You might be thinking that since I used Latin as a title for my first post, I now am using Greek on the second to try and impress everyone out there. Well, that's not the reason. The title of this post is the word Eucharist in Greek, which means, appropriately enough, Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving has to be our ultimate attitude toward everything in life. It's more than being thankful for all the blessings that we have in our lives (which a great number of people probably did on this special day). It's about seeing every hurdle as an opportunity, about being thankful to God especially when we're in a difficult bind, about being thankful for the little things that give our life meaning and joy.
It's easy to say "Isn't God Good" when something wonderful happens. But can we say "Isn't God Good" when something which we consider inopportune or downright disastrous happens? It's not that we delight in bad fortune, but rather we are thankful for the opportunity to see what God has in store for us in his serendipity.
Think about it -- when we reflect back on our lives, haven't we learned more about ourselves through challenging times than through easy times? Of course we have. So wouldn't it be logical to just be open to and optimistic about the hurdles that come our way? Why? Because we know that they will ultimately teach us so much about ourselves, and will yield a bounty of God's grace.
This is what the Camino de Santiago represents for me. There will be a great deal of adversity along the way, but the grace of God will be omnipresent. What a tremendous opportunity this will be to see God's workings in action. If we want to see God's handiwork, we must confront (and embrace) adversity.
There's no way around it -- life is a journey, through which we must continually give thanks.
-Joseph
