Few reflections at the feast of Thanksgiving to God

Gratitude is one of the many ways to address God. Through thanksgiving we acknowledge God as the Creator of the seen and unseen world, we acknowledge his care for us and it; we also recognize his closeness and concrete and real presence in our lives.

St. Simeon Stylite the Younger says: "'But Your providence, father, guides them all, because You have given a way even on the sea and a safe path on the water, and even if one without skill embarks'[1], by Your governing hand, will be delivered, so that we may consider Christ as His right hand. For His right hand saved him. For He is the helmsman and deliverer of those who fear Him, through the anchor of the Spirit."[2]

One of the constant teachings of Holy Scripture reflected in the events described in it is God's care for us and for the world. It is also the thing that St. Simeon emphasizes in the text above.

God's care does not depend on our skill or unskillfulness. It is a fruit of God's generosity and mercy for us and for the world. God's providence is a permanent presence that surrounds each one of us in this world if we are skillful or not. Life is like the voyage of a ship traversing the seas of life and encountering innumerable storms, dangers suspected or unsuspected, like the hidden rocks. The voyage certainly also depends on the skill of the captain and the skill and energy of the crew. St. Simeon, however, reminds us that beyond this skill required for navigation, God's care,

the guidance and the steering to the destination depends much more on God's providence that makes the ship of our life reach it.

The care of God the Father is fulfilled through His two hands: Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit. The fulfillment of our work as humans and as world in its finality is a joint work of the Holy Trinity. God the Father ordained everything from the beginning for us and for the world. Christ the Lord restored the integrity and beauty of our nature through birth, death and resurrection. The fruit of Christ's work is transmitted to each of the people through the work of the Holy Spirit. Our life as humans and the world we live in reflects the ongoing work of the Holy Trinity.

Our gratitude comes precisely from this feeling of deep satisfaction that we have towards God's work that we feel accomplished through the Holy Spirit. Our thanksgiving is a personal prayer to God for the blessings given upon our individual lives. Also, our thanksgiving is a prayer raised to God for our families; for the family we were born in, in which we saw the light of day and grew up. And not lastly, we give thanks for the people, the society, and the world we live in which is a gift of God.

The church teaches us to be grateful. Gratitude is the mark of the true nobility of man. Through thanksgiving the Christian open his way to the otherness. Through thanksgiving, he keeps his personal space open to God and to his neighbor. Through thanksgiving the Christian can communicate and acknowledge the contribution or permanent presence of God and neighbor in his life. The Christian gratefully preserves the right to otherness, friendship and love as perennial values ​​of a society thoroughly founded that wants to last over time.

In a contemporary world in which we sometimes hardly recognize ourselves due to conflicts, contradictions, hatred, enmity, unhealthy competition, counter-values, the struggle against life and the natural evidence of human historical experience, the prayer of thanksgiving is a way of hope; of hope for the better, in a humanity closer to God, fellow man and the world; a humanity more responsible towards itself and the world of which it is a part; of a man fully aware of his value and depth, a depth which has its source beyond himself in the image of God implanted in him.

Let's give glory to God for everything! St. Apostle Paul says: "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the [a]mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak."[3] Let's follow the Apostle's exhortation that our prayer be accompanied by thanksgiving, because it has a purpose - announcing the mystery of salvation in Christ. Prayer and thanksgiving are the two wings that carry us to God and our neighbor.

Let us follow the Apostle Paul's exhortations: "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."[4]

A blessed Thanksgiving everyone!

† Ioan Casian

Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Canada

October 10 / St. Eulampios and Eulampia, St. Bassian și Theofilus the Confessor

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[1] Ecclesiastes 14, 3

[2] St. Simeon Stylite the Younger. Conference xx: The teaching about the divine grace that guides man in Ascetic words. Life in Christ Collection. Pages of Philokalia 4 (trans. from old gr. Laura Enache / Introd. stud. by Paul van den Ven). Ed. Doxologia: Iasi 2013, p. 175

[3] Colossians 4, 2-4

[4] 1 Thessalonians 5, 16-18