Preview: Father Faber on "What We Should Give Thanks For"

In our final Son Rise Morning Show segment on Father Frederick Faber's Little Book of Holy Gratitude, drawn from the seventh chapter of All For Jesus, on Monday, November 25, Matt or Anna and I will look at some of Faber's thoughts about what exactly we should thank God for. 

I'll be on the air at my usual time! about 7:50 a.m. Eastern Time/6:50 a.m. Central Time. Please listen live here or listen to the podcast later.

Faber begins in an intriguing direction, since we might be inclined to concentrate on the blessings we individually have received:

"We should thank God for the blessings that are common to the whole human race."

Among those blessings Faber lists that we are created with a body and a soul; health and temporal blessings; that "God not only created the world, he redeemed it, and prepared for us eternal glory, and He thinks specifically and distinctly of each one of us." Faber highlights "the graces of the sacred humanity of Jesus, the glorious privileges of the Mother of God, and all the splendor of the angels and the saints" as worthy of our gratitude.

He lists other things and events to be thankful for:

--Personal Blessing Received

--Afflictions and Tribulations

--Trifling Blessings

--Blessings We've Obstructed

--God's Non rational Creatures (birds, dogs, horses, even cats!)

--Blessings Given to Our Enemies

--All God's Angels and Saints

--The Gift of Faith

Some of these suggestions might seem odd. Why should we be thankful for our troubles? Because we trust that God only wants what's best for us. How do we thank God for blessings we didn't receive through our own fault? Because He wanted to bless us and we thank Him for that, Faber says. Faber comments that the non-rational creatures whose presence we enjoy are signs of "the presence of God, enabling us everywhere, and at all times, to rise to Him by means of his creatures." Being thankful for the blessings our enemies--if we have any--is a great act of charity and "brotherly love", Faber advises, as we will eventually feel "gentleness and tenderness, even toward those who have wronged us most, or who show the greatest dislike of us." Thus, we will be at peace with them and within ourselves.

In our era of the "nones" I think the gift of faith is one of the greatest things to be thankful for: To trust in God's holiness, truthfulness, and mercy; to be certain that He loves me and wants me to be happy; that He established His Church on earth to guide me to Heaven. Those are great blessings.

Most of all, of course, Faber returns to how thankful we should be for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for the Real Presence, and for Holy Communion:

In our thanksgiving after receiving Holy Communion, he emphasizes the gratitude we should express for "the adorable Sacrifice of the Mass and the Personal Presence of Jesus with His Church," because "wheresoever He is, there is infinite praise, unspeakable worship, unfathomable thanksgiving!" He recommends the guidance of Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, and his own patron, Saint Philip Neri for different means and methods.

 

After urging Catholics to "think more immediately of the Blessed Sacrament and of the presence of Jesus within them at that moment", Faber closes this section on thanksgiving after receiving Holy Communion by citing the opening words of Canto 27 of Paradise in the Divine Comedy , when Dante is coming closer to the heights of heaven, as an image for meditation after Holy Communion:. 

Then “Glory to the Father, to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit,” rang aloud
Throughout all Paradise, that with the song
My spirit reel’d, so passing sweet the strain:
And what I saw was equal ecstasy;
One universal smile it seem’d of all things,
Joy past compare, gladness unutterable,
Imperishable life of peace and love,
Exhaustless riches and unmeasur’d bliss.

--Henry Francis Cary translation (1805-1814)

Who wouldn't be grateful for that?

Happy Thanksgiving!