“All Good Gifts” Father Pat Griffin continues his series.

Those who know me well will tell you that I am a whistler.  I seem to do it all the time and most often unwittingly.  Sometimes, someone asks me the name of the tune that I whistle, and I need to stop to play it back in my head because I did not even know that I had been performing.  As we begin to approach Thanksgiving, I know the melody which my breath will typically push through my pursed lips.

Originally published in German in 1782, and then set to music in 1800, the song “All Good Gifts” was translated into English in the middle of the 19^th Century.  It has been a very popular and well-known hymn in many Christian circles.  Some of you may remember it from one of the popular Christian musicals of the 70’s, “Godspell.”  I like that piece very much and often allow it to play in my heart in these days. With a little more confidence in my voice, and a lot more encouragement, I would use it during the Thanksgiving meal.  Listen to the lyrics:

We plough the fields, and scatter the good seed on the land;
But it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand:
He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.

(Chorus)         All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
For all His love.

He only is the maker of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower, He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey Him, by Him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, His children, He gives our daily bread.

(Chorus)
We thank Thee, then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, and food;
No gifts have we to offer, for all Thy love imparts,
But that which Thou desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.

(Chorus)

The words are terrific.  They present a hymn of praise and thanks to the giver of all that is good.  Perhaps some of you will hum it in these days.

The Gospel for Thanksgiving Day tells the tale of the ten lepers who receive healing from Jesus.  Only one returns to say “thank you.”  Jesus voices his surprise at this situation.  He wonders where the other nine have gone.  From a purely statistical point of view, the story suggests that nine-out-of-ten times, we neglect to express our awareness of our blessings.  That offers food for reflection on a Thanksgiving day

Sometimes busyness or hardness of heart can blind us to what is going on around us.  The Lord God has created a beautiful and wondrous universe to surround us.  To look up at the sky and the stars, to look out at a landscape, to look down at the tiny world which takes place around us in a field—all of these are reminders of God’s love and care for us, and of God’s own beauty.  When we look into the face of a child, when we experience the joy of recognition, when we see the maturity of the years in the face of our elders—all of these call to mind that God stands in relation to us and that we are relational in the very depth of our being.  As we think about our families and countries, as we appreciate the wisdom that flows from study, as we learn to understand our blessings, we can come to know that God has made us with a spirit and that we long for him.  In all these circumstances, we are drawn to say “thank you” and to praise God in this affirmation.

Pope Benedict has something important to say about gratitude.  It can make us thoughtful and aware:

[Thanks] is not a kind word to use just with strangers, to show you are educated. It is necessary to know how to say thank you, in order to get along well together . . .

People like to be appreciated—I like to be appreciated.  Most of us do not begrudge the tasks or responsibilities which come our way, even when they fall beyond the call of duty.  But, we also hate to feel taken for granted and unappreciated.  If that is true for me, how much more is it true for those who constantly and generously provide service to me.  I will not even begin to try to make that list, but, in my wiser moments, I suspect its length and depth.

To bring a thankful heart to prayer offers a good starting point.  It does not, however, mark an end.  As members of the Vincentian Family, we should express our appreciation of the Lord’s generosity to us and of one another.  We also recognize the gift of the poor who teach us virtue.  All good gifts need acknowledgment and inclusion in the words of our Thanksgiving.