Giving thanks. A grateful heart. A compliment. A word of praise. A thank-you note. All of these expressions of gratitude are the very oxygen of family life and can create a fruitful atmosphere for a thriving family culture. How much more do we enjoy the good things of life together when we regularly express gratitude for one another’s contributions?
Gratitude is “the virtue by which a person acknowledges, interiorly and exteriorly, gifts received and seeks to make at least some return for the gift conferred,” notes CatholicCulture.org. “Essentially gratitude consists of an interior disposition, a grateful heart, but when genuine it tries somehow to express itself in words and deeds.”
With Thanksgiving just days away, along with the stresses to family relationships the holidays can sometimes bring, it’s time to focus on gratitude in every aspect of our lives. We all know this in our daily life in the home—how a simple word of gratitude can literally change the course of the day. Emotions come and go like the weather, and without daily expressions of gratitude, we can find ourselves unduly tugged by negativity.
Several years ago, we were deeply moved by author and mother Ann Voskamp’s journey away from anger and fear and into gratitude. When a friend of hers dared her to write a list of 1,000 blessings, she took her up on it. Her book One Thousand Gifts is a testament to how gratitude re-oriented her entire life.
Finishing our list of 1,000 blessings is a challenge we may never complete, but every one of us can take up the dare to develop a disposition of gratitude:
- We can pray a brief prayer of thanksgiving upon waking, and tell the Lord the things we’re grateful for in our daily prayer time.
- We can say, in our hearts, “Thank you, Lord” throughout the day.
- We can make it a point to always thank our family members for the ways—big and small—that they tend our needs.
- We can express our gratitude this Thanksgiving in prayer, conversations and interactions with family and friends.
The relationships in our families are intended to reflect the inner life of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One glimpse at the Holy Trinity reveals the constant flow of self-gift, love, and gratitude coursing between the three persons of God. This is our privilege as families, to mirror and reflect this kind of divine love in our relationships!
As icons of the Holy Trinity, may we ever more faithfully reflect the image of God, and always remember to give him—and our loved ones—plenty of thanks!
> Have you heard of “preemptive gratitude?” “No friar ever recalls Blessed Solanus Casey manifesting excessive worry, anxiety or depression,” writes Fr. Michael Crosby, OFM Cap. in Thank God Ahead of Time: The Life and Spirituality of Solanus Casey. “Rather they continually heard words from Solanus that manifested a deep sense of gratefulness for God’s many gifts received in the past and the future.”
> In a remarkable reflection on three conditions necessary for gratitude, entitled “The Virtue of Gratitude,” Fr. Romano Guardini writes, “Let us attempt to obtain a view of this gradually disappearing virtue – gratitude.”
> In a reflection about our family life four years ago, “Our Summer of Gratitude” (Arlington Catholic Herald), we shared how our kids got excited about tracking things they were grateful for. We got pretty close to hitting 1,000 before school started!
> Will you prayerfully consider joining our year-end appeal next Giving Tuesday, Dec. 2nd, with a monthly or one-time gift? Thanks to generous supporters, your gift will be doubled!
> Plan now to launch your own parish’s Trinity House Community Group in January or February! Learn more here and schedule a 15-minute call/zoom with our team here. For just $499 ($399 until November 30th), your parish can access all the tools needed to host 5 transformative “Heaven in Your Home Gatherings” for families, including videos, discussion questions, marketing templates, catechetical resources, ongoing support, and more. Dioceses can also take advantage of three subscriptions for just $899. Ready to subscribe and launch a Group at your parish? Here’s where you can take the first step.
> For all new monthly donors of $50 or more, we’ll send a signed copy of our book, Heaven in Your Home Letters & Guide.
“Soren and Ever Johnson…share insights on how to bring Heaven into your home and reduce the disconnect and chaos! They’ve developed a simple yet powerful framework, the Trinity House Way, designed to help families live out their faith together every day, from family meals to community service.”
– Jordan Langdon, LCSW, CEO of The Families of Character Show
