Father Joe Townsend, Pastor of the Church of St. Benedict in Broken Arrow, provided a beautiful thanksgiving prayer for the parishioners to pray with their family tomorrow. I encourage each of you to sit down together as a family, before the feast of Thanksgiving, before the cheering of your favorite football team, before getting back into the tree stand, and before all the many wonderful activities that happen during Thanksgiving and pray this short prayer together:

A Thanksgiving Prayer

 Lord, Father of all, as we gather around our family table, we give you thanks for each person you have placed in our lives.  For those who gather with us today, for those who are separated from us by distance and place and those who now, we pray live with you.

Help us to see in each person, a gift, help us just enjoy their presence and their memory, recognizing that even in each other’s faults, we are all gift to one another. 

Remembering how they have blessed us and at times challenged our lives, to be better; better at patience, better at gratitude, better at generosity, better at forgiveness, better at love.

For today, is a day to give thanks, to show that we know we are blessed, watch over us all and keep us always in your grace.

Bless this food, the hands that prepared it and the hands that provided it and may, as we share its bounty, remember those who hunger, for food, for justice, for peace, for acceptance and welcome.

We ask all this in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Also, as some of you know, Mother Angelica Live Classics run on EWTN. You can check out all of EWTN’s schedule programming here.

Here’s an episode of Mother Angelica Live Classics where she encourages her audience to give gratitude to God for all things, even in spite of bad things that occur.

Perhaps this could be something your family could listen to together as you safely travel to your Thanksgiving destination.

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE

Update on Mother Angelica:

This information comes for the newsletter of “Our Lady of the Angels Monastery”

You can read the whole newsletter here.

Since our last update, Mother Angelica’s condition has declined, and it became necessary to put her on a feeding tube. The good part is that she now receives the necessary nutrients she needs. There were some up and down moments, and Mother has suffered a great deal these past months. She is quite a trouper. God has gifted Mother with much suffering during her life which she has always accepted, living out her motto “Totus Jesu” – All for Jesus. “O Jesus, give me the humility to give love for Love – that as You came for me, so may I live for Thee. In my heart may You always find shelter and a warm inn where You may dwell, as in a temple. At every moment I wish to say, ‘I love Thee my God, I love Thee.’ ” Mother’s Corner Recently, a Mother Superior wrote this to her: “I believe only in Heaven will you finally realize all the GOOD your loving labor for God and His people have done for us all.” Please keep Mother in your prayers as she continues to give her all to Jesus.

Please remember to keep Mother Angelica, EWTN, and St. Michael Catholic Radio in your prayers this week.

We pray for the safety of everyone who is traveling this week! St. Christopher – Pray for us!

Do you have your tickets to Theology at the Tower on December 5th? Now is the time to buy them! We are inside 2 weeks.