As Thanksgiving Day celebration in America, and elsewhere, is just around the corner, I wish to praise and give thanks always to our good and gracious God for my faith, family, folks, and friends.
What am I thankful for? Let me count the ways...First, I'm thankful to be alive and well. Thank you God, and thank you, Jesus, my Lord and Savior, and Redeemer, and my inspiration. Thank you, Holy Spirit for guiding and enlightening me in what I say, write, and do. Thank you, Mother Mary, our Heavenly Mother. Thank you to all the Saints for having given their life for God, and for inspiring us to live a life of faith and hope and charity.
I pray for and thank my departed parents, and siblings, relatives and friends, for having been there for me when I was young and helpless. I thank my caring and loving family, my wife Freny, my two young adult children Andrew and Tintin, my siblings, Aunt Emilia, other relatives, in-laws, and friends for all that they have done and for helping me to become a better person and God-loving that I am. I thank and pray for all my teachers, living or deceased.
Likewise, I pray for and give thanks to all the people of goodwill who are making a difference in the world, trying their best to help solve societal and world-wide problems. I thank and pray for our farmers, fishermen, seamstress, hospitality employees/workers, store employees, sanitary workers, bakers, bank employees, school teachers and staff-personnel, engineers, healthcare providers, scientists, and all wage earners struggling to keep their life and family intact and stable. I pray for and thank our local officials and employees for their public service. I thank and pray for USA for being good to me and my family, folks, and friends.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for inspiring us all to do good, not only for our selves but for the marginalized and underserved in our midst. Thank you for our world church leaders and government officials, especially those who are working for peace and stability of the world in general. I thank and pray for all of our military personnel stationed everywhere around the globe. I thank and pray for all of our missionaries throughout the world, our priests/pastors, especially Rev. Fathers David, Chris, Jarek, Romy, Michael, Kevin, Robert, Tony, Gaudy, Steve, Alex, etc. Also I'd like to pray and give thanks to all of our seminarians, teachers, students all over the world.
Yesterday, at a Christian church in a neighboring city where my daughter Tintin plays piano for the worship service there every other Sunday (and gets remunerated, I believe), I found this poem/hymn that we read in church appealing to me and very much appropriate to these days, and worth-sharing to you all, dear folks and friends. The author, I learned later, was an English hymn-writer Brian Wren who composed it in 1968 (BTW, does the author ring a bell to you, folks?). I do hope you like it.
With no copyright infringement intended, here's that poem/hymn...
Praise God for the Harvest
Praise God for the harvest of farm and of field,
praise God for the people who gather their yield,
the long hours of labor, the skills of a team,
the patience of science, the power of machine.
Praise God for the harvest that's sent from afar,
from market and harbor, from tropical shore;
foods packed and transported and planted and grown
by God-given neighbors, unseen and unknown.
Praise God for the harvest of alloy or ore,
by mining and drilling, on land and off-shore;
for oil and for iron, for tinplate and coal,
praise God, who in love has provided them all.
Praise God for the harvest of science and skill,
the urge to discover, create and fulfill;
for all new inventions that promise to gain
a future more hopeful, a world more humane.
Praise God for the harvest of conflict and love,
for leaders and peoples who struggle and serve
to conquer oppression, earth's plenty increase,
and gather God's harvest of justice and peace.
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