Dear Friends,

I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving. I can’t believe it’s already here. This year, I’m hopeful that our observance of Thanksgiving can help us continue to cultivate a thankful outlook on life.

When I was discerning God’s call to the priesthood (some eleven years ago) I went on a 30-day retreat. You’ve probably heard me talk about it before. To say that it was a life-changing event for me is to put it mildly.

Before the end of the 30 days, I was asked to consider how I would try to talk to people about the retreat. How could I communicate the graces and the goings-on of this once-in-a-lifetime experience?

I thought of two ways to do so:

Firstly, I committed to showing people what the retreat was about with my life. You should be able to see the retreat’s effects in how I live. (This is true of all our prayer, is it not?)

Secondly, I was convinced - and still am - that the graces of the retreat are available to everyone who cultivates the habit of gratitude. We would quickly see the fruits of love, joy, and peace grow in our hearts and lives if we were to take just a few minutes to list the day’s blessings and be grateful for them.

Giving thanks means that we recognize God as the source of our blessings, and that we trust in his goodness and his good plan for us. As we entrust ourselves to God, we will find ourselves not only recipients of his blessing, but also conduits of his blessing to the people around us. Our participation in God’s plan and purpose will give us a peace the world can neither give nor take away.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever!

Christ’s Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