I also enjoy this occasion for the wonderful opportunity to savor one of my favorite foods: an over-cooked turkey. I am enamored by it and all the other fixings that grace the Thanksgiving table.
But this year was special for one particular reason, going beyond the food on the dinner table. Earlier in the day, as has become a cherished habit of mine in the past few years, I partook of a meal at another table, that of the Eucharistic feast at the altar at Church. And for the first time, I served as Eucharistic minister. There I was, during the communion rite, handing the Body of Christ to the people in the community of faith at Church. Repeating "The Body of Christ", over and over, to each person who stepped in front of me, became like a prayer of sorts.
Indeed, community was a theme that surfaced during today's celebration at Mass. God comes to each of us individually, working His marvel of salvation in our lives, and discipling us into the ways of Eternal Life. We come to express our thanksgiving to Him as a result, doing so as a community. We join together to pray, hear God's Word, sing, and partake of the One Body of Christ at the meal that comes from the Greek word for "thanksgiving". We are many, but join together as One in this celebration of the One. And it is what we experience in this celebration that sends us forth on our common mission, as we live out a life of Thanksgiving before God, who is the reason for our Thanksgiving. (Even the homilist spoke about how we value the opportunity to be with people on Thanksgiving Day.)
This occasion induces all of us to ponder more deeply what we are thankful for. And while I certainly can name many things I'm thankful for, the one thing that surfaces to the top for me this Thanksgiving Day, which I'm most thankful for, is the community of faith. I've come to especially appreciate and embrace all the opportunities I have to spend time with people at Church, and ministries to be involved in, during and outside of Mass. Indeed, I always have a good feeling when I step out of the house and start walking toward Church, because I know I'm going to a very special place. While I've certainly sensed this for years, I have sensed it with special fervor in more recent months.
One final thought I have on this Thanksgiving: It was around this time 150 years ago, in 1863, that Americans celebrated the first annual Thanksgiving Day, which had been established by a Presidential Proclamation back at the beginning of October that year. I read President Lincoln's proclamation at dinner, and as I did so, I couldn't help but notice all the wonderful things he said the country had to be thankful for, such as bountiful agriculture harvests, large production of other resources, and development of new settlements. And he was saying all of this while the country was in the midst of a terrible war. It really says something when he could be so expressive in thanksgiving in the midst of trying times. Perhaps that's what gives Thanksgiving substance, when it is born out of a recognition that we still have so much to be thankful for, even in hard times, because of what we already have.
As a person of faith, I certainly recognize that with God with us, ultimately working all circumstances in our favor. Indeed, in God, we are all taken care of. So we can always go forth with strong purpose in life, especially Thanksgiving.
Here two symbols of Thanksgiving come together in one picture: On the left is the US flag, representing how much we have to be thankful for in this great country. Then, to the right, there's the dome of Ascension Roman Catholic Church, on whose top is a (greenish) statue representing Christ in His Glory, who attained for us salvation, and is our reason for Thanksgiving, on this occasion, and at all times we gather for the Eucharist.
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