Nov. 26 - Give Thanks for the Ability to Read!

As the bumper sticker says, "If you can read this, thank a teacher." Since all of the visitors to Catholic365 come to this site to read, there are a lot of teachers to thank. In fact, you, dear reader, are reading these words at this very moment, yet you are likely not thinking about that feat at all.

The ability to read is so life-changing, yet such an odd thing in and of itself. After all, we are really just attributing meaning to some black marks on a piece of paper, and those marks will look and be arranged differently depending on where you live in the world. Yet it is this process, simple to employ once grasped, yet complicated and difficult to obtain, that allows us to know the thoughts of those who have lived before us, to benefit from the wisdom of the past, to communicate with those who are not with us in person today, and possibly, if what we say is worth keeping, to even speak to those who will come after us.

We give thanks, O Lord, for the ability to read. May we use this gift to grow in wisdom and knowledge, employing it well. Amen.