Thanksgiving Linkaround!

For your pre-Thanksgiving/Thanksgiving reading, a little scattershot for time-constraints:

Jonah Goldberg: a poignant, lovely post on his father’s appreciation for the papacy, and thoughts on Benedict XVI. It’s oddly in tune with the Thanksgiving theme, and even as he clearly aches for his missing father, Goldberg manages to display a surer grasp of why the church does what it does than many, either inside or outside of it:

As for the Church’s preferred approach — abstinence until marriage — it may be impractical in most parts of the world, as the critics claim. But it would undeniably save more lives than condom use if put into practice. What seems to offend many isn’t the efficacy of the solution but the suggestion that such values have any place in the modern world.

The Church’s position is that the truest notes are those that not only celebrate life and love but cut through the whitewater din of devouring time. As those notes become harder to hear, the answer isn’t to stop playing them but to turn up the volume.

If you read nothing else, in this thread, do read this piece.

Mark Shea on Chestertonian Gratitude.

I think Chesterton’s daily attitude of gratitude is neatly summed up in his poem:

Here dies another day
During which I have had eyes, ears, hands,
And the great world around me;
And with tomorrow begins another.
Why am I allowed two?

Pat Gohn:

For Catholics, “thanksgiving” is another word for “Eucharist.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says it this way:

The Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits, for all that he has accomplished through creation, redemption, and sanctification. Eucharist means first of all “thanksgiving.” (CCC, 1360)

Imagine that; every single offering of the Eucharist is a time to count our blessings and to praise and thank God for his gifts.

It really defines Catholics as a thanksgiving people. The Eucharist perfects our expression of it, as a kind of gratitude par excellence.

If you’re having trouble feeling gratitude, this may help. If your family get-together devolves into political discussion or other eruptions, prepare with this?

Don’t forget to remember our armed forces in your prayers.

Patron Saint of Thanksgiving?

Phil Fox Rose: Meeting Scripture through the Illuminated Word. I think the St. John’s Bible really is glorious contemplative material. I like to give some of the books (like the Psalms) out as gifts. You can get lost in prayer before these wonderful illuminations.

Yes, Humanae Vitae was “prophetically right”. Most who hate it have never read it.

Tim Muldoon:

Culture is important because it preserves the conversation, not unlike a good host at a cocktail party. The guests come and go, but the conversation progresses because new guests hear the accumulated insights of those who have gone before. Of course, the challenge of the host is to truly welcome the new guests, and not to wall off the conversation out of some sort of elitism.

I like that!

Benedict is mourning the death of a friend

Re-looking at some Joyful Mystery: The Crying Out of Flesh and God

Are some Chinese Villagers descended from Roman soldiers?