City of Pearl Thanksgiving service - 17 November 2021 - Psalm 100 - reflection

Psalm 100 - A psalm of thanksgiving.

1 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;

2 serve the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful song.

3  Know that the LORD is God,

he made us, we belong to him,

we are his people, the flock he shepherds.a

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him, bless his name;b

5 good indeed is the LORD,

His mercy endures forever,

his faithfulness lasts through every generation.

Reflection - Psalm 100 - City of Pearl Thanksgiving service - 17 November 2021 

Meister Eckhart was a priest in the 13th century in what is present-day Germany.  He is most well-known in our modern world for this quote:  “If the only prayer we ever say in our entire lives is ‘thank you’ that will be enough.”

Thanksgiving is an important part of who we are as Christians.  God calls us to have a joyful heart.  To see the blessings we have in life.  To have a heart full of thanksgiving and gratitude.  

Before I became a Catholic priests here in Mississippi, I had the wonderful opportunity to serve as a missionary in different places.  I served up in Canada at a soup kitchen and at a food bank in the inner city in the city of Winnipeg.  I served at a healing center for indigenous people up in northern Canada.  I served at a mission site located in the rain forest jungle in the country of Ecuador in South America.  In the midst of the poverty and suffering that I saw, I also saw people who were thankful for the blessings that they had, who were thankful for their faith, even though by our American standards, their lives had a lot of hardship and struggle.  When I returned to the United States after serving in those places for more than six years, I did not see a lot of thanksgiving in comparison.  Whether we are young or old, rich or poor, we can have a prayer of thanksgiving in our hearts.  

Our psalmist today tells us: to shout joyfully to the Lord,  to serve him with gladness, to recognize him as God,  and to recognize ourselves as a member of his flock.  

Everyday I wake up and I give thanks to the Lord.  I thank him for the people of God whom I serve in my parish and here in the state of Mississippi.  I thank him for allowing me to serve as a priest. I thank him for all of our blessings.  Is that always easy?  I wish I could say yes, but it is not always easy to give thanks. 

Sometimes giving thanks takes a lot of effort. 

Sometimes giving thanks requires us to focus and pay attention. 

Sometimes giving thanks requires us to take a good look at the reality around us. 

Sometimes giving thanks requires us to break out of our own perspective and point of view. 

Sometimes giving thanks requires us to get past our hurts, our pain, and our anger. 

Sometimes giving thanks means that we need to make space in our lives to let go and lift up our prayers and our burdens to the Lord.  

St Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish priest from the 16th century, calls us to see God in all things.  To see the blessings in all things.  To give thanks in all things.  

God is good.  His love endures forever. His mercy endures forever.  For God, for his creation, for so many things, let us give thanks.