At this midpoint of November, our thoughts turn to preparation for our annual Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends.

I think we need Thanksgiving this year! We need time to slow down, reflect and count our blessings. We need this occasion to link the events of the recent past to the present as we look hopefully and prayerfully to the future.

There is much to be grateful for this November. Each of you in your own setting are aware of the gifts and blessings you have in family and friends, neighbors and co-workers.

The Creighton family has much to be grateful for this November: a healthy enrollment; a gifted student community; a creative, productive and generous faculty and staff; nationally recognized academic programs; a generosity of service to the Omaha community; and a fiscal, strategic and campus master plan to guide us in the years to come.

We are thankful for this country, with its beauty and bounty, which allows us so many opportunities and protections. Yet, we are aware of the serious threats to our peace and security that are afoot these days. We are aware of the seemingly intractable stalemate in Iraq. We are aware of the pain and disruption among family and friends caused by a struggling economy.

So we pray that our political and corporate leadership will be endowed with wisdom and wise counsel in the decisions before them. In these fragile times we pray for peace, stability, and goodwill among peoples.

As the author of the Book of Sirach wrote:

“And now, bless the God of all, who has done wondrous things on earth. May he grant you joy of heart and may peace abide among you; may God’s goodness toward us endure as long as the heavens are above.”

Let that be our prayer – as individual and as community – this Thanksgiving season.

You and your family and friends are in my prayers and thoughts during these special days.

John P. Schlegel, S.J.
President