Here's my November article for Fe Fuerza Vida...

Totus Tuus

It’s our natural reaction to give thanks for the good present in our lives…I mean unless you’re some kind of jerk.  Seriously though, being thankful is a key part of human happiness.  Gratitude is the recognition of our dependence on God and the humility to admit it.  In this country we have so much we take for granted that other people around the world literally die because they lack.  America’s poverty is not a material poverty, but a spiritual poverty.  As Mother Teresa once said, “In the developed countries there is a poverty of intimacy, a poverty of spirit, of loneliness, of lack of love.  There is no greater sickness in the world than that one.” 

This poverty of spirit starts in the home.  If everyone were to take care of his or her own family this world would be a beautiful place.  Unfortunately that’s not the case and we just have deal with whatever situation we are born into.  If our families are in overall good shape, we give thanks.  If they are not, we give thanks for what we have and avoid playing the role of a victim.  We must not let our hurt hold us down; rather we should wear it as a badge of courage for what we have survived and know that God loves us in our brokenness. 

There is a dual aspect to thanksgiving.  In the act of being thankful we see all the good present in our lives and the misery present in the lives of others.  We can’t be good Christians unless we are mindful of both.  Thanksgiving is not only a reminder of the good in our lives, but also a call to action.  Jesus calls us to hold those who are down and out close to our hearts.  He wants to work through us for them.  Jesus associates himself so much with the poor and miserable that he says, “What you have done to the least of my brothers, you have done to me.”  If that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will.  It scares me everyday.

What can we do then?  What concrete steps can we take?  It can be as simple as buying a homeless man a slice of pizza the next time he asks for money on the street instead of just throwing a dollar at him or trying to not look him in the eye.  It can be as simple as going out of your way to somebody at school you really don’t know who lost a loved one or just somebody at school who is a little “weird”.  Maybe God wants you to do more then this still.  In order to listen we must first get out of ourselves instead of living behind the walls we put up to keep the misery around us out.