We hope everyone has a holy, joyful and safe Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, though some may argue, is a national holiday to give thanks to Almighty God! It was established by George Washington to be on Thursday, November 26, 1789. Lincoln, in 1863, changed the date to be the final Thursday of November. Perhaps, a good custom would be to read the Thanksgiving Proclamations of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. They are completely focused on thanking God for His many gifts.
Over these many months Fr. Jacques Philippe’s writings and guidance have been encouraging. I should be reading him everyday! Perhaps, a recent thought from Interior Freedom would be helpful.
We also have to admit that difficulties, however hard they may be, bring not only disadvantages but also advantages.
The first advantage is that they prevent us from assuming exclusive ownership of our lives and our time. They prevent us from shutting ourselves up inside our programs, our plans, our wisdom. They liberate us from the prison of ourselves: our narrow-mindedness and narrowness of judgment. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 55: 8-9) The worst thing that could happen would be for everything to go exactly as we wanted it, for that would be the end of any growth. To be able to enter little by little into God’s wisdom, infinitely more beautiful, richer, more fruitful, and more merciful than ours (cf. Romans 11: 33-36), our human wisdom needs a very thorough shake-up. Not to destroy it, but to raise and purify it, and free it from its limitations. It is always marked by a certain measure of selfishness and pride, and by lacks of faith and love. Our narrow vision needs opening to God’s wisdom; we require an in-depth renewal. Sin, by its nature, is narrowing: holiness is openness of spirit and greatness of soul. (pp. 50-51)
God bless FRVW