Thanksgiving Thoughts

I'm a real foodie, and with turkey as my number one favorite food, I've always regarded Thanksgiving Day as my favorite holiday.  (I like turkey so much, in fact, that I'm convinced I could eat it constantly without tiring of it.  I even remember when I turned 14 and I requested an oven baked turkey for dinner on my birthday, which is in March, and my parents kindly obliged.)  But recently, something else has surfaced as an even greater reason for this occasion being a favorite holiday of mine.

I noticed it while I getting a head start on this year's celebration watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, a true classic, which aired Wednesday evening on ABC, rather than on Thursday.  After things turn a bit disastrous with the dinner prepared for the unintended guests, Marcie makes an important statement, that Thanksgiving is more than eating.  She goes on to remind Charlie that the Pilgrims, whose experience was the origin for this holiday, were grateful that they had made it through so much, as should we, concluding we should be thankful for just being together.

No where do I sense this idea of being thankful for being together more than at Mass.  I couldn't think of a more appropriate way to celebrate Thanksgiving than being at Mass, at whose very heart is the Eucharist, which comes from the Greek for "thanksgiving".

It's a special time for the people of Ascension Parish to gather.  This year, someone came up with the touching idea to have several parishioners share their thanksgivings during the homily time at Mass.  Those who spoke reached deep down to share about emotional experiences, even of heartache and distress, in their lives that brought them in tune with God's graces, as well as the little joys of life.  I felt that this sharing of stories speaks to how every time we gather as a Church, we bring these troubles and cares with us to the altar, where God, who knows our sufferings intimately, brings us healing through His sacramental presence, and transforms us to be His presence in our world of suffering.

I think about how I have gone forth to make much of the faith I have received as a gift, especially in my involvement with Religious Education, spending Tuesday evenings week after week in class, and evenings month after month with the Confirmation students.  Even in the midst of the challenges that have arisen over the past year, I have still known joy as I let God work through my offering of myself in service in this ministry.

I think back to April on the Sunday of the Catechist Appreciation Brunch, when we catechists were all recognized for our services.  It was a special time to be thanked for my involvement in something that gives me such great joy, ministering to young people in their faith formation as I guide them on their own journey of faith, which has impacted my own faith.

And I remember how God has worked in my life, even in the early years, such as 15 1/2 years ago on a Sunday in May in the St. Giles Parochial School gymnasium, when I first went to that table of Thanksgiving to partake of Christ offers His very Self.

The presidential proclamations for a national day of Thanksgiving, first by President George Washington in 1789, then by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, speak of how this occasion is to be a day to turn unto God, remembering His blessings, and continuously seeking Him so that this nation would prosper.  What I like so much about Thanksgiving Day is that it is a genuinely American Holy Day.  We pause to look unto God who is so good to us, and seek Him to be our guide as we go forth as a people of this country to live in true righteousness, which He imparts to us through the merits of His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.