Thanksgiving

 AMDG

I, a Catholic in the United States, to you, my unknown cosmopolitan reader. Grace and peace! This week I participate in our wonderful spiritual and secular tradition of thanksgiving. Nothing more and nothing less.

I have had some wonderful trips and adventures this year. I am thankful for a Charismatic parish retreat last fall, the Encounter Conference in December (recommended), and the Jesuit ordination weekend this summer. For some major vacation-travel, some minor outings, as well as the local hikes and walks. For all the moments when I just sat on my porch or took a moment outside our daily mass chapel to take in the ordinary beauty of the day. I am thankful for all the fun events I attended with the Jesuit vocation team, friends, and coworkers. For hearing the birds sing.

I thank God for the job I left and the ways it challenged me to grow. I am extremely grateful for my new job, for the work I do and for the ripple effects of a greatly improved work-life balance.

I thank God for the ways my pets and I continue to bond.

I thank God that I feel a little more a part of my neighborhood every month.

I very much enjoy gardening and growing things. I am grateful for the creative and physical outlet, for the magic of seeing things grow according to their nature, and for the exercise of not having complete control. And for the beauty of tender yet resilient life.

I am grateful for those I have reconnected with at least once this year: some distant family and two particular friends. For coming closer to one best friend and my siblings who supported me with prayer when I discerned my religious vocation.

I thank God for three new, good friends whom I have made this year through my contact with the Jesuit and Franciscan vocations departments, as well as my new spiritual director through the Office of Ignatian Spirituality.

I thank God for new (to me) allies: Fr. Dan Horan, OFM, as well as David Dault and Heidi Schlumpf, whose podcast I listen to. New Ways Ministry. Fr. James Martin, SJ and all the folks behind Outreach. For Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv. For all the allied voices who rang through in the synodal process. And for all the allies who are unknown to me.

I am so grateful for my calling from God, which I came to understand and acknowledge this year. I struggle a lot to be grateful for the way things have turned out, but I know God will give me the grace to fully accept it in time. I can already be thankful for the increased detachment he has given me, not only to be ready to give up the rubbish of this world for the life of poverty and obedience but also to be able to give up the religious life for a life more in the world. Well, mostly able haha. (More grace, please!) I am grateful for the feeling of belonging I had among the Jesuits, even if it was temporary. I am grateful to know what my vocation is and where I belong. I recognize that even without a religious order to complete the sentence, God has called me in a way that makes my soul sing with delight, and I am happy to pursue that relationship and that direction naturally.

As I hope I often say, I am grateful to know God and to be known by God! What a privilege. What a gift. I thank God for the ongoing grace of getting to know God; to be close to God and somehow draw closer; to be filled with the Spirit and somehow receive the Spirit.

As we think about the feast of Christ the King, of Advent, of salvation, and of many other spiritual things, the cup of gratitude overflows.

As usual, please pray for me. Pray also for those who are suffering from loneliness or isolation this holiday season. And tell me how I can pray for you.

Peace and love,

Your Other Brother.

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