By: Sister Laetitia Therese, O.C.D.
JM+JT
November is a great opportunity to turn our minds and hearts toward thanksgiving. We receive so many gifts and blessings from God in our lives. It can be very easy to take for granted and to see the negative, especially at difficult moments. However, it’s amazing when we shift our focus to the positive – to find the blessings even amidst the thorns of life – it can transform our whole perspective.
I am reminded of a passage from Corrie Ten Boom’s autobiography, The Hiding Place. She recalls how her sister, Betsy, was urging her to help compose a litany of thanksgiving to God for the blessings in their lives in the midst of the horrors of a concentration camp during World War II. When Betsy thanked God for fleas, Corrie told her that she thought she had gone too far, but Betsy insisted. Some time later they puzzled why they were left alone with their fellow prisoners during their daily time of work. This permitted them to hold prayer sessions, to build community, and to support one another. They came to realize that it was because of the fleas that the guards stayed away. Even the fleas became a turned upside down, unexpected blessing!
As we ponder the meaning of “thanksgiving” we also think of the gift of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving.”