For this ability not simply to rage over what has been taken, but to celebrate what was once given, thanks.” 
Brian McLaren 🌹

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time 🙏
Give glory and eternal praise to him.
Daniel 3:62 🌹

one may still be able to hold on to one’s attitude, one’s practiced habit of gratitude, of turning to God in Job-like agony and saying, "For this breath, thanks. For this tear, thanks. For this memory of something I used to enjoy  but have now lost, thanks.

but you can still be grateful for what you have left. And what if you lose more, and more, and more, if bad goes to worse? Perhaps at some point, all of us are reduced to despair, but my hunch is—and I hope I never need to prove this in my own life, but I may, any of us may—having lost everything,

But neither should they be thinned to mean “in easy circumstances.” Even in pain, we can find a place of gratitude, a place where alongside the agony of loss we still count and appreciate what remains…. 
You may lose a loved one, or facet after facet of your physical health,

And another says, “I have learned to be content with whatever I have” (Philippians 4:11), so he can instruct, “Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). 
The words “in all circumstances” shouldn’t be confused with “for all circumstances,” of course.

but also in the bad times; to be grateful not just in plenty, but also in need; to maintain thankfulness not just in laughter, but also through tears and sorrow. One of Jesus’s followers says that we should even rejoice in trials, because through trials come patience, character, wisdom (James 1:2–3)

He will make this paradox most dramatic through his own death; his suffering and crucifixion will eventually bring hope and freedom to all humanity, hope and freedom that could come no other way. Here is the deepest lesson of gratitude, then. We are to be grateful not just in the good times,

as God’s justice comes more and more, you will feel more and more fulfilled…. 
With these counterintuitive sayings and others like them, Jesus enrolls us in advanced classes in the school of gratitude. He shows us the disadvantages of advantages, and the advantages of disadvantages.

There is a blessing in poverty, he says; to the degree you miss out on the never-enough system, you partake of God’s dream. There is a blessing in the pain of loss, because in your grief you experience God’s comfort. There is blessing in being unsatisfied about the injustice in our world, he says;

Jesus makes it clear that a life lived to fulfill God’s dream for creation will involve suffering. But even here, Jesus implies that there is reason for gratitude. You see it in the Beatitudes, Jesus’s eightfold way of happiness (Matthew 5:3–12).

And once we get to know Him, we will think about Him even more often, because where our treasure is, there also is our heart!
Brother Lawrence 🌹

Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time 🙏
Give glory and eternal praise to him.
Daniel 3:57 🌹

often.
You will tell me that I always say the same thing. What can I say? It is true. I don’t know an easier method, nor do I practice any other, so I advise this one to everybody. We have to know someone before we can truly love them. In order to know God, we must think about Him often.

With it, we can do anything, but without it, we can commit only sin.
We cannot avoid the dangers of life without God’s continual help, so we should ask Him for it ceaselessly. But how can we ask for help unless we are with Him? To be with Him, we must cultivate the holy habit of thinking of Him

returning with complete confidence to this kind Father, Who is always ready to receive us lovingly. Abandon everything that isn’t of God. Doesn’t He deserve this and much more? Think of Him
continually, and put all your confidence in Him. Soon His abundant grace will engulf us.

When I consider the blessings God has given, and still continues to give I feel ashamed. I feel I have abused those blessings, barely using them profitably to become more like Christ.
But God in His mercy gives us a little more time. We can begin all over again and repair the lost opportunity,

Let us often remember, my dear friend, that our sole occupation in life is to please God. What meaning can anything else have? You and I have walked with the Lord for more than forty years. Have we really used those years to love and serve God, Who, by His mercy, called us for that purpose?

ashamed of the cruelty done in the name of order.
AI ✍️

Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time 🙏
Glory and praise for ever!
Daniel 3:52🌹
Memorial of Saint Andrew Dŭng-Lạc, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs 🌹