November 25

hanksgiving is a real, interior knowledge. With great reverence and loving fear, it turns us with all our powers to do whatever our good Lord indicates. It brings joy and gratitude within. Sometimes its very abundance gives voice. Good Lord, thank you and bless you! And sometimes when the heart is dry and unfeeling—or it may be because of the enemy's tempting—then reason and grace drive us to cry aloud to our Lord, recalling his blessed passion and great goodness. And the strength of our Lord's word comes to the soul, and fires the heart, and leads it by grace into its real business, enabling it to pray happily and to enjoy our Lord in truth. Thanksgiving is a blessed thing in his sight.

From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.

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