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It's all a gift.God created the heavens and the earth and everything inside--He's Lord of everything! Even so, He wants to share what He has with each of us. This week, remember that "in Him we live and move and have our being" and that God is constantly showering us with His attention and care. -
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Family Wisdom: Thank God Ahead of Time
The saints are our extended family in faith, and we have the great gift of learning from both their experiences and their mistakes. This week, consider what Bl. Solanus Casey teaches us about gratitude.
Blessed Solanus Casey called gratitude the "first sign of a thinking, rational creature" and encouraged those he encountered to "thank God ahead of time." He recognized that all that we have has been given to us by the Lord, and every moment and even every suffering is an occasion for gratitude.
By thanking God for gifts received before we even receive them, we are invited to trust in God's plans and know that what He has in store truly is the best. This willful choice to give thanks in all circumstances leads to a peaceful and trusting heart.
God made me to know Him.
O! what a blessed aim!
To love Him and serve Him
Sure rests in the same.
It’s heaven begun
For the grateful on earth.
To treasure aright—
Highest Heaven, its worth.
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Pray
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Phrases to repeat this week
"Blessed be God!"
"I bless the LORD at all times with a grateful heart"
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Psalm of the Week
Psalm 138
"I thank you, Lord, with all my heart;
in the presence of the angels* to you I sing."
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Read
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In Sinu Jesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart, the Journal of a Priest at Prayer.
Allow Me to guide you in the way of total filial dependence upon My Father in all things and for all things. This will be the expression of My filial life in you. I would have you look to the Father in every need, trust the Father in every adversity, depend upon the Father in every weakness. Thus will you glorify My Father, and thus will I glorify Him in you.
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The Catechism #2639
Did you know that Part IV of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is all about prayer? While it continues to convey essential teachings of the faith, like the first three parts, Part IV has the feeling of spiritual reading and is an incredibly fruitful way to enter into the Catechism.
"Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS. It shares in the blessed happiness of the pure of heart who love God in faith before seeing him in glory. By praise, the Spirit is joined to our spirits to bear witness that we are children of God, testifying to the only Son in whom we are adopted and by whom we glorify the Father. Praise embraces the other forms of prayer and carries them toward him who is its source and goal: the 'one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.'"
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Act
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Say "Thank You" in Person
Do you drive by St. Monica during the week? Stop for five minutes of adoration—the door is always open.
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Quit Complaining
When your emotional response is to complain, intentionally choose gratitude instead.
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Give Thanks Before Meals
Remember to give thanks for your food, every time you eat. All we receive comes from "[God's] bounty, through Christ."
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