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Thursday, November 24, 2016

Give Thanks To _ _ _

Thanksgiving Prayer Father in Heaven, Creator of all and source of all goodness and love, please look kindly upon us and receive our heartfelt gratit

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Thanksgiving Prayer

Father in Heaven, Creator of all and source of all goodness and love, please look kindly upon us and receive our heartfelt gratitude in this time of giving thanks.

Thank you for all the graces and blessings. You have bestowed upon us, spiritual and temporal: our faith and religious heritage. Our food and shelter, our health, the loves we have for one another, our family and friends.

Dear Father, in Your infinite generosity, please grant us continued graces and blessing throughout the coming year.

This we ask in the Name of Jesus, Your Son and our Brother. Amen.

***

Sacred Space
Daily Prayer - 2016-11-24

Presence

As I begin this prayer, God is present,
breathing life into me and into everything around me.
For a few moments, I remain silent,
and become aware of God's loving presence.

Freedom

Lord, you created me to live in freedom.
Mostly I take this gift for granted.
Inspire me to live in the freedom you intended,
with a heart untroubled and with complete trust in You.

Consciousness

How wonderful it is to be able
to enter into your presence Lord.
No matter what time it is.
No matter which land I am in.
I need only to speak your name.

The Word of God

Reading 1

Sir 50:22-24

And now, bless the God of all,
who has done wondrous things on earth;
Who fosters people's growth from their mother's womb,
and fashions them according to his will!
May he grant you joy of heart
and may peace abide among you;
May his goodness toward us endure in Israel
to deliver us in our days.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
R. (see 1) I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.

R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.

R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
They discourse of the power of your terrible deeds
and declare your greatness.
They publish the fame of your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your justice.

R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.

R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.

R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.

Reading 2

1 Cor 1:3-9

Brothers and sisters:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
that in him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful,
and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alleluia
1 Thes 5:18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
In all circumstances, give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Lk 17:11-19

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten persons with leprosy met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."

..........................

Conversation

Lord, I know that when I turn to you there is no need for words.
You can see into my heart.
You know my desires and you know my needs.
I place myself into your hands.

Conclusion

I thank God for these few moments we have spent alone together and for any insights I may have been given concerning the text.

***
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Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Luke 21:20-28

Thanksgiving Day (USA)

Raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. (Luke 21:28)

Have you ever watched long-distance runners in a race? By the final lap, they look exhausted. Their muscles ache and their hearts pound as they drag themselves toward the finish. This is the moment they have trained for—their goal is within reach. Leaning forward, they lift their heads and strain to cross the line. All their pain fades in the joy of having finished. It was all worth it!

Sometimes life can feel like a race. And actually, our Christian walk is often likened to a race—with heaven as our goal. This analogy can help us understand Jesus' words in today's Gospel reading. Jesus encourages his disciples not to be afraid when they see the turmoil and troubles that are sure to usher in the end-time. Instead, he tells them to stand erect and raise their heads because they know that this upheaval is the sign that he is returning for his people.

And so Jesus tells his disciples to take up a spiritual posture similar to the posture of runners approaching the finish line: focused on the goal, unafraid of danger because God is with them. They can see his return, not as an ominous event, but as the fulfillment of everything he has promised. It's the time when the entire world will cross the finish line, and God's people will live with him forever.

Today we see troubling news all around us. It's easy to think that the world is careening out of control and descending into the chaos of war and terror, disease and disaster. Many people ask, "Where is God in all of this?"

But despite all of the grim news, we who believe in Christ can still have great hope. We can respond differently as we lift up our heads and stretch toward the finish line. We can rejoice because we know who is waiting for us: Jesus, our Savior. He is our faithful God who will never abandon us. He is our merciful Redeemer, who gave his life for us. He is our risen Lord, who conquered death and will return to set everything right.

So wait in joyful hope today. Lift up your head, and fix your eyes on Jesus. You never have to be afraid because you are not alone!

"Jesus, help me fix my eyes on heaven!"

Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9
Psalm 100:1-5

my2cents:

The Word of the Lord says today to begin:
"I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus"
and ends:
"God is faithful,
and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Give thanks to God and fellowship with HIM.

We prayed today " I will praise your name for ever, Lord." and "Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD, and let your faithful ones bless you. Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might."

So let us be the faithful ones blessing the Lord. Let us live out the life of glory to God and speak of His wondrous might! Because Mighty means above all, in power, and might, so that we might believe, so that we might be one with Him. And being one, together, is the key.

Our Lord enters our lives and says to the one out of ten healed lepers "Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" The people that were not foreigners did not return to give thanks. The foreigner, once again, as a Samaritan, or a widower, or a sinful woman or man, is healed by JESUS, our Lord, our King, and only their humble hearts realize the mighty power of God, and only they are saved. Because it is one thing to be healed, but another...to be thankful. Being thankful is life-changing. They asked this multi-billionaire, what he thought of him being saved from the Nazi concentration camps by being snuck out under the radar as a child by his parents. The atheist said he thought nothing of it. They inquired, "Aren't you thankful you weren't one of the millions killed?" His reply was "No, there is nothing to be thankful about". And he is responsible for the financial downfall of many places in the world, or so people claim. If there is no miracle to be thankful for, there is no God. There is no one to thank. But if there is faith, there is thankfulness. The reason a true Christian is a giver, is because they are thankful. And so, on a thankful note, I'd like to give thanks to the Lord.
Thank you Lord, for sparing me my life, where millions have died in their own mothers' wombs, you chose me to survive.
Thank you Lord, for having let me find you, for the sight, for seeing, not merely with human eyes, but spiritual eyes, to see you at work, to see you faithful and true.
Thank you Lord, because I can walk where many can not. I can walk to church and many can not, they remain paralyzed on their couch, unable to see, or hear you, or touch you.

Thank you Lord, not because I can see, hear, and touch you, but because I can see, hear and touch these paralyzed souls that need to hear, see, and touch you, and I am on my way to help them, because your touch saves, like the blind, like the deaf, like the mute, like the untouchables, the lepers, the outcasts, the depressed, the lost, and this is just the beginning!
Thank you Lord for forgiving. Many believe you are not forgiving, when it is themselves that are not. You always forgive, and I always mess up. Thank you Lord, For that alone I could stand giving thanks forever in eternity, being eternally grateful in your presence.
Thank you Lord, because, you let me taste poverty, and richness, both in the physical sense and the spiritual. I was raised in the corrals with animals, and I was born on Christmas Day, and I've dedicated my life to you, and what an honor! Thank you!
Thank you, for saying "you don't get to sit and eat...you get to serve". And thank you Lord, for taking your towel and washing my feet.
Thank you mostly for the greatest gift on earth, in this world; that of giving yourself eternally...in the Holy Eucharist, an eternal gift of yourself, of your sacrifice, of our body, blood, soul, and divinity that are pure, in its ever sense of the word. You melt in my mouth and in my heart, and my eyes melt and water and my heart begins to burn, "did not our hearts burn when He was with us?" the disciples asked on the Resurrection days of our Lord. Yes.
Thank You.
It is fitting then that the word EUCHARIST means thanksgiving. It means giving eternally, it means serving, and it means this is God among us.

Thank you for being among us.

Thank you for inviting me to Heaven.
Thank you for guiding me to Heaven.
But today God, I really want to thank you for You...LOVE

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