Wednesday, September 16, 2020 –
For me, today’s FORM OF PRAYER is probably the easiest to understand. We will be covering prayers of THANKSGIVING.
Simply put, prayers of thanksgiving is when you thank God for all the good things He does for you, and I mean everything! All the great things that happen in your life and all the trials you have endured. EVERYTHING! God in all His glory knows exactly what you need and when you need it, and He comes through for you…ALWAYS. It is only fitting that you take the time to thank Him.
Of course, the trials can be a bit tough to chew, but even those are meant to strengthen you. I have had some pretty gnarly…um…“stuff” happen in my life. At the time, I was totally unsure of why I would need to suffer any of it. However, I LIVED! Now that I can look back on it, I am quite thankful for God’s hand guiding me and for Him giving me one nutty, but awesome guardian angel helping and protecting me through all of it. I am grateful! I thank the Lord for all of it!
And that, dear reader, is precisely what prayers of thanksgiving are: recognizing God’s greatness and thanking Him for all the amazing things He does, even if we do not totally understand His grand plan.
Have I told y’all how much I love the In Brief section of the Catechism on the forms of prayer? It really does a fantastic job of summarizing each form. For prayers of thanksgiving we get:
2648 Every joy and suffering, every event and need can become the matter for thanksgiving which, sharing in that of Christ, should fill one’s whole life: “Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess 5:18).
For a few examples of prayers of thanksgiving:
- Grace Before Meals
- Grace After Meals
- Thank you, Lord, for…
- Every time we say, “Deo gratias” at Mass (it literally means, “thanks be to God”)
And, of course, for those who wish to see the section of the Catechism on prayers of thanksgiving:
IV. PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
2637 Thanksgiving characterizes the prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the Eucharist, reveals and becomes more fully what she is. Indeed, in the work of salvation, Christ sets creation free from sin and death to consecrate it anew and make it return to the Father, for his glory. The thanksgiving of the members of the Body participates in that of their Head.
2638 As in the prayer of petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. The letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus is always present in it: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”; “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”
Oh my goodness! We only have one form of prayer left! Tomorrow we will be discussing PRAISE, which if you remember from our previous discussion about blessing and adoration is where a the interwebs gets royally confused.
Mother inviolate, pray for us!
