JPIC Discernment Tool (Step 1: Gratitude)

In the last blog posting dated January 4th (see below), I introduced you to a JPIC Discernment Tool – a Franciscan JPIC Examen – so that you might be moved from prayer into action – to actively fight for justice, promote peace and care for creation. The first step of the Examen is to encourage living with gratitude and praying from gratitude.

 "gratitude"
​How could I not have had ‘an attitude of gratitude’ being born and raised in (what I think) is one of the most beautiful places on Earth – the small City of Fernie BC. Fernie nestles tightly in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia close to the borders with Alberta and Montana.

As a child, I knew all the names of all the peaks. I knew that beavers lived at the end of 4th Avenue where it ran into the Elk River. I knew that when you went out to pick huckleberries at the end of the summer chances, chances of meeting a bear were pretty high.

I knew that Dad and I could turn rocks over on the banks of the Elk River to find little insects Dad called ‘scratchers’ that we collected, which Dad then used to catch the trout in the river. I knew that the snow melt filled our reservoirs in the spring. That my mom had to plant her large vegetable garden on the... 

...May long weekend (not before in case of frost and no later or there would not be enough time for the food to grow), that mushrooms were harvested in the fall, that only apples grew in our climate and we had to make a trek to my Aunt’s home in Creston for fruits like peaches and cherries. 

I grew up a cradle Catholic and received my sacraments at Holy Family Church. On my first day in catechism, we were handed the Baltimore Catechism. At six years of age, all I needed was the answer to the first question: “Where is God?” The answer: God is everywhere. I closed the book. That is all that I needed to know. God is everywhere. Life is simple. Thank you God.

Recognize that all that you are, the person you are now and the person you are becoming, the possessions you have and the earth you inhabit are gifts from a loving Creator.

Give thanks to God for creation and for being wonderfully made.

Where did you feel God’s presence in creation today?