Day 3 of 4 -Gratitude Challenge
“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever.” Psalm 118 from Sunday Morning Prayer, Liturgy of the Hours.
This has been a full day from the time my feet hit the floor until now. Beginning with Morning Prayer, the fullness itself is reason enough to be grateful. After Morning Prayer came Sunday morning coffee with quiet conversation and a half-hearted perusal of the newspaper in the company of Lori and her brother Brian while we discussed how the day – Lori’s birthday would play out. I am always grateful for those quiet moments on a weekend morning as way of starting out the day together.
Next up was Sunday Mass and I was fortunate to be asked to fill in as Sacristan for the 11 o’clock Mass. While I greatly enjoy being able to sit with Lori and to participate in the Liturgy with her, being Sacristan is a huge honor and it allows me to be as close you can be to the heartbeat of a Mass without being the ordained celebrant. I would like to share those of you reading one of the reasons I am grateful to have been called to this particular ministry. This morning, in the moments after we distributed the vessels of the Eucharist and the Eucharist Ministers moved their positions, I looked over the church and saw hundreds of hearts coming together as one to receive the body and blood of Christ. Since this exercise has made me more aware of gratitude, the experience was nearly overwhelming. How can you not respond to the Eucharist without being washed over with waves of appreciation?
For what else I am grateful? I am grateful to have been in the company of a string of yellow Labradors going back over 55 years with only a few years gap right after college and again just after we had children. My current dog, Oakley, is the sweetest, happiest and best natured one of the bunch. Whoever said money can’t buy happiness never purchased a Labrador puppy. All dogs seem to have the capacity to minister to us in ways we can’t even begin to understand. Labradors, however, seem to have particular affinity for knowing exactly what I need.
The only shortcoming I have found in the theology of Thomas Aquinas was pointed out by my friend Michael Sheridan showed me where Aquinas dogs did not have a place in the afterlife of humans. In this matter the Irish have it right. They say if you need your dogs to be heaven; your dogs will be in heaven for you. Frankly, if my dogs aren’t heaven, I want to go wherever it is they are being sent because I know it has to be special. For me to be writing about Labradors at this very instant is not a coincidence. There is a yellow nose pushing under my laptop just in case I had forgotten a walk had been promised earlier this evening…. I have to push the nose away for now because there is more to say.
I am grateful for my family, the family I was born into, the family I married into and the family who came along in other ways. I have an ever faithful mother who has loved me always, a sister with whom I share a fierce devotion. From there I have cousins, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces who all in their unique way enrich, broaden and deepen my life and help me define who I am and I how I relate to the world. While they are not numbered hugely, each and everyone is numbered vitally. Thank you to each and every one of you.
Today is day 3. Tomorrow is day 4. There is still so much to be said.
“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever.” Psalm 118 from Sunday Morning Prayer, Liturgy of the Hours.
This has been a full day from the time my feet hit the floor until now. Beginning with Morning Prayer, the fullness itself is reason enough to be grateful. After Morning Prayer came Sunday morning coffee with quiet conversation and a half-hearted perusal of the newspaper in the company of Lori and her brother Brian while we discussed how the day – Lori’s birthday would play out. I am always grateful for those quiet moments on a weekend morning as way of starting out the day together.
Next up was Sunday Mass and I was fortunate to be asked to fill in as Sacristan for the 11 o’clock Mass. While I greatly enjoy being able to sit with Lori and to participate in the Liturgy with her, being Sacristan is a huge honor and it allows me to be as close you can be to the heartbeat of a Mass without being the ordained celebrant. I would like to share those of you reading one of the reasons I am grateful to have been called to this particular ministry. This morning, in the moments after we distributed the vessels of the Eucharist and the Eucharist Ministers moved their positions, I looked over the church and saw hundreds of hearts coming together as one to receive the body and blood of Christ. Since this exercise has made me more aware of gratitude, the experience was nearly overwhelming. How can you not respond to the Eucharist without being washed over with waves of appreciation?For what else I am grateful? I am grateful to have been in the company of a string of yellow Labradors going back over 55 years with only a few years gap right after college and again just after we had children. My current dog, Oakley, is the sweetest, happiest and best natured one of the bunch. Whoever said money can’t buy happiness never purchased a Labrador puppy. All dogs seem to have the capacity to minister to us in ways we can’t even begin to understand. Labradors, however, seem to have particular affinity for knowing exactly what I need.The only shortcoming I have found in the theology of Thomas Aquinas was pointed out by my friend Michael Sheridan showed me where Aquinas dogs did not have a place in the afterlife of humans. In this matter the Irish have it right. They say if you need your dogs to be heaven; your dogs will be in heaven for you. Frankly, if my dogs aren’t heaven, I want to go wherever it is they are being sent because I know it has to be special. For me to be writing about Labradors at this very instant is not a coincidence. There is a yellow nose pushing under my laptop just in case I had forgotten a walk had been promised earlier this evening…. I have to push the nose away for now because there is more to say.I am grateful for my family, the family I was born into, the family I married into and the family who came along in other ways. I have an ever faithful mother who has loved me always, a sister with whom I share a fierce devotion. From there I have cousins, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces who all in their unique way enrich, broaden and deepen my life and help me define who I am and I how I relate to the world. While they are not numbered hugely, each and everyone is numbered vitally. Thank you to each and every one of you.
Today is day 3. Tomorrow is day 4. There is still so much to be said.
No comments:
Post a Comment