Thanksgiiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009 Do not be anxious.

Anxiety is rooted in that part of the human soul that demands: my will be done.

The remedy for anxiety is giving thanks.

Anxiety focuses the mind on the principle known as Murphy’s Law. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Anxiety is different from planning. Planning involves a rational analysis of a situation followed by a plan of action to deal with the situation.

Anxiety paralyzes action by the use of a logic that concludes no matter what I do I cannot control all events. Therefore, I am helpless. Therefore I am hopeless.

Anxiety is preoccupied with future tragedy. It is locked in the dualism that asserts: if life is not 100% good then it must be 100% bad. Either I get what I want all of the time and God is good. Or, I don’t get what I want 100% of the time and God, if God exists at all, is not good.
Anxiety disrupts the mind, robs sleep, distorts the desires of our hearts- leaving us open to the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil, paralyzes the will and finally stagnates the soul.
Moses and the prophets spoke of this great threat to human happiness. Jesus came to transform this threat back into its original blessing.

Anxiety is a distortion of grace.

Grace transforms anxiety back into its original blessing. That original blessing is the ability to enjoy life as it unfolds, as we chose to engage life, as we are fully present to life.
As a teen one of my teachers once joking said 90% of success in life is just showing up. It certainly worked for me in school. Even if I didn’t always complete the assigned reading for my classes I always showed up for class. I always paid attention. And, I always took notes.

Thanksgiving is about showing up for life. It is about paying attention. If is about asking yourself the question: where am I here and now? What am I experiencing here and now? What do I have here and now?

The past is gone. The future has not yet come. There is only here and now. In Jesus Christ, God manifests his presence to each of us, to every human being on this planet, here and now.
What is here now for you? How is God manifesting Himself to you in the circumstances of your life here and now?

Some of us may be thinking of all of the preparations for the coming Thanksgiving meal, the visiting family, the hustle and bustle of what the world calls the holidays. Some of us may be experiencing anxiety about the war, the economy, health, the choices our children are making.
Here and now in the real presence of Jesus Christ at the altar, God asks us to immerse ourselves in the infinite and eternal love of the Son. The sacrament is the antidote to anxiety.

As set our intent to be present to God in these few moments of worship, God immerses our souls in divine grace. He makes all things new. He sets our minds free from the logic of fear to the clarity of faith. He purifies the desires of our hearts so that we may enjoy the wonder of human relationships and human activity. He transforms our wills so we can make a real choice to give thanks for the many blessings of this life.

Jesus teaches: do not be anxious. Then, Jesus tells us how not to be anxious. Seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. Make your personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ the first priority in your life. Immerse you mind and heart and will in Jesus’ love. Then, you will experience the duality of life, its pleasures and its pains, with the confidence and courage that you are loved with an everlasting love. Then, your will live your life from the place of thanksgiving knowing that in Jesus Christ, God is with you always.