Good morning, digital neighbors! Blessed and Happy Sunday to all! It is my favorite day of the week, and praying with my parishioners is the best time during the week. I tell them often that our one hour of worship is the most important hour in the week. Mass, the Eucharist, Church or Worship means many things, but to me it is all about gratitude—gratitude for life, for faith, for redemption, for so many unmerited things in my life that I too easily take for granted. God does not need worship; we do. God gains nothing from our worship that He does not already possess—with one exception: our seeking Him in freedom and our transformation through loving Him and His will.

Well, I am not here to preach—witness, yes—and for some that may seem like an insignificant difference, but I pray that your days are filled with gratitude. Gratitude to God if you are a believer, gratitude to reality if you are still questioning or don’t believe in God. I consistently try to make gratitude the predominant posture of my attitude. When I do, it opens my day to so much more goodness. Well, enough rambling. Here is a prayer for you this Sunday morning. Whatever today holds for you, may it be one of blessing. Your digital neighbor Padre. ✝️

Grant us, O Lord, the royalty of inward happiness,
and the serenity which comes from living close to Thee.
Daily renew in us the sense of joy,
and let the eternal spirit dwell in our souls and bodies,
filling every corner of our hearts with light and gladness;
so that, bearing about with us the infection of a good courage,
we may be diffusers of life, and meet all that comes,
of good or evil, even death itself,
with gallant and high-hearted happiness;
giving Thee thanks always for all things.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

— The Happiness Prayer (often attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson)