With gratitude to God

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The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City

As our nation pauses this week to give thanks, I join my voice with yours in directing that gratitude to the giver of every good gift, Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

It is providential that our country’s celebration of Thanksgiving is only a few days away from the last Sunday of the liturgical year, Christ the King Sunday. Pope Pius XI established this solemnity in 1925 as a way of reminding a world increasingly caught up in dictatorships and systems of government that deny God’s existence that there is only one Lord, one King, who deserves our complete and unbending allegiance: Jesus Christ himself, through whom and for whom and in whom everything came into being and continues to exist.

Sadly, many in our world continue to push God aside. This year, as you and I join with our families and friends, I pray that we will spend some time returning to give thanks to Christ, as did the one leper cleansed of his sores, expressing our gratitude to the one who gave us life and all the blessings that go with it.

May our Thanksgiving tables be a symbol of our willingness to lay down grudges, seek forgiveness for past offenses, absolve each other from hurts received and deepen in the love that makes us brothers and sisters in Christ. This national feast day echoes the Mass: Every time we gather at the Eucharistic table, we are bound together in a chorus of thanksgiving to Jesus Christ whose death and resurrection opened the doors of heaven for all humanity. It is in this spirit that our local Church of the Diocese of Salt Lake City enters into these days of thanksgiving and the final days of our liturgical year.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

+ The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City