Fostering True Thankfulness this Season

“The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day.” 

– St. Gianna Molla 

It is hard to believe that this Thanksgiving Day will be my fourteenth with Human Life International. Prior to joining HLI, I thought I understood God’s plan for me, and serving the global pro-life movement was not on my radar. 

I remember how it all began. I had just returned to my office at Saint Gregory Barbarigo after lunch when I received a phone call from a friend and parishioner. He said that a lawyer in the Washington, DC area had reached out to him, wanting to speak with me. My friend enjoyed playing pranks, so my initial response was to dismiss him – which I did – saying I did not know the person he was referencing and politely hung up the phone. Within a few seconds my friend called back, again insisting that he was not joking, and the lawyer was a member of Human Life International’s Board. 

Being active in the pro-life movement, I was quite familiar with HLI and its global mission. I had heard HLI’s founder Fr. Paul Marx, OSB, speak on several occasions. This made it even more difficult to accept that someone from HLI’s Board was looking for me. Why? But that phone call and ensuing conversation changed my life and the direction I thought God had in store for me.  

Within a few months, in a whirlwind of activity, I was interviewed by HLI’s Board of Directors, offered the position of president of HLI, received the blessing and support of Bishop Sam G. Jacobs, the Ordinary of the diocese at the time, ended my pastorship and diocesan duties, packed up my belongings, and moved to Front Royal, Viriginia, to begin a new journey. Looking back, I am still amazed and in awe at the handiwork of God in my life.

Trusting God and Lessons Learned

In the quote above, St. Gianna points out that the best way of showing God gratitude is to live in His divine providence, trusting fully in the good that God desires for His children. By this act, we express the thankfulness we owe to God as His children and signify the kind of all-embracing attitude we have toward Him. 

This means entrusting our lives to God, who does not desire anything other than our temporal and eternal happiness. As Jesus said to St. Faustina Kowalska, “The more trustful a soul is, the more it will receive” (Diary). This attitude of trust encompasses all dimensions of our life. It is realized in living and fulfilling God’s will, even in very small things. In entrusting ourselves entirely to God, we leave Him complete power to order our lives and to provide us what we need at the time and in the manner He knows is best.  

As Christians, we understand that nothing happens apart from God’s will. We also know that our perspective is limited, and we cannot always fully understand how God’s providence and love work. In faith, we place our hope in Jesus, who counsels us to “learn from the way the wildflowers grow” (Mt 6:28), and to consider the sparrow when He says, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.  Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Lk 12:6-7).

Little did I understand when joining HLI what great lessons God would teach me and is still teaching me – lessons in obedience, humility, and trust in His divine providence. Being a prophetic voice, one that believes every human being from conception to natural death has inherent dignity and worth and that asserts the moral law and bioethical teaching of the Church, is not always met with acceptance. This is especially true in secular cultures, among those who do not understand the Church’s moral tradition, or those who have compromised or rejected it. And serving a Catholic educational apostolate that relies solely on funding from the generosity of God’s people presents many challenges and unknowns, especially when HLI’s missionaries depend on the resources HLI provides to sustain and expand their programs and activities.  

I could not foresee the demands and challenges or all that would unfold. Mine was simply to respond in hope and trust, knowing “that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose” (Rm 8:28). 

Working alongside my staff and international pro-life leaders, witnessing how they serve the Gospel of Life and joyfully accept the daily crosses in its service, God has taught me to recognize His goodness without caring whether the situation may be good or bad, easy or challenging – for everything comes from the hands of our loving Father who is smoothing out our rough edges.

Here, I am thinking of colleagues who are persecuted by their government, some imprisoned for defending the defenseless and vulnerable. I am thinking of those who have given up lucrative careers and a life of comfort to be pro-life missionaries, traveling to remote areas to bring truth and charity. I am thinking of those who serve women and their children in pregnancy care centers or who stand outside abortion sites giving witness to the dignity of human life, offering hope and authentic care. I am thinking of those who serve the sick and dying, respecting their incomparable dignity. I am thinking of those who expose the commodification of persons through human trafficking, of those who stand in solidarity with the poor and needy, providing shelter and food, of those who defend the sacredness of marriage between one man and one woman, of those who promote adoption. I could go on and on. 

