PODCAST | Thanksgiving Day and Acts of Gratitude
As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the United States, Fr. Javier del Castillo reminds us in this meditation, as St Josemaria Escriva often did, that we ought to thank God always by habitually making frequent acts of thanksgiving, acts of gratitude.
Fr. Javier explains: “We were never asked by God to come into existence. Everything we have–our talents, our virtues, even our defects–all have been foreseen by God, allowed by God, and given to us by God so that we can fulfill the single mission that we have received from before the foundation of the world.”
As we strive to maintain a constant spirit of gratitude in our lives we will realize that thanksgiving enlarges our hearts to receive even greater gifts from God.
This podcast was originally published in 2014.
Rev. Javier del Castillo
Fr. Javier del Castillo is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei and currently serves as President of the St. Josemaria Institute. He earned a degree in electronic engineering and moved to Rome to complete his ecclesiastical studies, where he was ordained a priest in 2005 and earned a doctorate in Philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in 2007. He worked as a chaplain in high schools in the Washington, D.C. and Chicago areas for several years, offering spiritual accompaniment to students, parents, and teachers. From 2015 on, he served as the vicar of Opus Dei in the midwest; he was appointed regional vicar of the United States in 2022. He became vicar of the United States and Canada in 2024, following the restructuring of the regions, until his appointment as Vicar General in April 2025.
