Years ago I heard a priest catechizing about prayer. He told the group that our prayers can be rightly ordered and categorized by thinking of the word ACTS — an acronym for the duties of prayer. 

 

Our first duty of prayer is adoration. That is the acknowledgement of God’s greatness that we owe to Him as His creation.

 

Our second duty is to offer prayers of contrition. As a human race and as individuals we have separated from God by our sins. We need to pray in sorrow asking God’s forgiveness and the grace to be done with them.

 

Thirdly, our prayers must be filled with thanksgiving. It would be ungrateful and against our nature if we did not thank God for His love and His countless gifts that fill our world and our lives.

 

Finally, we are to offer prayers of supplication. That is, we ask our Heavenly Father, as loving children, for the good things that we truly need.

 

Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving and Supplication. ACTS.

 

During this Thanksgiving week, we would do well to concentrate on the “T” of ACTS. This is a good moment for us to ask ourselves if we are truly grateful to God and if we express that gratitude constantly.

 

As we seek to stir up our sense of gratitude, we might think of the blessings in our personal life. We should begin with the very gift of life that God has given us. 

 

With our human life comes the unimaginable offer of eternal life with God in heaven. God has not only given us this life here and now, but He has offered to bring it to fulfillment if we choose to live for and with Him.

 

In this context, we should explicitly thank God for our Catholic faith, which is the road map to heaven. We thank God also for our health, our family and the daily bread that we are blessed with in this life.

 

However, the intentions for which we give thanks should extend beyond our own person and needs. If we look to the example of Jesus in the Gospels, we can learn from His own expression of thanks. It is thanks for God’s blessing for others.

 

For example, Jesus praised His Father in heaven for revealing His divine wisdom and plan not to the wise and the learned, but to the simple and childlike. (Lk 10:21). 

 

With the crowds gathered on the hillsides after His teaching, Jesus thanked His heavenly Father before He fed the crowd from the five loaves and two fish. (Jn 6:11). 

 

Jesus also thanks His Father just before He raised Lazarus from the dead. But He specifically thanked God for what was to follow and that it might strengthen the faith of those who were present. (Jn. 11:41-42).

 

Of course, we know from the words of consecration at the Mass, Jesus gave thanks to the Father at the Last Supper before changing the bread into His body and the wine into His blood. (see Mk 14:23).

 

Jesus’s own words of thanks draw our attention away from the danger of self-absorption and concentrating only on ourselves. As a part of faith our prayers, even in thanksgiving, are to be conscious of and supporting for the needs of others.

 

Our celebration of Thanksgiving is an ideal time to examine our prayer life. That is, how often do I pray with the specific intent of clearly and deliberately thanking God? 

 

This reflection is important lest we become like the ungrateful nine lepers who took their gift and ran. Instead, it is right that we return and throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus in gratitude. (Lk 17: 11-19).

 

Of course the greatest way to say thanks is by our participation at Mass. There, our offering at the altar of the Lord is our fullest means of meeting and thanking Jesus in this world. 

 

Why not start Thanksgiving Day by going to Mass with the whole family?

 

To each and to all, a Blessed Thanksgiving!