Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
I pray that you had a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving! I did not get to celebrate mass Thanksgiving morning because I ran the Dana Point Turkey Trot and could not get back to St. Ed’s in time. “Slow and steady” may “win the race,” but really slow puts runners like me at the back of the pack. I guess I will have to try again next year.
I came across a beautiful definition of Thanksgiving:
The true meaning of Thanksgiving focuses upon relationship. Thanksgiving is a relationship between God and man…Thanksgiving begins with acknowledging God as faithful, earnestly giving Him thanks, in advance, for His abundant blessings. Allabouthistory.org
Presidents Washington and Lincoln each recognized the fundamental need to give thanks to God. Washington proclaimed, “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.” During the Civil War President Lincoln invited the country to be thankful for the “gracious gifts of the Most High God,” and prayed that God might: “heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it…to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union.”
Each year Thanksgiving Day and the beginning of Advent occur at roughly the same time. Thanksgiving reminds us that God has blessed Americans with a wide range of freedoms and extraordinary abundance, both as a nation and as individuals. Advent reminds us that the greatest gift of all – the gift for which we should be most thankful – is present in our lives in a special way as we partake of the flesh-and-blood reality of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Eucharistic Prayer III captures this idea of both anticipation and gratitude: “we celebrate…and as we look forward to his second coming, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice.”
He came to us in Bethlehem, He comes to us today in the Eucharist, and He will come again at the end of time. As we enter the Advent Season, let us remember that the best way that we can show an “attitude of gratitude” is to “be Jesus” to those around us. May Advent be a season of grateful anticipation!
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