Claudia and I wish to extend to each of you precious Knights and Dame Templars, followers, postulants and friends – our most sincere Thanksgiving blessings and the best holiday wishes for this 2025 season.
One of (if not the) most powerful run of scriptures expresses this from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18,
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
In just 19 words, we learn three commands and then are assured in no uncertain terms that each of these are God’s implicit will for each of us. The third of these three commands solemnly reminds tell us that every day in the life of a Christ Follower is Thanksgiving Day.
But there is one gift for which we may be especially thankful (besides thankfulness for Jesus), one that rises above all other Earth-bound offerings. And that is the living presence of each precious person that God has gifted each of us in our lives: our family, our friends and our neighbors. Together and individually, they are the greatest blessings on this Earth.
And all of them are flawed – just like you and I and everyone else is, they are tender and easily bruised, they are hurting in ways we can never know, and they have a need and a deep hunger that is only truly satisfied by the hand of God. And God has laid that responsibility on you and me, placing within us the power to become that fountain of love and that constant stream of the words of life that they need so badly every day.
None of us need a theology degree to meet their needs. Quite simply, they need our touch. A simple hug, a smile, a hand on the shoulder, a few soft words of life, and even a look through eyes that powerfully expresses more than any words. And if they are distant, a text or an email is very powerful.
In every family, even in Jesus’ family, there are always, inevitably, a history of hurts and offenses that may be decades old. These can be swept away by expressions of forgiveness and reconciliation that are often extended without even speaking words. There is no Thanksgiving offering more precious in the sight of God than these unwarranted gifts of grace – of forgiveness and reconciliation with those whom we love.
This Thanksgiving, treasure those flawed and needy souls whom God has given you by gifting them with something extraordinary that only you can offer.
When you bid them farewell today, keep in mind that life is but a vapor, it is temporary, and it disappears before you even realize it. Suddenly that priceless gift is forever gone.
Seize this day and live God’s commands. Leave them all with something they can carry with them into eternity, wrapped in that touch, that smile, that hug that only you can extend to them.
Trust me, precious Knights and Dame Templars, followers, postulants and friends – don’t let death’s sting rob this moment from you.
They need to hear just three words that have the power to restore life, to move mountains and to breathe life back into the dead.
“I love you.”
They need grace.
Your grace.
They need you.