Thank God Ahead of Time

Father Solanus Guild Reflection by Br. Mike Bertram, OFM Cap. – November 2, 2026

As we find ourselves in the month of November, our minds, hearts, and prayers are directed toward giving thanks. This is nothing new for followers of St. Francis of Assisi, nor for those familiar with Blessed Solanus Casey, who is known to have said, “Thank God ahead of time!”

If there are two fundamental attitudes or ways of living that we are called to embrace, they are these: “Always be humble” and “Always be grateful.” When you stop to think about these two virtues, they pretty much summarize how Jesus wants us to live: always humble and always grateful.

We are called to practice constant and genuine humility, recognizing that everything we are and everything we do ultimately comes from God. We are simply humble distributors of the goodness that comes to us and through us, but which originates in God. In his Second Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul calls us “ambassadors.” We are Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. And how true that is!

I am reminded of athletes who, during a press conference following a great victory or personal triumph, utter the words, “To God be all the glory!” (I guess when you’re making millions of dollars in salary, that’s easy to say!) Still, it serves as a reminder for us to pause during the great moments of our lives and humbly offer a word of thanks to God for the blessings we experience.

Similarly, a wise and spiritually sound attitude to embrace in life is to always be grateful—even during the difficult moments. After all, as the saying goes, we don’t have to look very far to find someone who has it worse than we do.

When a priest is ordained a bishop, he adopts a coat of arms with a personal motto. For example, here in Detroit, Archbishop Weisenberger’s coat of arms carries the motto “Ecce Agnus Dei,” meaning “Behold the Lamb of God.” If I ever become a bishop (and everyone quickly decides to leave the Catholic Church!), I would hope that my coat of arms would carry the motto “Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness,” which comes from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians (3:15).

Gratitude and thankfulness direct our minds and hearts toward recognizing God’s presence and activity in our lives at all times. When good things happen to us, many people simply attribute them to good luck or a happy coincidence. We, however, recognize that God is watching over us and protecting us. But it requires a certain perspective on life to “see” those gracious acts of God bestowed upon us.

When I’m driving, I often find myself saying, “Thank you, God,” when I avoid an accident or catch a green light when I’m in a hurry. Such was the life of Blessed Solanus Casey, who was able to recognize God in the small moments of everyday life—those seemingly insignificant moments that offer us a glimpse of God’s presence in our lives.

Some of you may remember Fr. Joe Maloney. His Irish humor once had him walking the monastery halls, muttering, “Poor God, poor God.” When I asked him about his murmuring, he replied, “When something goes well in our lives, who’s the last person to get credit? God. And when something goes really badly in our lives, who’s the first person to get blamed? God. . . . Poor God, poor God.”

Solanus understood that gratitude should be our first, foremost, and constant attitude in life.

Happy Thanksgiving! May we all dedicate ourselves to thankfulness, following the example of Blessed Solanus, who knew to thank God ahead of time.