thankful for the mystery of God

i love this quote:

this thanksgiving, i am thankful for God as ultimate mystery– God’s incomprehensibility. the Spirit’s gifts of wonder and awe draw us into this unspeakable love. in this mystery, faith is a gift and our response to this grace is thanksgiving.

to realize the power of the gifts we have and the gifts we are is to swim in the waters of this grace. at this time of life, i am especially thankful for the gifts of each family member and friend in my life, music, sports, my health, my faith.

thanksgiving is a beloved holiday for the usa because it is a public license to speak words of gratitude. it is an opportunity to pause and reflect on what is truly important in our lives. when we give thanks, our hearts grow. when we give thanks, it opens doors for us to love more deeply and authentically.

when we go deeper into the mystery of God and love, then we are drawn out of “our little house of homely and close hugged truths” as rahner describes. it disturbs me when christians– especially catholics– use close hugged truths in uncharitable ways to defame or hurt people. perhaps grace, mercy and healing from God have not been part of these christians’ journeys. i do not presume to know hearts. i do know that when we really know the mystery of God and love, it humbles our judgement of others and leads to charitable words and actions.

to appreciate the mystery of God is also to live in a tension that rahner poetically names “superluminous darkness”. he describes the contradiction of the cross. in this covid pandemic, so many people are going through darkness in so many ways. these are heavy crosses. our hope is a faith that there is an engulfing light through the darkness. to live in this paradox is to believe in paradoxical love– indeed a mystery. only through grace can we know this profound love.

let us pray:

Lord, thank you for all the gifts you have given us– especially the ones that we can take for granted. we thank you for your love as shown in the cross of Jesus. help us transform our darkness into superluminous light so we can share this light with others. shower your love on us all and expand our hearts with thankfulness.

open our eyes to your presence among us– especially in those people that this world marginalizes and dehumanizes. may we be your instruments of justice, love and healing. may the Spirit’s gifts of wonder and awe surprise always with your grace and love