Cause for Celebration
As I purchased and prepared cards to mark special occasions this month, I was amazed at the number of celebrations September offers. In our family, it is a month of numerous birthdays, including that of our Blessed Mother! Both sets of our parents were married in September, and at least three wedding anniversaries of other family members are celebrated in this ninth month. My heart overflows with gratitude for these examples of beautiful, holy marriages filled with love and commitment. In addition to the joy of earthly birthdays, I also remember heavenly birthdays for the spouses of two dear friends. I pause to remember the impact of their lives on earth and rejoice in their heavenly homecomings. I offer prayers and encouragement for loved ones who miss them.
As a nation, we celebrated Labor Day the first Monday of the month, and, within a week, National Grandparents Day on the first Sunday after Labor Day. I am reminded to be grateful “for the ability to do work,” as my husband is fond of saying. Grandparents don’t need a national holiday to commemorate the title. Isn’t each day Grandparents Day when you are blessed with the company of these offspring? We so appreciate our eight wonderful grandchildren and their parents, our children, who share them with us. I pray for their health and safety and that they may be surrounded by the daily protection of their Guardian Angels.
In the Catholic Church, we recently welcomed and celebrated the canonization of two new saints, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati. Do I frequently thank God for the gift of brother and sister saints as part of my spiritual family? Where would I be without the encouraging and uplifting examples of their lives? Daily prayers often include my own, informal, Litany of the Saints. How can my life be a witness for others in little and big ways?
At the end of the month, I am looking forward to a gathering of my Illinois and Virginia siblings. I thank God for each of my brothers and my sister, for my brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. I pray for their continued good health and that each one may grow in knowing, loving, and serving the Lord every day.
You get my point. There is something to celebrate every day with which we are gifted by our gracious and generous Lord. How many days do I take for granted and miss the celebrations of life occurring all around me and the opportunity to thank God for them? Does it even occur to me to ask the Father to bless me with a more considerate and loving heart? Do I become so wrapped up in the world news that I fail to rejoice in the Good News?
I bet I have been preaching to the choir with this topic, but it dawned on me that this is a reminder I needed for myself. Given the tragic news of this week, plus the anniversary of 9/11, we desperately need HOPE in all the good and celebratory events we can discover, and TRUST in our Creator.
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad. (Psalm 118:24)