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Here is part of the homily given Sunday by Bishop Kevin Doran for the 2015 National Novena to Our Lady of Knock, which is underway through Aug. 22. "Giving thanks is a central theme in the writing and preaching of St. Paul. I think it comes, in the first place, from a deep down sense of gratitude for everything that God has done in his own life and especially for the experience of the Risen Jesus. Today, St. Paul encourages us, "always and everywhere" to give thanks to God. It is not just a formality or a routine, but an attitude and - as Paul knew well - that attitude of gratitude sometimes had to be lived in the face of adversity. In his work of proclaiming the good news about Jesus Christ, he was beaten, shipwrecked and imprisoned many times, but he remained grateful to God who, as he says, gave him the victory through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Today and during the whole of this novena, our focus is on the family and it seemed appropriate to reflect on why we might give thanks to God for the gift of the family. Very early on in the Bible, the beginnings of faith in a creator God are very closely linked with the idea of family. The account of creation in the Book of Genesis is not meant to be history. It is really a proclamation of faith in a God who made all things good and who, as part of this created man and woman in his own image. This ancient profession of faith includes the idea that, as part of their own mission, man and woman were to share with God in passing on to their children the gift of life and love. It was not, of course, without its struggles and its failures. The account in Genesis leaves us in no doubt that failure and recrimination and fighting among the children were part of the experience then as they can be in our own families today. But that doesn't take away from the original goodness of God's gift of family."

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