Reasons To be Thankful

 

I wish with all my heart a happy Thanksgiving to all my (particularly US) readers.

I am reflecting now on the things that I am grateful for. Not to “the world”, or just grateful “in general”. No, I am thinking about what is that I am grateful to God for.

And it seems to me that the thing that, when I am on my death bed (and by extension, on this day), I will be most grateful for is my beautiful Catholic faith. I mean by this the mere fact – utterly unmerited, of course – of being born, baptised, and confirmed a Catholic.

God knows, if I had had the misfortune of being born in a Muslim family, I would now resolutely march towards almost assured damnation. If I had been born in an atheist household, I would likely be in possibly an even worse situation. If I had been born in a Protestant household, unless perhaps a very devout one, my chances of salvation would objectively not be the ones I have now, comfortably resting on the deck of the Barque of Peter.

Yes: the Barque of Peter is dirty, in dire need of maintenance, steered by a vulgar, drunken, cursing helmsman, and unable to stay the course in a halfway decent fashion whilst she is mercilessly shaken by the strong winds and the fierce waves of the secular society. But I know that the barque will never sink, and this is – in the great scheme of things – good enough for me, and a huge blessing.

Therefore, on the day of this beautiful tradition, I will not write about, and will try not to focus on, the thousand problem plaguing the Church, or the latest antics of the holy farter (hat tip to reader Sage Hart for this apposite nickname!).

No: on this day, I will pray my prayers of thanksgiving for the great grace of being a Catholic, and the great comfort of being a member of the One Church, no matter in what shape She may be today. I hope, one day, to be ferried by this Barque safely to ( I think) Purgatory, and from there, one wonderful day, to Heaven.  God has made His Barque such, that the helmsman will never be able to prevent Her from transporting to safety all those who are meant to be saved. On that day, the drunken helmsman will be totally irrelevant.

It is a great grace, to be a Catholic.

Let Francis drown in his own bile. Today, I will focus on the great gift he will never be able, with God’s grace, to take away from me.