Daily Gospel Reflection for November 23, 2023

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Luke 19:41-44

All across the nation, people will gather today and gives thanks for good health, a loving family, great friends, and a warm home. All of these are tremendous blessings from God, and we should give thanks for them every day.

But they’re the same answers people tend to give each year – like a knee-jerk response, without much thought, without deeper awareness. What about all the small ways we’ve been blessed, each and every day, proving that God cherishes us so much that He cares about our minutiae?

What about the clerk at the store who unearths the exact number of squash we need for our recipe when there were none in sight? What about the red cardinal that lands by our window, consoling us right as we’re missing a loved one? What about the perfect toy we randomly find in our purse that occupies our toddler at the exact moment we need him to be quiet?

Each and every one of these small things adds up to the great love God has for us. When we overlook them, we overlook Him. His grace and peace become hidden from our eyes.

“If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Luke 9:9

As Jesus approached Jerusalem, He wept for all that Jerusalem had overlooked: both the bold miracles He’d performed as proof that He was God’s Son, and all the small and subtle ways He spread peace as He went. Had they recognized that God was coming to them through Jesus, that peace could have been theirs.

Yes, Thanksgiving is a time to stop and be grateful for all of our blessings. But when we recognize God coming to us through the little things, every day, gratitude infuses our heart constantly, filling us with peace all year through.

Ponder:

Is Thanksgiving the only day I stop and give thanks for all I’ve been blessed with? How can I go about thanking God every day for all the small ways He blesses me?

Pray:

Giver of All Things Good, help me to recognize You coming to me through the small blessings each and every day. May I always be grateful for each one of them so I show You praise while I reap Your peace.