On Friday, Nov. 22, Jesuit High School Sacramento will host its first ever Thanksgiving Interfaith Prayer Service. In light of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the service will center on the theme of gratitude; more specifically, how we can be thankful in our everyday lives.

As the first interfaith Campus Ministry event, the service will feature Jesuit student speakers and guest speakers from various religions.

“We’re going to hear reflections from students on how they try to live out having an attitude of gratitude, giving thanks in their day-to-day life,” said Associate Director for Campus Ministry Mr. Adam McGrew ’15. “We’re going to have an opportunity to hear from faith leaders of different faith traditions on how gratitude is a universal theme. I’m really looking forward to hearing from a diverse set of voices about how we’re all called to pause, to give thanks, to notice the little things in our life that we should be thankful for.”

Theology Teacher Dr. Mark Luttio will be the emcee for this service and give the opening address. He believes that in an era where division is widespread, events such as this one are more important than ever.

“The importance of doing something like this is to help us understand that there is more that we share in common than that which is different in our faith traditions,” Dr. Luttio said. “Unfortunately, we live in a world where we ‘other’ each other and get stuck in differences, but in the process, we end up creating a world of intolerance. As one of my mentors at Notre Dame liked to put it, ‘if we don’t create a world of mutual understanding and blessing, we risk not having a world left in which to live.’”

This prayer service was designed to foster that tolerance and inclusion by focusing on the universal belief of being grateful.

“Looking at our calendar, [with] Thanksgiving, the principle of gratitude is something that transcends many world religions,” Mr. McGrew said. “And so it offers a great opportunity before going into a break where we spend time with family and friends to think about how each of our faith traditions calls us to approach life with an attitude of gratitude.”

With the Thanksgiving Interfaith Prayer Service, Campus Ministry hopes to help the Jesuit community find gratitude and establish a long line of events that promote religious inclusion. All are welcome to attend this service, which will be held in the Father Barry Gymnasium from 10:45 a.m. to 11:50.