Happy Thanksgiving!
Today, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, some of our Sisters share what they are thankful for!
I am grateful to God for EVERYTHING. In a particular way, this year I am grateful to our benefactors who make our life of prayer possible. The world needs contemplatives now more than ever and we would not be able to be here praying if God didn't make it possible through the hearts of our generous benefactors. Blessed be God in His gifts. Deo Gratias!
Something for which I am especially thankful on this Thanksgiving Day? The verse from Psalm 138 immediately sprang to mind, “Lord, I thank you for the wonder of my being, For the wonders of all your creations.” As the liturgical year approaches the end of its cycle, we have been hearing much about the end of times, the fragility of all created things. The daily news highlights this even more with tales of wars and even the dread threat of the use of nuclear power. Because of all this, I thank the Lord for each new day of existence, for His preserving and sustaining power, that we may live in peace and in the contemplation of His immense beauty manifested in all His creation. St. Thomas says “the whole universe together participates in the divine goodness more perfectly, and represents it better than any one single creature.” (ST. 1, Q47, a.1)
There are three F's in my life - Faith, Family and Friends. Those are the three things I am most grateful for at Thanksgiving, and every single day!
As a Dominican Nun I am thankful for the gift of being able to pray for others. I am so grateful for the prayer requests we receive when others entrust their cares and concerns to us to intercede to God on their behalf. I am inspired by their faith and privileged that they share a part of their lives that is so dear to them. I am so glad that God has called me to pray and be a part of His Healing and Care for others.
I am thankful to God for his grace to me and to the community and for my many years in the monastery.
What am I thankful for? At first this was a difficult question. I've had a pretty tough year with my dad getting ill and then passing away as well as managing great personal struggle. However, when I take stock of the difficult things I also found equally, if not more, beautiful things that I'm thankful for. I am thankful for my dad's passing, because through it I've come to grow in self knowledge and the difficult time brought my siblings, mother and I closer. I am thankful for the personal struggles Christ has given me because through them He has given me the graces to love and serve Him more ardently, grow in my desire to love Him and allow Him to enter my heart. There's still a month left of this terrible year, but when I think about God manifesting Himself in the flesh at Christmas, I know more grace is coming because it was exactly by His birth that we could be saved by His death and resurrection. The trials may come but He will always embrace us with His strength and love.
I’m grateful for the work of our diocesan and Dominican priests. We have experienced exceptional kindness from them in celebrating Mass, hearing Confessions, or offering spiritual direction. They are often over-worked but willing to make sacrifices for us. They are a great blessing.
I am thankful that God called me here and for all the sisters who are here now.
I am thankful for the gift of the Church, the tangible reality of God in my life – from the Lord’s Eucharistic presence in the liturgy and the incarnate rituals of my monastic life, to the deepening relationships I have with my sisters, family and friends in the Faith. It is so precious to me that the Lord knows my whole being and reaches me in ways that enable me to reach back to Him with every part of my humanity. In a time when everything seems increasingly ‘unreal’, the bedrock of these things is a very great gift.
I am most grateful for the abundant mercy of God, through which I receive forgiveness for faults, hope of new strength in my struggles, and so many wonderful gifts throughout life. Specifically this year, I am grateful for a good garden, my growing family, and all of the many ways the Lord has allowed me to get to know Him better.
I'm thankful for the Eucharist, for the privilege of daily Adoration and for the reminder and the visible proof of God's love for me whenever I come into choir!
Happy Thanksgiving from the Dominican Nuns!
