|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
"In the light of the Divine Goodness, it seems to me, though others may think differently, that ingratitude is the most abominable of sins and that it should be detested in the sight of our Creator and Lord by all of His creatures who are capable of enjoying His divine and everlasting glory. It is a forgetting of the graces, benefits, and blessings received, and as such it is the cause, beginning, and origin of all sins and misfortunes. Contrariwise, the grateful acknowledgment of blessings and gifts received is loved and esteemed both in heaven and on earth."
~A Letter from Saint Ignatius of Loyola to Simão Rodrigues, 18 March 1542.
On this Thanksgiving Day (at least, here in the Colonies), I am grateful for you all, for your kindness, your wit and wisdom, your forbearance, your willingness to overcome difficulties along the way, and your continued participation in this board.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Thank you, as ever, for the grace and wisdom of your thoughts, dear Father Steve. One of the still almost overwhelming senses of gratitude I feel for this forum is the ability it gives me to share conversations with such a rich diversity of views and varied experiences from around the world, linked by largely common values of respect and consideration.
To all of you who are of the turkey-murdering persuasion, can I wish you a very happy holiday in the bosom of your family or other loved friends!
May I also have the temerity to suggest, having just yesterday received a heartrending account of suffering from a friend in Pakistan, that it behoves all of us who share thanks for multiple blessings to do something practical, today, however modest in scale, for one or more of our fellows in dire need? We do, after all, have a wide choice of suitable recipients of a token of our care.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
I can't imagine how he did it, over all these miles, but it seems to me that our Brother Maverick either read my sermon over my shoulder while I wrote it or listened to it at our church service this morning. Great minds tend to think alike, of course, especially the really humble ones ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
> really humble lol! I am also one of the most Christian of atheists so I was probably well attuned to your sermon's thought-waves from afar... 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
I can finally take time to post, now that the holiday is over and the kids have gone back to their respective schools.
FTR: this was one of the nicest Thanksgivings I've had in a long time. We did not have the huge family free-for-all this year for a change. They are dear to me in their own various ways, but I'm an only child, and I can't say that I honestly minded not being trapped in a house for several hours with 35+ other people with a dozen noisy eeling youngsters. So I got to cook my own Thanksgiving meal, and since I had help with the housework (speaking of things to be thankful for), that left me free to concentrate on the food--which I also had some help with, meaning that I'm not taking the credit for everything below: it would just be too boring to go into all the details of who did what. We ended up having as guests my mother-in-law, and my husband's brother and his wife. They brought, among other things, a store-bought pumpkin pie--more on that later! The turkey was not a perfect golden brown, but it looked nice on the platter, surrounded by the celery leaves I'd tucked under it like my mother used to do. More importantly, it was moist and delicious! I attempted to make dressing like hers, and it turned out fine. Everything, in fact, was just really really good; we had appetizers, special drinks, lit candles, and mints in little dishes, so it looked rather fancy. I put on some soft Baroque music. It was just a really relaxing, peaceful time. (Now, back to the pie; I hadn't known they were going to bring that; if I had, I'd have told them I made two pumpkin pies the day before. However, we decided to make the most of the opportunity, and did a taste-test comparison...and everybody liked mine better!)
It was nice to have the kids home; last night we did a rare-any-more thing, and all four of us went out: we went to see Walk the Line. I have never liked Johnny Cash, but this is a good movie. (Hubby and son wore all black.) I don't know who the actress was who played June's mother, but she got the Nashville-grandmother-belle persona perfect. I think I have mentioned my Aunt Mary here a time or two; this movie reminded me that she spent some time in the Maybelle Carter assisted-living facility.
I too am very thankful for the friends I have made on this board, and all the things I have learned here. As to something practical, today, however modest in scale, for one or more of our fellows in dire need? I have been fortunate enough to have seen examples of this pretty much all my life. One thing I heard a comment on again today was something my husband did a couple of weeks ago. A guy in a wheelchair has recently started coming to our church; I don't know the cause, but among other difficulties his hands are kind of curled tightly over. Well, church was over and I was waiting not very patiently in the car, when finally Hubby came out. When I asked what on earth had taken him so long, I found out that he had gone down in the elevator with the guy, just to make sure nothing went wrong, and during this process learned that the guy was hungry...and Hubby had secured a piece of pie left from the dinner the night before, and fed it to the guy in the wheelchair.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,374
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
1 members (A C Bowden),
233
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
