Thanksgiving on Mt. Schoenstatt, Germany
“Thank you” is a words we use every day with other people. Once a year, in common, we Christians consciously direct our gratitude to God and say “Thank you” for the harvest.
On the morning of Thanksgiving Day, when we entered the Adoration Church, our eyes were immediately directed to the display of a bounteous harvest. To be admired was an abundance of fruits and vegetables grown to harvest on Mount Schoenstatt that beautifully arranged around the harvest.
Let us thank God with all our hearts!

During Holy Mass Father Bernd Bieberger blessed the fruits of our harvest and led us deeper into the meaning of this feast through his homily. The feastday of Thanksgiving not only reminds us to thank God for his goodness and not to take for granted the gifts with which he has richly blessed us. Above and beyond that, it motivates us to foster a basic disposition of gratitude and to strive for a fundamental attitude of gratitude.
Gratitude means …
- – Giving thanks means thinking of the one who gave me a gift. Gratitude is tied to relationships. We perceive the gift of another human being or the gift of God, through which we have been enriched. By giving thanks, we respond to the bond that is expressed through the gift.
- – Gratitude also makes us aware we are the recipients of the gift. What we received is a gift for which we have no right. A gift is not only unconditional, but even selfless. In return, gratitude is the perception, recognition and appreciation of this selflessness.
- Gratitude as a basic attitude can be the basis for inner contentment. When we are grateful for what we have, a foundation is created for us to be content with what we have. When people are content with what they have, they are interiorly at peace. Gratitude is an important prerequisite for peace.
- The feastday of Thanksgiving unites nature and supernature, God and the world, life and faith. Gratitude is the response to grace given to us. Grace is first and foremost a gift of God. It enables us to unfold and make fruitful the life God placed within us.
Even more reason to be grateful and happy!
A further gift for which we as a community cannot be grateful enough is our young sisters who come from various countries. To give us a special joy, they prepared the festive Holy Mass today with musical instruments and songs in different languages. The fact that Spanish was also included was a source of joy, not least of all, for pilgrims from Chile who are among us. Everyone joyfully sang the final song, through which we once again expressed our heartfelt gratitude. We sang: