Thanksgiving Mass tends to draw together a core group of the most committed parishioners. If they do not have out of town commitments, they will be at this Mass. However, one person is conspicuously absent this year. Last week she went into the hospital for a knee operation and is at the beginning of a lengthy recuperation process. She is one of the “cleaning ladies’ who helps dust and mop the church during the week.Karen is a beautiful example of simple gratitude. When I talked to her after the operation, she was in a fair amount of discomfort and pain, but her remark was, "Jesus is so good." It wasn't an offhand comment, but from the depths of her being. In saying, "Jesus is so good," Karen summed up the spirit of Gospel:
"I give you thanks, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the learned and clever and revealed them to the merest children." (Matt 11:25)
What is the difference between the clever--the worldly wise--and children? Clever people are always looking for some novelty whereas little children are delighted by repetition. Once a dad shared this simple experience with his child. He had brought a few toys, but what his little girl liked best was when he took a crumbled piece of paper, placed it on his head, counted to three and let it fall. She would laugh in delight each time it fell. When dad got tired and wanted to do something else, she would pick up the paper and hand it to him to “play it again.”
Children do not get bored by repetition. Nor would we if we re-learned the secret Jesus is talking about. That secret is what enables a child to say, "Do it again."
Our celebration of Thanksgiving Day can help us understand that delight. We look forward to Thanksgiving because certain things are the same--the turkey, the cranberry sauce and so on. But in the context of that sameness we are able to welcome new people or discover something about someone we already know.
The key to all this is that simplicity of heart which Jesus extols. It's that kind of simplicity that enables someone like Karen to say, "Jesus is so good." I don't think we realize what a radical virtue heartfelt thanksgiving really is. The grateful person is thankful for everything one has received - and therefore can open their heart to others.
What we need is a Copernican Revolution in our way of thinking. Copernicus was the Polish astronomer who posited that the sun does not make a circle around the earth, but that the earth revolves around the sun. Our lack of gratitude comes when we think that things revolve around us; we can even view God as one more object out there orbiting us. We need to recognize the truth--that God is the center and everything we have comes from him. When we do that, our stance is simple gratitude. Jesus is so good.
Lord, I promise to pray for all my Sonshine Friends on Thanksgiving Day for their kindness and love. I wish you all a beautiful Thanksgiving day.
