Dear Father

Giving thanks to God can be easy when everything in the world or our lives is going grand. However, we forget at those happy times to give thanks to God. It is easier to say that God is not needed today because everything is going grand in the world. However, according to St. Ignatius of Loyola "God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God's purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven.... As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go.”
Somehow, this quote has gotten lost, but more importantly, as humans, we find it easier to push everyone down. We are always looking at how we can be one step higher than the next person. We forget what our purpose on Earth is suppose to be. We, at times, are all about being like the high priests during Jesus' time who threw the first stone. We forget that as Catholics our only goal in life is to obtain the everlasting happiness of Heaven with Christ.
At times, it seems that doubting tasks and because we are hungry, stressed out, or whatever else is on the plate of things to do, we find it easier to try to ignore the problem. However, the purpose of our existence is to find Christ in everyone we meet by serving them. People are going to question everything that we do for them, but we still need to continue to serve them. We need to continue to bring a little of Christ to them. Eventually, they will start to crack. They will begin to see Christ in the world.
Seeing Christ in every person is more about loving, serving, and praying. Yet, on the other hand, we need to let go of all the bitterness and hatred that hinders us from raising people up. We need to be the person who appreciates every moment of every day and find something to give back to others. By raising people up, we are giving them the opportunity to hear God, and we are giving ourselves the opportunity to let go of the bitterness. We are about giving the world thanks even when we are down. Sometimes by just giving thanks to Christ for all the good, we are showing others what it truly means to be a Catholic.