Fifteen years ago, I started an exercise with my 8th grade students that soon became a hallmark of my observance of Thanksgiving Day: write down in no particular order, and in a prayerful and sometimes playful way, the 100 things I was thankful for. My students would write theirs during class or spend more time pondering it and sometimes going really deep at home. I would take all their lists and compile a list of 100 things from what they gave me to share with them this week. Over the years, these lists have been helped me peer into the hearts of my kids a little deeper as they’ve written insightful, meditative and sometimes very hilarious things. It is one of the highlights of my year with any 8th grade class. And then when I’m done pouring over their lists (I have 90 eighth graders this year so it took a little longer), I then proceed to write out my list which is parts reflective, repetitive, and yes, goofy. In other words, it reflects who I am. Some years it has been harder to write out this list than others, but the reminder is always there: a Christian should always have a grateful heart and have at least 100 things to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day.
1. My mother
2. My father
3. My sister
4. My brother
5. My brother in law
6. My nephews
7. Their Catholic education
8. My oldest nephew’s “too much like his father for his own good” attitude
9. My second nephew’s inquisitive, “prove it” attitude
10. My youngest nephew’s “I’m cooler than you and you know it” attitude
11. My way too many to count cousins
12. My extended family
13. My priesthood
14. Church of the Little Flower
15. Immaculate Conception
16. Five glorious, grace filled, life altering years as pastor of Immaculate
17. Her glorious bell tower (with its now named bell: Teresita)
18. Hialeah
19. Realizing how many lives a pastor can touch and how those lives touch me
20. The rooster that used to wake me up (along with the leaf blower)
21. Backyards on a Friday night
22. Unfiltered conversations
23. Knowing how precious each moment is spent with friends
24. What happened to the poker games?
25. Fantasy football draft parties (without the board!)
26. Sunday night movie nights
27. Karaoke (and singing the same songs over and over again)
28. Coral Gables
29. Walking back into your childhood
30. The canopy of trees creating a maze of natural tunnels
31. Looking out my window every morning and seeing the majestic dome of our church
32. Celebrating Mass where spiritual giants once did
33. Incensing the altar while the choir sings Handel’s Messiah
34. A church full of children singing in unison
35. Homilies delivered to those same children to illustrate to us adults how much those children can teach us of how far removed we are from the innocence needed in our spiritual lives
36. St. Theresa Catholic School
37. 94 years of history in those hallways
38. Teachers, teachers and more teachers (past and present) wo are the real heroes
39. So many, oh, so many wonderful, joy-filled children
40. Getting to know an entirely new group of amazing kids
41. Reading their thanksgiving lists
42. Memories of the amazing kids I left behind
43. Vacation Bible School
44. Parking lot parents (at least they care enough to send their children to Religious Education)
45. When those parking lot parents bring their family to Mass
46. Unexpected cameos from family and friends at Mass
47. Brother priests
48. The support of a stellar staff
49. Visits from goddaughters
50. Carmelite sisters
51. Their constant prayers
52. The penance they do for priests for which I will never be able to adequately thank them for
53. Cloistered Carmelites
54. Almost finished monasteries
55. The gift of rediscovering the wisdom of St. Thérèse of Lisieux
56. Ego sum lux mundi
57. My slow, gradual and liberating retreat from Facebook and Instagram
58. Not feeling the need to be constantly connected
59. Those five days I spend on retreat where I get to turn my phone off
60. Less screen time
61. More prayer time
62. That small and beautiful Blessed Sacrament chapel at the end of the hallway from my room
63. The little things I usually take for granted
64. A healthy left ankle
65. Reliable cell service
66. Crossing Anastasia Avenue every morning and making it to the other side in one piece
67. The police officers that patiently direct traffic every morning and afternoon
68. Firefighters and first responders
69. Lunch in the Gables with my best friend
70. Unexpected meals with old friends
71. Baptizing the kids of my kids
72. Presiding at the weddings of my kids
73. Presiding at a wedding of a couple who “gets it” (and when their families “get it” too)
74. Those who dedicate themselves to preparing couples for Holy Matrimony
75. When those couples come back to do the same
76. When the temperature dips below 70
77. The overabundance of chocolate chip cookies in my room (well, before I ate them)
78. The absurd wisdom of “The Office” (“Sometimes I’ll start a sentence and I don’t even know where it’s going.”)
79. Stanger Things because it shows how well we did the friendship thing back in the 80s
80. “Goonies never say die”
81. The escapism of Seinfeld because sometimes you just need nothing
82. (This is the section I usually reserve for our local sports teams, smh, but oh wait…)
83. Being in the arena for that One Last Dance
84. To the generous souls that allowed me to witness that One Last Dance
85. To the friends of those souls who I’ve danced with for over 17 years and allowed me to be part of their families
86. Kids in New York
87. Kids in California
88. Unexpected phone calls or texts
89. Finally learning to let go but leaving the door open just in case
90. A good film
91. Finally seeing the brilliance of Les Misérables on stage
92. Charleston, South Carolina and it’s majestic oyster towers and almost sinful brunches
93. Marching for life every January in D.C.
94. The people I offer Mass for every day
95. The people that pray for me
96. The gift of silence especially at Mass
97. Going through old photos and simultaneously smiling and being moved to tears
98. To quote one of my 8th graders from their list: “Knowing that disappointment and hardships never last.”
99. Knowing that I am exactly where God wants me to be
100. The people who constantly tell me even as recently as yesterday: “Thank you for being our pastor.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
