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A Thanksgiving Prayer
for this time
On this Thanksgiving Day like no other,
O God, your name is worthy to be praised.
For in your mercy and kindness
no thought of ours is left unguarded,
no tear unheeded, and no joy unnoticed.
For the blessings we have known
and for those we have yet to recognize,
to you we give our grateful thanks.
For life that reminds us how fragile we are and also how strong we can be: We thank you, O God.
For sheltering that urges us
to rediscover what truly matters:
We thank you, O God.
For communication that allows us
to connect in ways new and old: We thank you, O God.
And for mindfulness that shows us
how much we rely on one another: We thank you, O God.
Watch over your family, Lord, gathered here
and at tables separated by miles,
and bless those who work tirelessly to keep us all safe.
Though we may be kept apart
on this day that calls us together,
we know your Spirit draws us close.
Lord, we ask you to ease the pain of empty chairs that bring to mind our loved ones who have died.
Let our grieving find its rest in your Son, Jesus,
in whose Resurrection is our hope.
Grant your Spirit to be present here
that this meal may become a foretaste of your heavenly table
where every tear shall be wiped away, every hunger fed,
and no distance can separate us from your love in Christ,
from whom all good things come.
Amen.
”A Thanksgiving Prayer in Time of Pandemic.” Copyright © Diana Macalintal, 2020.
Blessings from Silver Strand.
Inadequate understandings of universal love
99. A love capable of transcending borders is the basis of what in every city and country can be called “social friendship”. Genuine social friendship within a society makes true universal openness possible. This is a far cry from the false universalism of those who constantly travel abroad because they cannot tolerate or love their own people. Those who look down on their own people tend to create within society categories of first and second class, people of greater or lesser dignity, people enjoying greater or fewer rights. In this way, they deny that there is room for everybody.
100. I am certainly not proposing an authoritarian and abstract universalism, devised or planned by a small group and presented as an ideal for the sake of levelling, dominating and plundering. One model of globalization in fact “consciously aims at a one-dimensional uniformity and seeks to eliminate all differences and traditions in a superficial quest for unity… If a certain kind of globalization claims to make everyone uniform, to level everyone out, that globalization destroys the rich gifts and uniqueness of each person and each people”.[78] This false universalism ends up depriving the world of its various colours, its beauty and, ultimately, its humanity. For “the future is not monochrome; if we are courageous, we can contemplate it in all the variety and diversity of what each individual person has to offer. How much our human family needs to learn to live together in harmony and peace, without all of us having to be the same!”[79]
Excerpt: FRATELLI TUTTI
Pope Francis Encyclical
On Fraternity and Social Friendship
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect on this new encyclical.
PSALM 96:11-13
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.
Before the LORD, for he comes;
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
#dailyingodsword
We end our novena by praying to the patroness of all humanity.
At the wedding feast at Cana, Christ performed His first public miracle at the request of His mother. Let us ask her to implore on our behalf another miracle of healing for our world.
Let us take comfort in her words to St. Juan Diego:
“Listen and let it penetrate your heart…do not be troubled or weighed down with grief. Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?”
Thank you for joining us in prayer! What a gift to continue to be united with our community during this trial. We look with confidence to the future, and know that our good Father, Jesus our Savior, the Holy Spirit, Mary our mother, and all the angels and saints in heaven are walking with us on this journey to heaven.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Mother Mary,
We, your children of every nation,
Turn to you in this pandemic.
Our troubles are numerous; our fears are great.
Grant that we might deposit them at your feet,
Take refuge in your Immaculate Heart,
And obtain peace, healing, rescue,
And timely help in all our needs.
You are our Mother.
Pray for us to your Son.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of God, and patroness of all humanity, pray for us!
Gospel
LUKE 21:1-4
When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, “I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”
#dailyingodsword
96...In the dynamics of history, and in the diversity of ethnic groups, societies and cultures, we see the seeds of a vocation to form a community composed of brothers and sisters who accept and care for one another”.[75]
Open societies that integrate everyone
97. Some peripheries are close to us, in city centres or within our families. Hence there is an aspect of universal openness in love that is existential rather than geographical. It has to do with our daily efforts to expand our circle of friends, to reach those who, even though they are close to me, I do not naturally consider a part of my circle of interests. Every brother or sister in need, when abandoned or ignored by the society in which I live, becomes an existential foreigner, even though born in the same country. They may be citizens with full rights, yet they are treated like foreigners in their own country. Racism is a virus that quickly mutates and, instead of disappearing, goes into hiding, and lurks in waiting.
Excerpt: FRATELLI TUTTI
Pope Francis Encyclical
On Fraternity and Social Friendship
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect on this new encyclical.
