St. Basil wrote: “When you sit down to eat‚ pray. When you eat bread‚ do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine‚ be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress‚ thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars‚ throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly‚ when the sun goes down and when it rises‚ when you are asleep or awake‚ give thanks to God‚ who created and arranged all things for your benefit‚ to have you know‚ love and praise their Creator.”
 
To give thanks for all the abundance of God’s gifts is a wonderful thing. The celebration of Thanksgiving Day reminds us of those blessings: home and family, friends, food, jobs, health, clothing, prosperity, freedom, and the stability of the common good.  But the Holy Apostle Paul announces that even more than this is necessary. He calls us to give thanks to God at all times for all things! (Ephesians 5:20). It is easy to understand what “at all times” means‚ but what are these “all things” that we should be thankful for?  Ought we to be thankful for our sufferings and struggles, our anxieties and pains, all our “dark nights of the soul” as well? The vexing question once posed to me by a seriously ill patient, whose face alternated between a gruesome wince and a blank stare, seems to ring true: “How can I thank God when I hurt?”
 
The “standard” Thanksgiving list is an easy one to get through. The “other” list, thanking God for our struggles and sufferings, is not so easy to maneuver. Yet are we supposed to give thanks only for those things and persons that give us pleasure and comfort‚ which make our life easier and more prosperous, what we generally consider to be positive?  Every Orthodox Church has, among its liturgical books, a Menaion (monthly feasts of the Saints), part of which is the Synaxarion. This provides the detailed lives of the Saints commemorated every day of the Church year. Many, if not most, of the early Saints were martyrs who suffered their way to death for the sake of Christ. Suffering was their lot. Oddly enough to us, it was their suffering for which they gave thanks.
 
Like St. Basil’s monastery, suffering was their gateway to the Divine, to personal wholeness, and eternal life – all born of their piece of the Cross of the Crucified God. But our hearts have grown cold‚ because we live lives of comfort and plenty and the sufferings of the saints‚ diluted by time and lack of interest‚ seem foreign to us.  Yet the fact is, that each of us has been given our “piece” of Christ’s Cross in our lives and, even on Thanksgiving Day, as we bless and give thanks for the turkey, the mashed potatoes, stuffing, family and friends, we remember in our hearts the piece of Christ’s Cross we have received, no matter how great or small it is.

We are called to render thanks in the spirit of St. Ignatius the God-Bearer of Antioch who wrote to the Romans as he was dragged to Rome for execution: “I die willingly for God, if you hinder not. I entreat you, do not unseasonably befriend me. Let me belong to the wild beasts, through whom I may attain unto God. I am God’s grain, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found pure bread. Rather entice the wild beasts to become my tomb and to leave naught of my body. Then shall I truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world shall not see even my body. But if I suffer, I am Jesus Christ’s freedman, and in Him I shall arise free” (Romans, IV, 1-3). 

Ignatius saw suffering and martyrdom as a gift of God’s grace and, as tough as it is for us, we are called to see our struggles as the same. They are imperfect reminders of our need for God, of our vocation to yearn for life with Him alone at its center. Our struggles are symbols of our own limitations and weaknesses – both of which can be held and healed by the One in whose path of struggle we follow.  He was born to die for us. He died for us so as to be raised from death’s clutches and show us the way to everlasting life. Our pieces of the Cross are not only character builders, they are soul-builders – as difficult as it is to feel that in our gut or understand it with our minds. Our suffering, however small, is a reminder that this world can never offer what the Kingdom of God can: Resurrection, life-unending, and blessed hope.  St. Ignatius put it succinctly:  “Use not the words Jesus Christ, yet desire the world.” (Romans VII, 1)
 
I pray for each and every one of you this Thanksgiving festival. I thank my God for you, for the many ways you minister to me, care for me, and pray for me. Most importantly, I am in your debt for the ways you help me carry my piece of Christ’s Cross – inspiring in me courage, determination, and the realization that in carrying our pieces together, we are telling God through His Son, that we “get it”, we understand the point, we know why it is that we follow behind the One whose arms were big enough to stretch out on that wood while at the same time lifting us up beyond our pain, beyond the so-called “certainty” of death, beyond hopelessness – to life full, overflowing, and without end.  Give thanks unto the Lord for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!  Amen.

Your faithful servant,

Fr. Dimitrios

( The Church Office is closed on Thursday Nov. 22 and Friday, Nov. 23.)