True thanksgiving is not just a matter of words and warm sentiments. Gratitude for a gift means offering a gift in return.

To be clear, I wouldn’t describe myself as a rutabaga enthusiast. It’s just that you can’t have Thanksgiving without rutabaga.

During this season of gratitude, we might offer standard words or new ones to thank God for his many blessings. He is with us at our dinner table, following along with the conversations, enjoying the connections and perhaps marveling at how the little ones are growing and participating in new ways. 

The bishops of the Committee on Migration of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have asked our people to pledge to seek the intercession of Mother Cabrini by committing ourselves to prayer and discernment.

I realize there is a glove in each pocket, long forgotten and left behind from last winter.

Six months into his papacy, as Pope Leo’s activities have increased, so has the scrutiny observing his every move. We parse every word, every audience, every movement, and in so doing, we betray our fractured existence.

On Dec. 7, 1965, Pope Paul solemnly promulgated the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, known by its Latin incipit (opening words) as Dignitatis Humanae. The Council thereby turbocharged the Catholic Church’s transformation into the world’s premier institutional defender of basic human rights.

Those of us still on earth can actively strive for a deeper sense of conversion and detachment from sin, but the souls in purgatory can no longer help themselves in this way and are dependent on our prayers and penances.

Sort, throw, save, give away. Make room for those things valued most. As I write these words, I see how they pertain both to the clutter and detritus of my material goods, but also to the clutter of my interior life, my soul.

I never did walk on water that summer long ago. But I learned that the true miracle is not defying gravity. It is allowing Christ to steady me when I sink, to calm the storms swirling around me and draw me into worship even in the midst of chaos.