Sundays are for gratitude. Good morning, digital neighbor! Blessed and joyful Sunday to each and every one of you. Being grateful is a much better path to walk than merely feeling grateful. Some of us will never feel grateful, and if gratitude depends entirely on feeling, it may never take root in the hearts or minds of many. Being grateful—choosing gratitude and willing an attitude of gratitude—changes everything within us. Our external world may not change, but we will.
It is in the will—the most neglected part of the mystery of our personhood—that we can truly choose gratitude. What I decide, even more than what I feel or think, will have the greatest impact on who I am becoming as I make my pilgrimage through life. Feelings color our days for better or worse, and thoughts help us discern the good, the true, and the beautiful, but it is in the will where the rubber meets the road.
I choose to be thankful. I want to express gratitude. I do not close my eyes to the brokenness of this life, nor to the stupid, selfish, and ugly around me and within me. Rather, I choose to focus first on gratitude and then discern what changes I can make in myself and around me so that gratitude may expand in my life. I am far better off listing reasons for gratitude than doom-scrolling the news or surrendering myself to the next fearcast or gloom-report. I try my best to stay informed without being consumed, to remain engaged without being enslaved by my reactions or anxieties. I hope and pray you are able to do the same. An old hymn for you church going types and perhaps some new words to those unfamiliar. Prayer is about thanking God, praising God, loving God, but it not about changing God. It is about changing me.
FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH
For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the beauty of each hour Of the day and of the night, Hill and vale, and tree and flower, Sun and moon, and stars of light: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of ear and eye, For the heart and mind’s delight, For the mystic harmony Linking sense to sound and sight: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of human love, Brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth, and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.
For Thy Church that evermore Lifteth holy hands above, Offering up on every shore Her pure sacrifice of love: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.
For Thyself, best Gift Divine! To our race so freely given; For that great, great love of Thine, Peace on earth and joy in heaven: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.
pumpkin-harvest - stocksnap
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
Happy Friday, Digital Neighbors!! Slept in a little this morning. Woke up at my ordinary time, hit the hour timer, and wandered back into short, incoherent dreamland. It was a good hour to try and get a little more rest after a long day yesterday. We had a good staff team-building day with personal prayer and then looking at the DISC tool as a way to appreciate our gifts as we work together for the good of our parish family.
Had a meeting in the evening to explore using our auditorium for an Emergency Overnight Shelter in the winter for the homeless and unhoused in our local area. Lots of potential, lots of work if that is to come to fruition. As I mentioned last night, this is where the rubber hits the road on personal charity. People feel comfortable giving money to support charities, but the possibility of hosting and staffing one is way out of the comfort zone for most. Prayer and time will tell.
Off to some “ifferisms” for your Friday cup of Joe.
If you get gloomy, just take an ...
The Beautiful
Said the Disciple to the Lover, “Sir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved. Were they then speaking the truth?”
The Lover answered, “Those who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved. So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.”
