Are You Thankful? Tell GOD.
My friends tomorrow is Thanksgiving. A holiday that we celebrate as a means to express our thankfulness. Originally, in our nation it was to express thanks to GOD for providing a bountiful growing season. But today, many of us have different reasons to thank our Creator for the gifts that he bestows.
I’ve not made it a secret that I have within the past year found a need to connect with GOD and establish a place in his kingdom for me. I’m in the process now of joining the Catholic Church and am thrilled and feel priviledged to be accepted into a community that is so loving and caring as the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Ashtabula Ohio is.
In this week’s RCIA class, we ended with what can be viewed as a prayer that goes with this season very well. So I thought I’d share it with you. Feel free to print and use this at your Thanksgiving celebration.
Thanksgiving Day or Any Time of Thanksgiving
“Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness” (Col 3:15)The following rite may be used on Thanksgiving Day as a table prayer or at any time when people gather in thangsgiving and joy around a meal. When all have gathered, the leader lights the candle and begins.
LEADER: Christ, our Light, we give you thanks for your goodness.
ALL: You have called us to share your life and the light of glory.
LEADER: When you come again, your glory will be made known.
ALL: When Christ is revealed, we too will be revealed with Christ in glory (Col 3:4).
LEADER: We give thanks for many gifts today, including the great gift of faith and being part of GOD’s chosen people.READER 1: Because you are GOD’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt compassion, with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive whatever grievances you have against one another – forgive in the same way GOD has forgiven you. Above all else, put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect.
READER 2: Let Christ’s peace reign in your hearts since, as members of one body, you have been called to that peace. Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you. Instruct and admonish on another wissely. Sing gratefully to GOD from your hearts in psalms, hymns and songs of the Spirit. And whatever you do, whether in speech or in action, do it in the name of Jesus our Savior, giving thanks to GOD through Christ. (Col 3:12-17)
LEADER: Today we give thanks to GOD for the food we are about to receive, for the friendship of those who have gathered, and for the gifts bestowed upon us. For the gift of life, for the health of mind and body, for the people who have guided and loved us, we lift up our hearts and pray,
ALL: Thanks be to GOD.
LEADER: For our country and its abundance of gifts, for the right to choose our leaders and our futures, for the freedom to vote, for the right to education, we lift up our hearts and pray,
ALL: Thanks be to GOD.
LEADER: For growing up, for the maturing age, for the wisdom to interpret meanings in life, for the many communities that sustain our being, we lift up our hearts and we pray,
ALL: Thanks be to GOD.
LEADER: For the gift of faith, for the mystery of Jesus Christ who is with us, for the Spirit who guides us, for the community of faith that supports our journeying, we lift up our hearts and we pray,
ALL: Thanks be to GOD.
LEADER: For the promise of a better tomorrow, for th fidelity of GOD who makes promises come true, for the table of the kingdom where all shall be united as one in Christ, we lift up our hearts and we pray,
ALL: Thanks be to GOD.
LEADER: For the gifts for which we are most thankful this day:
Each person may name a gift in his/her hear or aloud.
LEADER: For all these gifts, we lift up our hearts and we pray,
ALL: Thanks be to GOD.
LEADER: May GOD bless each of us around this table with peace.May Jesus Christ bless us with the food that satisfies the heart’s hungers.
May the Spirit bless us with love that leads us toward life forever at the heavenly banquet table.
ALL: Amen. Thanks be to GOD!
Exchange the sign of peace.
Blessing Rites for Christian Lives
Shawn Madigan, CSJ
Good Ground Press
www.goodgroundpress.com
HAPPY THANKSGIVING AMERICA
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Posted by Gribbit on November 22, 2006 10:27 pm
» Filed Under Church And State, News
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