Thanks be to God

Details: 16 November 2012

Perhaps the best antidote to spiritual lethargy is gratitude to God for all that He has given us. To combat the challenges of our day effectively, apathy must give way to spiritual fortitude.

It would be impossible to exaggerate how much God has blessed us. He continues to do so on a daily basis in a wide variety of ways. God’s blessings influence our health, our work, our relationships, our friends and our families. We likely thank God at least occasionally for His help in these very areas of our lives. For Catholics, the Mass can be seen as the source of all blessings.

We verbally express gratitude to God at specific points in the Liturgy of the Mass. In response to "The Word of the Lord," we say, "Thanks be to God." We thank God for His Word because it provides a concrete and consistent message from on high about how we are to live our lives as disciples of Jesus. We often fail to appreciate the solid foundation upon which the teachings of our Catholic Faith stand. In stark contrast to other faith traditions, our teachings are supported by history, theology, Scripture and a host of other disciplines. For this we should be grateful, since it provides credibility to what we believe and how we live as Christ’s followers.

The heart of the Mass is the Eucharistic Prayer. In the Preface dialogue, just before entering fully into this indispensable part of the liturgy, the celebrant provides an invitation: "Let us give thanks to the Lord our God." The people respond: "It is right and just." And indeed it is! Effectively we are saying, not only does it make sense to thank God, we owe it to Him to do so.

Our gratitude disposes us for the other types of prayer found in the liturgy: contrition, adoration and supplication. A grateful heart is an open heart, disposed to receive the love and mercy of God.

We also bear in mind that the word "Eucharist" itself means "thanksgiving." While our gratitude for the gift of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist could never equal the magnitude of the gift itself, our efforts in this regard bear abundant spiritual fruits nonetheless.

At the conclusion of Mass we hear one of four dismissals:

1. Go forth, the Mass is ended;

2. Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord;

3. Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life;

4. Go in peace.

The imperative "Go" suggests that our faith cannot and must not be confined to the insides of our churches. Our faith is to be brought out into the world to transform it.

The second and third dismissals suggest that we speak and act in accord with our faith by announcing the Good News and by setting good example—namely, the kind that itself gives glory to God. The task of being witnesses to our faith in word and deed is a difficult and demanding one, but the Lord’s Church provides all of the guidance and grace we need to rise to the challenge.

It behooves us actively to seek out the resources we need to be effective apostles of truth. Such assets are available in great measure thanks to the stellar diocesan leadership we have enjoyed for the past 20 years from Bishop Bruskewitz, as well as from his predecessors. We are grateful that we can anticipate more of the same from Bishop Conley. Thanks be to God for them! Have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving.