November 27, 2008 - Thanksgiving - Fr. John Yonkovig
A few months ago I read a quote that went something like this: “You should never think of yourself based solely upon what your dog thinks of you.” I suspect that most everyone here has or had a dog. “Dusty” was our family dog. It is hard to think of having another dog because no other dog could compare to dusty. Dusty loved me unconditionally. When I sat down, he would lie down next to me. When I got up and walked to another room he followed...wagging his tail constantly. When I took him for a walk around the block it was as if I was taking him on the adventure of a lifetime. When I scratched behind his ears he acted like he had died and gone to heaven. So, when I read that quote, “You should never think of yourself based solely upon what your dog thinks of you,” it made sense to me. Can you imagine how huge our egos would be if we thought of ourselves as our dogs think of us? On the other hand, can you imagine what a wonderful world it would be if everyone realized that God loves us even more than our dogs do?! Think about it: God loves you unconditionally. God loves you even when you mess up. God forgives you. In other words, God is not a cat. If you mess up with a cat, that little creature will let you know about it and most likely will make you pay. God loves us unconditionally and I hope that what God thinks of you will influence what you think of yourself. And that is important because what you think about yourself determines the gratitude and generosity of your life.

Everyone has a choice to make in life. The choice is between seeing yourself as a victim or seeing yourself as a dearly loved child of God who is blessed beyond your imagination. If you choose to be victim you will constantly ask the question, “Why me?’ When life is not fair how many people ask, why me - why did God do this to me, why has my marriage fallen apart, why do people hate me? Why this illness....and if we look at the gospel you wonder if 9 of those cleansed from leprosy - did they see themselves as victims and were they still victims - were they still asking why their lives were so devastate by illness. A few years ago I met this man who had experienced most of the disasters that life can offer...death of a child through leukemia, his marriage broke up - he even had last his job. When I met him he was dealing with a brain tumor. I asked him why he was able to have such a positive attitude in the midst of all the pain in his life. He said, “Well, you just have to choose. You can either be bitter and complain about everything or you can count your blessings and be a blessing to others.” He is absolutely right. It seems like such a simple concept - one we should be able to easily understand and put into practice but we know from experience that it is not that easy. It is hard to grasp this gratitude and generosity stuff because it does not come naturally most of the time.

That is why it is so good for us to gather here to ponder life and our blessings. It is important to come to an understanding of who we are because what you think about yourself determines the gratitude and the generosity of your life. How do you choose to see yourself? I hope you see yourself as a child of God. Deeply loved by God. God’s beloved in whom God takes great pleasure. A steward of God’s resources who can make a profound difference in the lives of many people. On this Thanksgiving Day as we gather around the altar of God let us remember that God is calling us to be a people who know we are deeply loved by God. A people who love each other deeply. A people who love the people of this world. A people who are filled with gratitude for all this love. One leper realized he was healed the gospel said - he came back full of praise. May we come to fully realize that we have been healed. Let us never forget who we are - God’s deeply loved people...and gratitude and generosity will flow from our lives forever.