Thanksgiving - A Time for Gratitude and Gratuitousness

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis calls us to “ecological conversion.” He writes, “A healthy relationship with creation is one dimension of overall personal conversion, which entails the recognition of our errors, sins, faults and failures, and leads to heartfelt repentance and desire to change. … This conversion calls for a number of attitudes which together foster a spirit of generous care full of tenderness. First, it entails gratitude and gratuitousness, a recognition that the world is God’s loving gift, and that we are called quietly to imitate [God’s] generosity in self-sacrifice and good works” (218-220).

As the United States celebrates the Thanksgiving holiday, we acknowledge the “errors, sins, faults and failures” that were, and continue to be, perpetrated against Native American peoples, and we pray for healing and unity to be fostered by the gratitude that motivates generous care for the earth and all people.
 

A moment of silence

Prayer
Mi’kmaq Prayer for Thanksgiving (found at Many Hoops Around Thanksgiving)

Creator, open our hearts
to peace and healing between all people.
Creator, open our hearts
to provide and protect for all children of the earth.
Creator, open our hearts
to respect for the earth, and all the gifts of the earth.
Creator, open our hearts
to end exclusion, violence, and fear among all.
Thank you for the gifts of this day and every day.

Amen

 

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