Deo gratias.

So I thought about celebrating Thanksgiving by reading "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" - because the holiday is all about the Puritan pilgrims, right?  So what better way to remember their legacy?  Okay, fine, I've decided I should celebrate like a good Catholic. Ergo, Deo gratias!  Thanks be to God!  Thanksgiving doesn't make much sense in this secularized culture; we have to realize Who we are saying thanks to.  Deo gratias, then, for all of the gifts and talents that we have been blessed with.

This semester has hammered home to me the many things for which I need to be grateful.  I've been blessed with a slap of reality in so many ways!

Deo gratias for my faith, and the hope that it gives me.

Deo gratias for my deeply supportive friends, and for the graces to accept their help in my weakness.

Deo gratias for my family, always around for a text or a call when I need a few words of honest wisdom.

Deo gratias for a few true gentlemen who have proven to me that chivalry is not dead.

Deo gratias for brilliant professors who have raised my heart and mind towards the beauty of Truth.

Deo gratias for the graces to push through on a heavy workload, and for just enough breathing space to not be completely overwhelmed.

Deo gratias for my roommate and honorary brother, who have showed me the beauty of their preparation for marriage and enabled me to participate in some of their discernment.

Deo gratias for my holy friends who are discerning the religious life and who give me an example of prayer and virtue.

Deo gratias for those who trust me with leadership, and for the graces to not let them down.

Deo gratias for good books and the grace of language.

Deo gratias for my employers who challenge me.

Deo gratias for a great chaplain and spiritual mentor.

Deo gratias for the lesson, learned through suffering, that I am worth something in God's eyes, and that I do not need to depend on any human for my value.

Deo gratias for the biggest lesson I've learned this semester: that the only truly fulfilling love and peace comes from Him Who is infinitely capable of love.

Deo gratias for so many other things that I am having trouble bringing to mind right now!