This week is Thanksgiving, of course, and we have much to be thankful for. I preached a couple months ago about how humility is necessary for any other virtue to be properly exercised. I said, "Faith without humility is hypocrisy. Hope without humility is presumption. Love without humility is manipulation." I could add to that, thanksgiving without humility is boasting and blasphemy.

That's a pretty strong assertion, but I think the Bible supports it. St. Paul says, "What do you possess that you have not received? But if you have received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it?" (1 Cor: 4:7).

And Jesus tells a parable about a guy who offers thanks to God without humility. "Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee
and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of
humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector
stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk 18:10-14).

Let us approach this Thanksgiving with the humility of the Heart of Mary, who gave thanks in this way: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name" (Lk 1:46-49).