Happy Thanksgiving!
Today, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, some of our Sisters share what they are thankful for!
I realized by the grace of God many years ago that even if he never gave me another thing I would have to spend all eternity thanking him for what he has given me, including life, natural gifts, faith and grace and abundant supernatural gifts, especially the gift of vocation and perseverance.
I am thankful today for God and his faithfulness, as 2 Timothy 2:13 says: “If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.” What a comforting assurance - that despite all my failures to live up to the holiness God calls me to, that he remains faithful, continues to call me higher, and continues to give me the grace to get me there.
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
All my life, there have always been the three "F"s in my overall thoughts of gratitude, in this order - Faith, Family and Friends. Faith colors everything else in my life. New people come into the Family; some go Home to the Lord, but what would we do without our family through the years? Then come Friends - and what a blessing they are! Friendships in a Monastery, I have found, are different than the friends we have made out in the world, but the big plus is that here we are all in the same place with the same goal - to love God and to serve Him to the best of our ability, and, despite our differences in so many ways - this common goal makes up the best of friends.
Thank You, Lord, for Faith - which binds us together, Family, who have basically made us what we are, and the wonderful Friends we have made through the years, especially here in the Monastery.
And we cannot not talk about gratitude without thanking those wonderful friends who support our way of life. We could not survive without them!
I’m grateful for the gift of my vocation and for everyone/everything that enables me live it out. First of all to God for calling me to be a Dominican contemplative nun and giving me all the graces necessary to live this life faithfully. For my sisters and the community where we can strive to live in harmony, having one mind and heart in God. For my family and friends whose love and prayers have supported me all along my life’s journey. For the benefactors and friends of our monastery who make our life possible. And for all the countless little things that bring joy to my life daily. God is good and how can I possible thank Him for all His goodness to me!
I am thankful that God is both a ‘big’ and a ‘little’ God! That He is present in both my smallest delights –autumn leaves, chocolate chips, a good Mendelssohn Overture – and my most monumental desires for Truth, Meaning and the total fulfillment of my being. I am even more thankful, that no matter their size, He takes these desires and grows them, taking me beyond myself and into a real and authentic love. In a special way, I am most thankful for the realization that the same miraculous expansion is happening in the precious people He has given me who share that joy and walk alongside me in it: my sisters, my family, and my friends near and far.
That love is growing everywhere greater by a quiet and hidden means.
No matter how deeply we dig, how earnestly we desire, there is always more of God to meet us there and overwhelm our expectations with the fullness of what it means to love and be loved in Him - that doing things ‘His way’ robs us of nothing, but enlarges our hearts for more, more, and more again of the things that really matter. As Pope Emeritus Benedict put it in his inaugural homily: “If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed.”
I am grateful for so many different things, on a whole range of levels. I am grateful for warm brownies and vanilla ice cream, and for the times that bluegrass music is played in the refectory. I am much more grateful for letters from old friends and chats with new ones, for drawings from my nieces and nephews, and for technology working well during family calls. I am most grateful for unchanging truth, and that the Lord has deigned to reveal it to us, for the hope of salvation and eternal joy in Heaven someday, and for the Holy Spirit present in my life now. To sum, because all of these things in fact add up to one wonderful reality, I’m grateful for the beautiful life that God has given me. In so many blessings, from the small, daily joys to the great, foundational truths, I recognize the love of God poured out. It is all so much more than could ever be earned or asked for, and for that I am sincerely grateful.
I am thankful that I am a child of God. For His many gifts to me that include all my Sisters, past and present, my family, and friends.
This year, I am grateful for many things, but I’ll boil it down to three. First, I am grateful for God’s creation: for majestic mountains, fragrant forests, roaring waterfalls, brilliant sunsets, and stars beyond number, all of which remind us of God’s unfathomable beauty. Second, I am grateful for the gift of music. As we pray in a responsory during the Liturgy of the Hours, “It is my joy, O God, to praise you with song!” I am grateful for the gift of making music (whether with voice or instrument, alone or in community) in anticipation of someday joining the heavenly chorus. Finally, I am most grateful for the people that God has put into my life. Before, during, and after my entrance to the monastery this summer, God has shown his care for me through the love and support of countless family members, friends, coworkers, community members, and fellow nuns. Thank you, Lord, for these and so many other blessings!
I’m very grateful for the gift of my Catholic faith and for the privilege of being a postulant here at the monastery. My family has been incredibly supportive of my vocation, and I’m appreciative of the sacrifices they made for my religious vocation out of love for me. I give thanks for my sisters in the monastery and my friends out in the world who have challenged me, loved me, and supported me in living the Catholic faith. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
