"Now Thank We All Our God"

" Now thank we all our God,
With hearts, and hands, and voices
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices
Who, from our mothers' arms,
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today." 

-- Traditional hymn

While driving this week I noticed that some homes already were lit up with Christmas lights, and  I was kind of sad about that.

I've come to accept that people like to start decorating early, while the weather is still nice. But jumping ahead to Christmas often means glancing over both Thanksgiving and Advent, two times of the year we should savor and enjoy.

I love Thanksgiving and hate to watch it fade as Christmas shopping not only encroaches upon it but completely envelopes it. As a nation we need an occasion to just pause and say thanks. We often forget how blessed we are and tend to take our freedom and prosperity for granted. We need to remember God, the source of all blessings.

I love the 9 a.m. Masses that St. Columbkille offers on holidays like Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Apparently others do, too, because the pews seem to get fuller each year. Musicians and other liturgical volunteers give us a full celebration.

The holidays become more meaningful in the context of Mass, especially Thanksgiving. Worshipers praise and thank God and ask for His blessings on themselves, their families and even the dinner bread they bring and will later share at home. They also bring food pantry donations, a way to acknowledge their blessedness by sharing with others.

The entire Mass puts me in the right frame of mind to enjoy all the other good things about Thanksgiving --  including food, family and football.

Inspired by this Year of Faith we will be posting columns like this from Susan Szalewski about exploring and/or deepening our faith. Watch for it on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.