The TODAY Show & Thanksgiving Day
NOVEMBER 23RD, 2008 — OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING
Dear Friends,
As many of you are aware, The Today Show is doing a piece on the ordination of Catholic women, and on their ministries. In early October a crew from the show came to film a liturgy at Spirit of Life, and interviewed several of us. Thanksgiving Day is the day planned to air the piece! It should be on during the 8:30AM segment (or perhaps the 8:00AM segment if plans change overnight) Thanksgiving morning. So, while you tend to your turkey, we invite you to tune into NBC's Today Show and enjoy our story! (The crew also visited Jane Via and her community in San Diego as well... it should be a great piece; however brief.)
As we prepare for the feast of Thanksgiving, we wanted to share a Thanksgiving Message from Joan Chittister that we find meaningful.
We don't talk much about gratitude but we do take it for granted—too often from others, of course, too seldom in ourselves. Instead, we are far more inclined to concentrate on what's not good about our lives rather than what is. The problem is that we hear little about the fact that gratitude is good for us:
Gratitude is good for our health because it reduces tension and calms anxieties. Gratitude is good
for our souls because it reminds us of the goodness of God. It helps us to weather the confusing
moments in life by reminding us that the God who has been our companion through all of life's
twists and turns is with us still and, as always, will, in the end, bring us through the present
moment to better moments to come.
Finally, it's good for the human relationships in our lives because it brings us to see the good in others, to trust them in the future and to deal with them lovingly in the present.
Gratitude is one of the great gifts of life. We need to cultivate it. To begin with then: Have a really happy Thanksgiving.
Finally, it's good for the human relationships in our lives because it brings us to see the good in others, to trust them in the future and to deal with them lovingly in the present.
Gratitude is one of the great gifts of life. We need to cultivate it. To begin with then: Have a really happy Thanksgiving.
(Joan Chittister)
We are grateful for each of you in our lives, and for the gift of The Spirit of Life Community. It brings us joy to journey with you in faith. If you haven't yet visited The Spirit of Life Community, we invite you to come and join us some Sunday evening. We assure you that you will receive a warm welcome and an opportunity to pray with a group of women and men committed to "being Christ" to one another, to tend to the needs of one another and to those in need in our world. Together, we celebrate our belief that we are being transformed by God's grace as we gather together in prayer. We warmly invite you to come and gather with us at our Table and join in our experience of the 'kin-dom' of God. We are an inclusive, open, affirming and interactive community, deeply committed to being a people of 'justice and joy'.
In Gratitude for your presence in our lives,
Find more about past weekly reflections and podcasts in our ARCHIVE PAGE.
