Daily Meditation for November 17, 2025

Benedictine Brother David Steindl-Rast has written many books on the spiritual life and lectured extensively throughout the world. His book, Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer, is especially appropriate during this Thanksgiving season and also for the coming season of Advent. In this book, Br. David names gratefulness as an unconditional “yes” to life as a give-and-take, which implies a courageous trust in life. Gratefulness prompts us to see that we can live in our world as people who are constantly surprised by the goodness of God, and that an inch of surprise can become a mile of gratefulness. How long is your gratitude? How many miles long should our gratitude be for God’s coming into our world through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ? May our Thanksgiving feasting and our Advent preparation for Christ’s coming include miles of gratitude.

By Eunice Antony, OSB