At this end-point 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.

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 divisions revealed in the recent elections, the threats to our national security that are afoot. We are aware of the seemingly intractable stalemate in Iraq and the pain and disruption this war causes many of our families and friends. Challenging, too, are the effects of our sluggish 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 George Washington wrote in his first Presidential Proclamation of Thanksgiving:

“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”

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 this annual celebration of gratitude.

John P. Schlegel, S.J.
President