- “Thank you God for family. Thank you God for blankies. Thank you God for Mom and Dad. Thank you God for Jesus dying on the cross. Thank you God for 'Show and Share.' Thank you God for lovely baskets. Thank you God for friends who are nice. Thank you God for beautiful people. Thank you God for “bath-es.” Thank you God for beds that are comfortable. Thank you God for family.” And then she promptly extinguished the candles.
This past week, this same child (still three years old!!) invited me to come light the candles at the model altar she had set. Again, I responded to each "thank you" with "Amen" and enjoyed the privilege of being united in her new "Litany of Thanks." I was aware of her prayer of almost a year before and was struck by her expanding prayer content and language:
- "Thank you for being our Light. Thank you for beautiful books. (She had just been introduced to the Lectionary and Roman Missal and as she said this she touched each book.) Thank you for the beautiful cloth. (She touched the altar cloth.) Thank you for crucifixes. Thank you for babies. Thank you for sheep that follow the Good Shepherd. Thank you for the whole world.