Giving thanks for God’s graces
-
November 2, 2017
Father Romeo Salinas is Vocations Director for the Diocese of Corpus Christi.
As Thanksgiving approaches, we turn our thoughts to loved ones, to shared family gatherings and most of all to the graces we have received from God for which we are most grateful. Peace, joy and salvation are graces received through prayer, and we must work diligently to attain them. We must let go of the worldly things around us and turn our thoughts, hearts and perseverance in prayer to the Lord from whom all graces come and to our Blessed Mother who is the mediatrix of all graces.Let us recount briefly some of the most powerful graces the Lord has given us, because He loves us so dearly.
Jesus. We thank God for giving us his only son who became man through the incarnation; died for us on the cross to reconcile man with God and earth with heaven. Jesus was the new Adam. We never want to offend the cross. We must live our lives worthy of the love of Jesus and pray to be consecrated to his Sacred Heart.
Virgin Mary. We thank God for Mary with her fiat to the angel. Through her, we now have a heavenly mother who loves us and wants to present us to God in heaven. She is the mediatrix of all graces. Our Blessed Mother herself is a gift of grace from God to us. God chooses to give us his graces through her. She prays for us; she loves us; she intercedes for us; she takes our petitions and presents them herself to almighty God, and he sends our answered petitions to us through her. Remember also that when we pray with the rosary in our hands, we show Satan we belong to the Blessed Mother. We pray to be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart.
Family. We thank God for our community of family, a reflection of the greater community of faith. Through family love we learn prayer, holiness, forgiveness and how to begin anew each day with Jesus. We learn that the love of a man for his wife is like Jesus’ love for his bride, the Church. We learn to live the Commandments, experience Holy Mass and cultivate the love of our blessed mother. Parents are the first representatives of God for children.
Sacraments. We thank God for the graces attained through the sacraments. Through baptism, we receive sanctifying grace and the Holy Spirit. Through confirmation, we receive a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit, so we can be carriers of the light and peace of Christ. Through penance, we receive great reconciliation and gain sanctifying grace lost through sin. In Holy Communion, we receive the Eucharist, which is the grace of spiritual food. Great graces are received in attending daily Mass. In marriage, we receive the graces of fidelity and family, the graces we need to fulfill the offices of spouse and parent. In holy orders, we have in the priest an alter Christus, another Christ. When the priest blesses us, it is Christ that is blessing us. In anointing of the sick, we receive graces that heal physically and spiritually.
Prayer. We thank God for the graces we receive through prayer. The more we pray, the more intimate we become with God and our Blessed Mother, and the more we begin to understand the mystery of God. Mass becomes more alive; God becomes more real, more alive; our faith grows. The greater the level of faith we have, the more we pray. In the Jewish culture 2,000 years ago, there existed no means of expressing degrees of comparison, so people expressed the importance of an idea or a command by repeating a particular word two or more times. Our Lady of Fatima said to the children to whom she appeared, “Pray, pray very much because many souls go to hell.” She could not have expressed more clearly the need for and the power of prayer.
Conversion. We thank God for the grace that bestows the gift of conversion which, for the rest of our lives, allows us the strength to turn from evil; to live the commandments; to place God in the first place in our lives; to open our hearts to God and our Blessed Mother. St. Paul says, “Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more (Rom 5:20).” When we do not believe, we do not pray; and when we do not pray, we begin to cut off graces from God. All we seek is found in God’s graces and not in worldly things.
Witness. We thank God for the graces that give us courage to give witness to him by the way we live our lives. We are able to practice holiness, generosity and humility; and, we are able to practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. “So also faith, if it has no works, is dead…faith without works is useless…a person is justified by works and not by faith alone (Jas 2:17-24).” We live the works our faith requires; we give thanks to God without ceasing for the ability to do so. In living our faith and receiving graces, we recognize that God is our creator and that he protects us from Satan’s attacks through the graces he bestows on us.
Through love, prayers, and lives well lived, we bring our families and others to God. Through grace, we find the words to encourage, console, advise and instruct others in how to conduct themselves in the presence of God. As St. Josemariá Escrivá said, “This all forms part of the ‘apostolate of friendship’ (The Way: 973).” Pope Gregory the Great said to us that when we come across something useful, we should try to share it with others. “So you should want other people to join you on the way to the Lord…Apply this earthly custom to the spiritual sphere and as you make your way to God, do not go alone (Evangelia Homiliae: 6,6).”
Thank you Lord for loving us, for blessing us with your saving graces and for tirelessly waiting for our “yes” our decision, our desire for you.
