A Thousand Blessings (StVdP)

A Thousand Blessings
Reflection for St. Vincent de Paul Meeting, November 16, 2015
Dcn. Bob Bonomi

The Gospel for last Wednesday was Luke’s story of Jesus healing the ten lepers, and how only one came back to him giving thanks to God.  The reflection in the Magnificat that day, written by Ann Voskamp, included a challenge:  count a thousand gifts – a thousand graces – that you had received from God.  With Thanksgiving coming next week it got me to thinking – could I name 1000 things – a thousand blessings – which I had received from God?

A thousand of anything to me is a lot.  The first 100 or so, though, I thought would be easy: family, health, job, a roof over my head ….  Then I thought of all of the material things that I had: a car, my TVs, my computers, my hobby equipment – I’m still a long way from counting to one hundred.  If I count each family member individually – that helps. And I do own more than one car, even if one isn’t running and so isn’t MUCH of a blessing…

Try this: go around the room and each of you name something that you have that is a blessing to you, without repeating anything anyone else has said.  For example, if the first person says “family”, then no one else can say “family”.  I figure that with about twenty people there the last ones to answer may begin to find it challenging to come up with something not previously mentioned.

You get the idea.  It’s hard to count even to a hundred, let alone a thousand, if I limit myself to just the material things I own.

And yet, if I expand my boundaries beyond just the physical possessions that I have and look at the true gifts that I have received from God, then the counting gets easier: the dozens of beautiful sunrises and sunsets that I’ve seen during the last year; the many friendships and coworkers that I see every day; the encounters that I have had with people that I didn’t even know but who were blessings to me; even the miracles of life that I see in the trees and the flowers around me.  Then there is also freedom I have to worship God and the precious gift of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, and the moments of peace I experience from His Presence in my life, especially during times of prayer.  The thought of a thousand, while still a challenge, doesn’t seem so daunting.

So I’m issuing you a challenge tonight.  You have 10 days to go before Thanksgiving. See if you can list 1000 gifts or graces that you have received from God before then. In your count, include the times you have been a gift or blessing to others, too.  And unlike the TVs or cars you own, count each encounter you have with another as unique and special.  If you do that, then come Thanksgiving, you will truly be able come before God like the Samaritan leper and give glory to Him.