Good morning.
 
I’d like to tell you about my weekend.
 
On Friday and Saturday, I went to the SLUH soccer games – both great games, one exhilarating, one heartbreaking.  I took my sons to both games, Richard is 7 and Peter is 6.  They enjoyed the soccer some, the snack bar more, and the spectacle and competition of the games a lot.  I loved just having the time to spend with them.  It also gave me a chance to reconnect with some good friends who teach and coach at Rockhurst where I used to teach.
 
On Saturday morning, I taught a class at Meramec.  I love teaching and this group is particularly fun because they are so diverse and love to grapple with issues – we argued about celebrating religious holidays in public schools.  It sounds boring, but it was lively and even heated a some points.
 
On Saturday evening, my wife (Mrs. Michalski) and I went to bodyworlds down at the Science Center then to dinner at Favazzas.  It was fun to spend some time together – just talking and joking around – without the kids...one day you will appreciate that.
 
On Sunday, we went to 9:00 mass as a family – difficult with four young children – but amazing to guage how they are growing up by watching how they behave at church.  I can’t believe how fast they grow up.
 
On Sunday evening, went to the wake for Mr. Zarrick’s father.  I lost my father about 5 years ago and my wife lost hers just a few months ago.  And, as sad as that is, at the wake you really have a chance to connect with one another in a different way.
 
After the wake, I came to the play here and watched the results of a tremendous amount of hard work,creativity, and artistry on the part of many of our students and faculty members.  I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to watch you, our students, come alive in the classroom or the stage or the field or wherever it is you love to do things.
 
I spent some time reflecting on the weekend, I had to conclude that I am tremendously grateful for all of these things.
 
What are you grateful for?
 
Take a few minutes and think about it.
 
You’ve heard a lot about Ignatian spirituality already this year…about “finding God in all things” about “the Magis.”  But the motor that drives all of Ignatian Spirituality and the way that Jesuits live their lives is GRATITUDE…gratitude for all these little things that make up our lives.  For me this is gratitude for my wife and children, for my students here at SLUH and at Meramec, for my colleagues,for my friends, for the excitement of a good soccer game, the renewal of an old friendship, the chance to talk and laugh with someone I love, the chance to learn and to teach. 
 
I think Ignatius would say that these things, things that are so everyday but also so important to us as individuals are glimpses or perspectives of the incomprehensible gifts that God has given us in creation itself – the opportunity for life.  In forgiveness and redemption when we choose not to love and in Salvation – the defeat of death in the gift of eternal life with our creator. 
 
Ignatius wrote “God loves me so much that he enters into the very struggle of life.  Like a potter with clay, like a mother in childbirth, or like a mighty force blowing life into dead bones, God labors to share his life and his love.  His labors take him even to death on a cross in order to bring forth the life of the Resurrection” 
 
He then goes on to say, “How can I respond in deeds to this great gift of love?” This is an important step in Ignatius’ thinking, because what he is saying is that our lives, our choices, our behaviors should all be shaped by our gratitude for all those little things that animate us day in and day out and that give us little glimpses of heaven here on earth.  In Ignatius’ words, “love ought to show itself in deeds over and above words.”
 
Ignatius captured these ideas in a prayer which we’ll close with as we begin this thanksgiving week:
 
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will – all that I have and call my own.  You have given it all to me.  To you, Lord, I return it.  Everything is yours; do with it what you will.  Give me only your love and your grace.  That is enough for me.
 
We dedicate all our thoughts, words, and actions…to the greater glory of God.
 
Amen.