Words cannot fully capture the blessings I have received since joining HLI’s global family. By the living witness of my co-workers and colleagues, God has provided a means for me to learn and to be strengthened in commitment to His will and purpose. Also, in calling me to HLI, God has permitted me to be in such situations where I have had to suspend the logic of human thinking and the perceived reliance on my own abilities and skills to trust in Him alone and to accept and carry out His will.  

Ingratitude vs. Gratitude

God can and does bless us. But sadly, we can so easily be tempted to place our confidence and reliance on possessions and in our own achievements rather than placing our trust and hope in God, the origin of all things. Often, we fail to heed the warning of St. Paul, who teaches us “not to be proud and not to rely on uncertain things such as wealth [things of this world] but rather on God, who richly provides us with all things” (1 Tim 6:17). And knowing we would be tempted by pride and self-reliance, Jesus teaches us to have the attitude of child saying, “unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3). In other words, we are to reject the belief that we don’t need God and can make it through life on our own; instead, we are to approach God with humility and to trust like a child. 

Unfortunately, and with dire consequences, the mindset of ingratitude and thanklessness are far too common. People have become more self-absorbed, failing to thank God for His great blessings and attentive love. And not only have we lost a sense of God, but we have also lost a sense of the respect owed to each person. We take people for granted, failing to see and appreciate the ways others help us or complain because they do not meet our every whim.  

Yet, in my missionary travels, despite the difficulties, threats to human dignity, being marginalized, and the lack of resources, I witness the virtues of faith, trust, thankfulness, and gratitude among those serving in the pro-life movement and by those being served. This may seem ironic, but it isn’t. Those who live under these challenges are often the ones most attuned to God’s love, receptive to His invitation. 

These souls understand that even though the spirit of death (culture of death) is dominant in so much of the world, they know that death will not have the final word. They hold to the words of St. Paul who says, “O grave, where is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55-56) Tragically, the spirit of death has claimed, and will claim, many lives. But it is not the final word. For, continues St. Paul, “thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:57). 

HLI’s pro-life missionaries, who have fought and continue to fight vigorously to advance the Culture of Life, clearly understand the demands and what it means to trust in God’s providence, to be like little children relying upon the Heavenly Father and His goodness. For me, this has been the most profound lesson I have learned in serving HLI’s mission, and for which I am grateful to Almighty God for teaching me.  

That phone call in early 2011 was a great gift. It opened my life to further see and experience the handiwork of our Heavenly Father. The lessons I have learned are building blocks upon which God’s purpose in me is being fulfilled, if I only remain supple in His mighty hands. Please join me in praying for this intention.

And as we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, please join me in giving thanks to God for all who serve the pro-life movement and for the many pro-life successes we have had this year, as well as for those yet to be realized. Also, let us pray for the graces we need to continue to proclaim the Gospel of Life, in-season and out-of-season. Finally, I give thanks for you, our supporters, who are part of this fight with us. Thanks to your support, life is winning.  

I conclude with the beautiful insights of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who not only managed to persevere in adversity, but who also grew in holiness because of the trials she faced:

Whatever did not fit in with my plan did lie within the plan of God. I have an ever deeper and firmer belief that nothing is merely an accident when seen in the light of God, that my whole life down to the smallest details has been marked out for me in the plan of Divine Providence and has a completely coherent meaning in God’s all-seeing eyes. And so, I am beginning to rejoice in the light of glory wherein this meaning will be unveiled to me.  

Trusting in God’s providence and with the momentum on our side, let us not ease up. Rather, let’s redouble our efforts to create a Culture of Life.