Happy Thanksgiving!!

"Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (Thess. 5:18)

Thanksgiving is almost upon us, and most of us are looking forward to the Thanksgiving Day feast we will partake of this coming Thursday. As friends and family gather around the table, we officially begin the season of Holy Days we celebrate in the wintertime.

We have so much to be thankful for and I think it is no more than ever that we are aware of the blessings that we do have. It seems that it not when we are the most comfortable and secure that we give thanks to God. Those that have jobs these days know how blessed they truly are. It is when we the have the least that we acknowledge our total dependence on our Lord and put our total trust in him. So many people in the world's current economic reality are drawn to prayer for their most basic needs.

So it as this time that we should of sharing our abundance with others. The story of the loaves and fishes that is found in the Gospel of Mark is a familiar one to most of us. After the apostles came back from preaching the Gospel, they were ready to relax. But the crowds recognized Jesus, and He took pity on them and instructed them to sit on the hillside where He began to preach to them. It came to be late in they day, and the crowds were hungry because the had not eaten yet. The disciples wanted Jesus to send them away to the towns that surrounded them so they could get a bite to eat. But it instead of sending them away Jesus said,

"You give them something to eat."

We know that Jesus could of performed a miracle with His own hands to feed the multitudes. But He put the challenge in the hands of His apostles. The challenge was met with complaints that they did not have enough money to buy food for the crowd of people that were hungry before them. I think of how Mother Angelica always use to say "attempt to do the ridiculous so that God can do the miraculous."

The Apostles forgot that, as we hear in the same Gospel, they had just returned from preaching the Gospel in pairs, where they cured the sick, cast out demons, all in the Lord's name. And they did it with nothing on hand to speak of, because Jesus had instructed them to go empty in hand with just a staff. No extra money for food or cloths, but they were provided for. Just as the Lord provided for the men going out two by two, He would do the miraculous and provide for the crowd of 5,000. But, He wanted the involvement of the apostles, just as He wants the involvement of the present day Church today.

Jesus told the apostles to look around to see what they had on hand. There were five loaves and two fish, not exactly enough to feed the crowds that surrounded them. But Jesus gave thanks to His Father, blessed the food, broke it up and told his disciples to feed the 5,000 people that were gathered around them. When everyone had eaten their fill, there were twelve baskets full of bits of bread and fish. The Lord had provided more than enough.

So at this time, let us give thanks to God for all of our blessings, and for the fact that He still provides for us today. In the coming year, lets give Him room to perform miracles in our current time, and be mindful that He wants to use us along the way so we can point to goodness of God. In the present time and the year ahead, we need to step out in faith and "do the ridiculous so God can do the miraculous".

May you have a Blessed Thanksgiving!!!