As a major holiday and indeed the entire fall and winter holiday season lies ahead of us, it’s easy to focus on the negative and forget the positive.

The other day, a rough-looking young man stopped me in the middle of Manhattan. He asked me, “Reverend, why do kids kill each other?”

“I thought of praying to God once, but I have never done it. Could you teach me how to pray?”

I was a little startled by the question. But I responded to him directly, “Probably because they come from a troubled family environment.”

He responded, “Well, my dad is in jail and my mother has drug issues — but I’m not killing anyone.”

Thank you, God, for the gift of a stable and safe family background. Many people in our society have no idea what that looks like.

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While walking home from the Rye, New York, train station recently, I noticed a gentleman helping his middle-aged wife out of the car, with a stroller ready to support her. One of her legs had been amputated and she was struggling to get her prosthetic leg into place.

That morning, I had gone for a run — and had had the privilege of being able to freely walk home later that day.

Thank you, God for the gift of health.

During one of my conversations on the Metro North train into the city, I asked a woman if she was Catholic or Christian, and she responded by saying, “I don’t really have any religion in my life. My parents raised me in a secular household.” Then I asked if she had ever prayed to God and she responded, “I actually thought of praying to God once, but I have never done it. Could you teach me how to pray?”

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Thank you, God, for the gift of faith.

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Having done five mission trips to a variety of remote villages in El Salvador, I was struck by the utter poverty in which these folks lived. They had no running water, virtually no electricity, and a meager diet consisting of corn tortillas and beans. Kids played soccer in their bare feet with a soccer ball that was totally worn down, and they all lived in small shacks, packed tightly together. But they did have two things going for them, which kept bright smiles on their faces: faith and family.

Please do not allow the crazy commercialism connected to the Thanksgiving holiday and the rest of the holiday season ahead to pull you away from the deeper meaning of faith, of family, and of life. George Washington, in his Thanksgiving proclamation, “recommends to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

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Make this a time of prayerful Thanksgiving as a family. Moms and dads, teach your kids how to pray — and help them see God as a friend and a father, a guide and a brother, truly the greatest gift anyone could have.

In the words of St. John Paul II, “Family prayer has its own characteristic qualities. It is prayer offered in common, husband and wife together, parents and children together … By reason of their dignity and mission, Christian parents have the specific responsibility of educating their children in prayer, introducing them to gradual discovery of the mystery of God and to personal dialogue with Him.”

Fr. Michael Sliney, LC, is a Catholic priest who is the New York chaplain of the Lumen Institute, an association of business and cultural leaders.