Commentary

Wall Street Breakfast Invocation Thanksgiving Tuesday November 25, 2014

Ben Hider/NYSE Euronext

As we gather this morning on this eve’s eve of Thanksgiving let us give thanks to God for God is good and his love is everlasting.

Bless the beginning of this day with thoughts and prayers of gratitude for family, friend and colleagues.

Bless the rest of this day and this week with the deeds toward one another that reflect that spirit of gratitude.

Bless our gathering in the prestigious and hallowed place –

The New York Stock Exchange.

We thank you for our host Tom Farley and his colleagues both here in New York and in Atlanta and all our guests and benefactors whose presence and support is greatly appreciated and critically needed.

Almighty God, bless this morning’s testimony to the wonderful synergisms our great country fosters between the diverse sectors of our society to advance the common good.

We thank you for the partnership between Catholic Charities and this exchange and ask your continued blessing upon it.

Almighty God, bless our financial markets, institutions and businesses to drive and strengthen our economy.

And also, bolster the effectiveness and compassion of our charitable institutions in meeting human needs when our economy fails to provide the basics of work, food and home for too many- both in our own country and throughout the world.

Do not curse us with accusatory divisiveness that tears down or rips apart but bless us with a unity that fortifies us to together build a society that is empowering, just and compassionate.

Bless our great institutions – Church, finance and charity — with the integrity that fosters confidence and support.

Do not permit our rapidly changing environment to tempt us with long deceptive expediencies and short well-established values.

And most especially bless those entrusted to the care of Catholic Charities:

The child in need of protection,

The youth needing nurturing,

A family facing hunger or homeless whose crisis needs resolution;

A neighbor with a physical, learning or emotional challenge needing support,

A new American needing to be welcomed and integrated in their new home-

And thousands more of our neighbors – non-Catholic and Catholic alike needing some help and a lot of hope.

And finally, bless the food we are about to share – mindful always of those who are hungry this morning.

And let us conclude where we began;

Let us give thanks to the Lord this Thanksgiving week, next week and every week

And especially those weeks when we don’t quite feel like it

That’s when we most need to be able to say thanks…

For gratitude itself is among the first gifts

For God is good – All the time –

And we ask please don’t play hide and seek with your goodness.

Because sometimes I’m a little too weary to search.

So let us rejoice

For Your love endures forever

And let forever begin this very moment.

Thank you. Amen.

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