Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! It's a sincere wish in the midst of the C-Virus mess that may have radically changed the way you typically observe this preeminent holiday or all national holidays. 

Traditionally - as in my entire life until recently - families get together to eat, drink, and be merry. For some, gatherings could be quite large. This year, it seems, many of us won't be having a large gathering. For one thing, the government and their health authorities say we shouldn't. Some of us have serious concerns that too many folks in one space may not be prudent. Then there's the issue of travel: Not everyone wants to fly, or even drive long distances, given the current circumstances.

I can only urge you, however much your plans may vary from the past, to just enjoy the holiday. In that spirit, a few words posted last year - the first Thanksgiving after the death of our eldest child. Despite the overarching feelings that naturally attended our celebration, we nevertheless found reasons to be thankful.

We first and foremost thank God - our loving Father - for the gift our dearest son. He will no longer share our Thanksgivings in body and soul. But we believe he will be with us, praying for us today, even as we pray for him.

We thank God for the rest of our family. Despite the pain and sorrow of the last year, we have remained firm in our love for each other. None of us - to my knowledge - has lost his or her faith in God and our holy religion. While none of us is perfect, we all continue to strive for the perfection that God's grace will allow, in whatever degree He allows. And we all look forward to that time when we will be united with our dearest departed son "In Paradisum."

Yes, we'll have our Thanksgiving dinner, in the face of the Great Sadness that still hovers over us. And, yes, we'll do our best to celebrate all the blessings that have remained after the death of our son - and they are bounteous.

When the festivities end for this Year of Our Lord 2019, we will return to our daily work, each pursuing diligently the duties of his or her particular state of life, just as we did before our son's death, and as we have ever since. We will work for the greater glory of God, the God who has showered us with so many blessings for which we are thankful this day.

And as these days pass, we will continue to keep this beautiful vision of our son "In Paradisum," with a spirit of gratitude, ever alive in our hearts and minds.