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More than any other day of the year, Thanksgiving represents a moment when a weekday suddenly becomes what Sunday is supposed to be: a time to take a break, pause for a breath and reflect on our blessings. Prime among them are the gifts of being alive, being together with family and knowing the origin of our hope and joy: the God of all life and love.

How fitting that we celebrate this day around a table, sharing a meal, and especially aware of those who have less and long for a welcome to a loving family.

Almost instinctively, many Catholics will begin the day at the Eucharist with their parish family. Eucharist means "to give thanks." Every eucharistic celebration is an affirmation that Jesus died for our sins - yours, mine and everyone's - whether we know it, acknowledge it or happen to agree that this was the way He should have gone about it.

Jesus is God's pure gift of self to us, and He comes in the form that we need it most: an invitation to be set free from the vicious circle of sin. Every Mass is a second chance to let God's dream for us come true: to see and love in each of us what the Father sees and loves in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Now seems an opportune time to count all of our blessings, temporal and eternal, even as we pray to share them more generously with those who do not yet experience our abundance. As people who know the blessings of our faith, it makes sense to recall those persons who have nourished our own faith by word and example, and even those who have questioned it or, better, challenged our faithfulness to it - to Him.

No doubt Pope Francis is one of the first to come to mind this year for having dared to do both. His papacy is still young in many ways. He has only just begun to embark upon the arduous expedition of the internal reform of the Church's central administrative agencies.

Already, however, he is building up an enormous reserve of good will that seems to be having a measurable positive impact - not only on Catholics perhaps returning to more regular encounter with Christ in His Church, but those inside and outside our worship space who may actually be listening to what the message of mercy and joy that the Gospel really is.

At the same time, at least according to some reports, Pope Francis has raised levels of concern and even anxiety because of his very direct, unfiltered communication style - which, ironically, leaves him more liable to being misquoted or misunderstood.

Yet who can deny the clarity of his insistence on the central theme of the Gospel: Jesus is Lord, the refuge of sinners, everyone's Savior. This is more than a new "tone." It is the core kerygma: the proclamation of our faith.

Many others in our lives, no doubt, have inspired our faith at one time or another. For all their human shortcomings, the many religious sisters, priests and brothers whose patience we tried, and whose wits we tested, witnessed to the enduring love of the Lord Himself simply by being there for us. Perhaps through us, as only they may know, God also drew from their hearts the mercy and dedication to serve us. We need to thank one another.

Parents, godparents and grandparents should be high on our list as models of faith, as many of them still may remain. Unfortunately, we may be well aware, personal life history does not always meet the ideal. We cannot alter the past, but neither must the past become our entire life.

Ours is a faith of forgiveness. Breaking in this direction is the first step toward healing hearts. It is not enough, however. We are not on life's journey alone. All transformative efforts must go toward strengthening the family, the womb where faith is nurtured throughout the formative years and beyond.

Well aware of this urgency, our Holy Father convoked the extraordinary synod of bishops on the family in October. He understands that our larger family of faith, the Church, is a family of families, which needs to foster the domestic church of each and every family unit.

The theme of the synod was, "The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization." We know that the work of the synod is far from complete and will continue now and throughout the ordinary synod next year. Thank God for the leadership of Pope Francis, as well as the voices of the separated and marginalized, whose alienation from the comfort and stability of family are being heard - and, God willing, responded to.

The power of the Gospel unites us in building up the Body of Christ, our Church family. It also serves as a beacon of light to the whole world. We do not expect thanks or honors from the world itself. Our reward is simply to proclaim the Good News and to live in the joy it brings to all believers who remember our greatest blessing: Jesus Christ Himself, God's perfect gift.

As Pope Francis has tweeted, "Our life must be centered on what is essential, Jesus Christ. Everything else is secondary." Remembering this - and living it - is the way to begin the transformation and to foster our family of faith.[[In-content Ad]]

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