Happy Thanksgiving!

Most of us enjoy a holiday from work on Thanksgiving. Some don't. I've experienced both and frankly prefer the holiday. But recalling those years when I trudged off to work as the family prepared the great feast, I must say arriving home later in the day to our gathering was special.

This year one of our sons will be working on Thanksgiving. It's not the first time for him. He may not be here for our family feast, but at the very least our thoughts and prayers will be with him, and, perhaps, his with us.

As I have every year, I'll recall my Mom's simple words, of happy memory: "Thank God for all of us here." Or words to that effect. (She could be a woman of few words packed with much love.) And with those came an unstated remembrance of those who could not be with us then and there.

In those days, my Mom and Dad had a longer list of departed family and friends. With the passage of years, our own list has grown. It includes Mom and Dad. It also includes our eldest child. The last time we saw him alive was on a Thanksgiving when he came to dinner with his wife and little girl, not quite two years old. That was five years ago. We posted this on the first Thanksgiving after his untimely death. It remains fresh and elicits the same heartfelt feelings as it did on that past Thanksgiving:

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.