Giving thanks for the graces we receive from God

by Bro. Boniface
(Muensterschwarzach Abbey, Germany)

St.Benedict in rapture before his death, Schuyler, Nebraska

Recently I made a trip to the US, my first after 15 years of absence from Nebraska. There was a lot of planning that went into it, some expectations and some hope for a good time. You know the kind of feelings one has before setting out on a trip abroad.

Now the trip and experience behind me I sit down at my desk and ponder the goodness of the Lord in helping me to undertake this journey back to another time in my life. There is deep gratitude in my heart towards my abbot, who made this possible by giving his ok, by the Schuyler community for having me and for the wonderful albeit short visits I had with old friends and people I know from way back then. And there is reason for giving thanks to God and to all those who made this visit a memorable one, for I know not if I can make another one.

Now is this not the same when we look back at our life, each one of us in our heart?

Surely life has not always been a bed of roses as we say and yet when we look towards the end of it at the whole I am sure we detect the goodness and beauty that was in our life and in the events that shaped us as persons. As I get older I tend to emphasize the good in my life, not the bad experiences. Yes, they were there also. Today I tend to think of them as stepping stones on the journey to heaven.

As we human beings depend entirely on the power of the sun so do we as Christians depend on the light and grace of the Lord. It is he who guides and plans our life. There is a saying that comes to mind, no matter how crooked my way through life was, it was the straightest one leading to God.

I feel that thanks and appreciation and gratitude are the best way to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.

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