THANKSGIVING: A DISCIPLINE OF GRATITUDE

“There is always, always, always something to be grateful for.” That is the phrase that I use for my annual Thanksgiving Facebook post. I believe in its truth profoundly. Indeed, I think that a sense of constant and radical gratitude may very well be the secret to happiness. I also consider it to be a discipline. 

Thanksgiving may come naturally in the times when things are going well for us.

Thank you for this view of the mountain that has taken my breath away.

Thank you for the unconditional love I feel in the unbridled embrace of a three-year old.

Thank you for the news from my physician that my test results have come back indicating no concerns.

But we can also quite easily find ourselves taking our blessings for granted.

We can become so wrapped up in a busy life that we fail to notice that the sun is setting in a display of the most beautiful colours.

We can get so used to being able to run to catch the bus that we do not feel gratitude for our legs.

We can presume as “normal” that for which a great deal of humanity can only long.

So as a discipline, we can be intentional about nurturing gratitude. We can make it a practice to take a moment to give thanks when we wake up each morning. At the most basic level, we can give thanks for being alive. I have never forgotten the quip of theologian Thomas Groome who once said, “every morning that you wake up, stretch out your arms and they do not bang against the side of a coffin, there is something to be grateful for.” We can do the same at the close of the day.

Another aspect of this intentional discipline of gratitude is to turn our irritations into occasions for gratitude.  One year in preparation for a school Thanksgiving Mass, we had all the students think of one thing that annoyed them in their lives. Then they were to write on slips of paper why they were thankful for those annoyances. These were placed on the wall of the gym prior to Mass. They were all marvellous. “I am grateful that my mom makes me eat disgusting food (broccoli!) because it means she loves me.” Some were funny and some were poignant. All of them helped us all turn a little more toward gratitude as a way of life – a way of life which leads to joy.

This is so fitting for a Eucharistic people, isn’t it? For the word Eucharist means “thanksgiving.” That is one of the reasons that Thanksgiving Day is not an official liturgical celebration. It would be redundant. Every Mass is a celebration of thanksgiving. And that is remarkable when you consider it. As Walter Bruggemann, once exclaimed, “Imagine having a sacrament named “thanks”!”

Christine Way Skinner is a doctoral student at Regis St. Michael’s at the Toronto School of Theology and has been a lay pastoral minister for more than 30 years. Together with her husband, Michael, she has parented 6 wonderful children. She has written a number of books for Novalis on living the Catholic faith for both adults and children.