This morning, as I got ready for a long day of cooking, eating, and spending time with my family, I took time to pray, reflecting on those things I’m most thankful for. This is a practice I’ve tried to make a regular part of my life, not just something to do once a year on Thanksgiving. As I made my way through the list, certain things rose quickly to the top: my beautiful wife, my ama... More

Two internet memes seem to be making the interweb rounds as of late, both somewhat related to the holidays. One shows a photo of weary soldiers with the caption “WalMart employees: tell me again how working on Thanksgiving is ruining your holiday?” The second includes various admonitions to buy from local stores during this holiday season instead of from large chain corporations (IR... More

Turkey, words of thanks, a gathering, a meal. How much like a national eucharist is Thanksgiving? Other national holidays celebrate events or people that shaped the nation—Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, etc. This holiday is based on an event that shaped the nation, yes, but not an isolated event like a battle or the signing of a document... More

Since we are close to Thanksgiving Day, here is a my version of a Holy Song of Thanksgiving. I wrote this little poem today. The title is borrowed from my favorite Beethoven string quartet in A minor, No. 15. (The third movement to be precise called Heiliger Dankgesang or as known in English Holy Song of Thanksgiving by a Convalescent to the Divinity). Beethoven composed this piece after recove... More

The common victim for our secular eucharist Thanksgiving: the most Catholic of the national holidays that don’t coincide with an actual Catholic holiday. The reason is simple: everyone wants to be Catholic, whether they realize it or not. Here we are celebrating the day when our nation “gives thanks” for all the stuff we’re thankful for. We know we’re giving thanks fo... More