Thanksgiving Day

This Thanksgiving Day will be different in ways we could never have imagined a year ago. I know in spite of COVID-19 and all, most of us will try and replicate meals and traditions. As we sit down to our turkey, cranberries, potatoes, and pie, I know there may be more than a few empty chairs around the table and we may not feel blessed in certain ways we hoped for. With that said, let me share a few personal thoughts with you.

Thanksgiving isn't really a day marked by what we feasted on and what might be better in our life. I beliee it is meant to be above all a day where we capture something many of our parents strove to share with us - having a grateful heart and giving thanks to God. But I would strongly encourage us not to just say our Blessed O Lord Mealtime Prayer, but even more meaningfully, carve out just a small piece of time time to actually tell our children (and if we have them, our grandchildren) just who God is to us and how much He truly matters to us. Let us also share the beauty of our Catholic Faith.

This pandemic has changed many things. And frankly, one of the most challenging things for me is to not be able to see you in the flesh, to distinguish your smile, to shake your hand or even more to my liking, to hug you again. However, this Thanksgiving is not different from others in this regard; please know that I and the Core Team Members are praying for you, your children, our parish, and our Church. Please know that we continue to seek out ways to serve and love you and your children, and do know we long for the day we can sit with you again: masks off, worshipping and praying together, laughing and sharing ourselves in person. So, in the meantime, never let us be robbed of a grateful heart. Underlying a Christian's grateful heart is faith, hope, and love. And faith believes in God's perfect love and no pandemic changes that. And hope has a face and a name: Jesus - a pandemic doesn't eradicate that. And our most powerful weapon now and always will be love. And as St.Paul so critically pointed to - without love we are nothing. We will always mean everything to God and our gratitude begins and ends with God. We can never outdo His generous love. What we can do is to get and stay connected to His greatest gift to us: Jesus. And the greatest gift we can ever give those we love this Thanksgiving Day (or any day) is to share our story of the gift of Jesus to us and how it is because of him that we have the capacity to receive the power of Jesus' love and self-giving. Here is a special link I created for you to enjoy https:// www.jacquielawson.com/ecard/pickup/ r30677ac1c35c4366bee983cf4b496283? source=jl999&utm_medium=pickup&utm_source=share&utm_campai gn=receiver

Happy Thanksgiving!!