Dear Church Family,
What can I possible say to you about Thankfulness? You are wonderful people of grand gratitude, of gracious thankfulness, of unending prayer and of praise to our God for all the blessings you have received and the blessings He has given you “through it all”. Because we have learned to trust in Jesus and we have learned to trust in God, all is well. We are so grateful, from the beginning of our waking hour as we say, “Lord you have woke us up this morning and started us on our way.” Alleluia! Our prayer is filled with praise and gratitude. We are always alert to how good so many people are to us, so we say, “thank you” so very often.
The gospel today is a message by which Jesus says, “Thanksgiving should be at the top of our response to the good deeds of one another” and naming the Syrian military leader who had the disease of leprosy and went to Elisha the prophet and asked if he could be cured of his leprosy. We see Naaman, being very grateful and wanting to give big gifts, but Elisha wouldn’t take anything. So Naaman said, “Can I at least take some dirt back with me to where I come from, for I will put it down and build an altar and pray on this sacred ground.” In a few places in scripture and in sacred tradition there is little stories about sacred ground being taken back and being prayed on. I think Pope John Paul, would often kiss the ground just to give great respect to wherever he visited. That was his little trademark and he did this wherever he visited. Of course he visited more places than anybody else ever visited.
Church, continue this wonderful gospel talent you already have and embellish it. I like to end my day by writing in my journal of thanksgiving. It is not a bad idea to constantly think about the things you are grateful for in the day, the little things and the bigger things. Sometimes the little things are inspiring if you really think about it. Sometimes you never realize in your relationship with others during the day how you have good reasons to be thankful. All you have to do is recognize it and turn it into praise for our wonderful God. Alleluia!
Love, Fr. Bob
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