Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving - 11/24/09

In the midst of the many things to do and issues to address, this week of Thanksgiving brings into focus a cause to pay attention to an all-too-often forgotten tenet of our faith: In All Things Give Thanks. This certainly is one of those spiritual directives that seems relatively simple but becomes rather challenging when applied as it is stated. Are we really expected to give thanks in all things, even in times of personal, professional, political, or playtime difficulties?

To answer yes to this is to challenge ourselves past what is comfortable for most people. However, a closer look at the challenges of holding a thankful heart reveals that it really gives us an opportunity to examine those parts of our lives that occur just before or just after those personal, professional, political, or playtime difficulties. It seems that it is in these times that blessings are revealed. While no one enjoys times of difficulties of any kind, it seems that to truly maintain a spirit of thanksgiving, we must endure them.

Through the course of this past year in our Recovery and Growth, we have much to be thankful for and this thankful spirit certainly has allowed us to endure those times of challenges. The dozens of building projects being completed are reasons for thanksgiving but virtually every one of them came with some difficulties in funding or construction to get to completion. The challenges of our housing situations give reason to be thankful for the unity of our citizens to protect our community. The difficulties of the financial shortfalls for our local government allow us to reassign the talent of our workforce and create new opportunities to serve. Criticisms of the operations of local government trigger an evaluation of the responsiveness we provide from our programs and a celebration of the improvements that are made.

None of these difficulties are necessarily easy or comfortable to deal with or are part of a joyful experience, but the experience balances our perspective and opens the door for our thankful hearts.

During this Thanksgiving week, let us challenge ourselves to review the difficulties of our last year and find within them the reasons to have a thankful heart. And in our thankful heart, let us find those things that we have said or not said, or done or not done that may have created difficulties for others and amend what we must amend as a way to encourage thankful hearts in those around us.

Our community continues to have so many reasons to celebrate and so many people to be thankful for. While our difficulties and challenges will persist, we are a blessed community and there will be an equal number of opportunities to be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving St. Bernard- Thank you for being part of our Recovery and Growth.

God Bless,

Craig Taffaro, Jr.