Create a prayer of thanksgiving that reflects our interconnected family

COLCHESTER, Vt. (Catholic Online) - The prayer before the meal can be a time of reflection and gratitude for those assembled around the dining room table. But being asked to lead the praying of grace for a special occasion, like Thanksgiving Day or Christmas, can make many people feel uncomfortable and tongue tied.

The challenge for the person leading the prayer is to say words that describe gratitude toward God for the gifts of family, friends and the opportunity to share precious time and food, all within a reasonable amount of time. Thoughts could range from "I don't know what to say," to "There are so many things to be thankful for I don't know where to begin." First and foremost, the grace could begin with thanking God for all of his gifts and the opportunity to share the fruits of the harvest with family and/or friends. One might do cover this with a general statement or by referring to such specific God-given blessings, such as: - The gift of life.
- The gift of spouse, of children, and/or extended family.
- The gift of abilities and talents to have a vocation and avocations.
- The gift of those loved ones present and not present at the meal.
- The gift of the weather.
- The gift of the food on the table.
- The gift of a warm and comfortable place of shelter and to gather together.
- The gift of wonders of nature, including the beauty and bounty of the earth and sun, moon and stars. Next, we should remember those people - seated at the table and those thousands of miles away - can be thanked for the work they have done to make the meal possible. A century or more in the past, the number of people that contributed to the meal was much smaller. The family may have planted and harvested their own food, built their own furniture, walked across the road to Grandma's house and sewn their own clothes. Ours is now a cyberspace-connected world of technology, mass production and distribution, modern transportation, families living apart, super-sized grocery stores, cell phones and wireless computers. Our world is much more interdependent now. We are, in many ways despite the alienation and loneliness many feel, a global family. There are people from all over the world that have done work to help make the occasion what it is. When most families to get together in this era to have a full course dinner, they can thank those immediately close to them, and they could also acknowledge the thousands and thousands that have contributed to our modern day Thanksgiving. The work people do range from the responsibilities of running a Fortune 500 company as a CEO to store clerk or technician. Each and every job is an important link to the whole. Often times, people in service jobs or assembly line jobs do not get the appreciation. But, on Thanksgiving, families can choose to give global thanks. Such prayers of thanksgiving can remember, for example, the people that grow the food and all of those involved in its harvesting and/or production, packaging, delivering, stocking and selling. As well, there are those who were involved in inventing, designing, manufacturing, delivering and selling the means of cooking that food - ovens, stoves, microwaves, food processors, blenders - and preparing to serve that food, not to mention all of those involved in all of the other kitchen utensils, gadgets and appliances we take for granted. And then there are those who are involved in the providing for us the means of transportation to get people to the table, such as: inventors, designers, manufacturers and assembly line workers of planes, trains, automobiles and buses; highway planners, engineers, road workers, maintenance staff; map makers, sign makers, toll takers and fuel-station attendants that make travel convenient, safe and possible. There are also those involved in communications industries that bring us newspapers, television, telephone, cell phone, Internet and e-mail, all contributing to making holiday planning and holiday conversations possible. And while remembering all that we have, we might want to acknowledge our prayer of petition that those who are suffering under spiritual or material want or need around the world may experience the warmth and shelter and bounty of the Lord's blessings. There also might be an acknowledgement of thanks for the continuation of this annual tradition that is based on the concept of gratitude, sharing and spending time with friends and family. A special thanks can be offered that those gathered have the opportunity to spend time to travel and be with family. Of course, if one chooses to go with a traditional grace, this one continues to be a favorite: "Bless us, O Lord, for these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord, Amen. - - - Mary Carty is the Home and Family editor of Catholic Online www.catholic.org.

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