Meditations on Luke’s Gospel). To be truly thankful, means we know all we have comes from God. Taking note of what we are thankful moves us from ingratitude to gratefulness. Gratitude heals the leprosy of our hearts and interior scars and aligns us again with God; being clothed in God’s goodness (Colossians 3.12-17).
As St. John Chrysostom reminds us, “Our acts of thanksgiving add nothing to God’s happiness, but they unite us more closely to God” (Homilies on Saint Matthew). This being closely united to God is at the heart of letter to the Colossians. To take note of being God’s chosen ones, of our holiness, our belovedness and the call to action declares we are rooted in thankfulness. Not as means of pleasing God, rather united with God and God’s actions of love, mercy and goodness.
On this Thanksgiving Day, as we celebrate the harvest and our many blessings may we carry gratitude into the places we are called to carry the gospel. May we have a heart filled with gratitude, not perfection, rather gratitude returning all praise and glory to God. May we live as God’s chosen ones, not boastful and prideful, rather with open hands to receive Christ who poured himself out for us. Let us give thanks to God from the rising of the sun to its setting (Psalm 113) for all our blessings, now and forever. Amen.
Photo Credit: Priscilla Du Preez
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