Thanksgiving: We Must Become Again a People of Thanksgiving, Love and Light

As we give thanks, we discover how to be faithful to our call to continue the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ, Love Incarnate, in an age hungering for the fullness of God's love. Christians are called to take the kernel which lies at the heart of this Holiday and plant it in the field of the world; so that it can bear the fruit which it points toward. We are called to give thanks and we are called to love with the very Love of God in which all human love is revealed and through which all human love is perfected. On Thanksgiving 2013: We Must Become Again a People of Thanksgiving, a People of Love and a People of Light

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P>CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - There is an amazing coincidence of calendar this year. While homes throughout the United States are already beginning to fill with the wonderful smells which symbolize preparation for the Thanksgiving meal, Jewish people around the world commemorate the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah. It is a day to give thanks to the Lord for the triumph of the Lord over a tyrant King who sought to compel sacrilege in the temple and the abandonment of true worship and fidelity to His Law. 

For Catholics and other Christians who follow the Western Church calendar, this is the last week of the Liturgical year. This past Sunday we celebrated the Solemnity of Christ the King which points us to the final return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His Kingdom. Throughout the entire week we have focused in our liturgical readings on the last days. Then, this coming Sunday is the Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the new Church Year. We begin again, filled with hope and gratitude, and enter into a time of preparation for His first coming, which we will commemorate on Christmas Day.

All of this commemoration of the loving intervention of the Lord in human history passes through this unique, secular holiday called Thanksgiving. Is it really all a coincidence of calendar? Instead, I suggest that it is a message, a wakeup call. We Must Become Once Again a People of Thanksgiving, a People of Love and a People of Light. The Lord God is still with us. He does not leave us, we leave Him. We are living in a time which calls for national repentance and conversion.

It is time to turn back to God, as a Nation. Thanksgiving brings us together as a unique Nation, constituted in history around a set of ideas, first principles, from which we have strayed - and to which we must return. Those principles are derived from what is still a Jewish and Christian memory in the West. It must be revived and inform our life together if we hope to continue in this grand experiment called America.That will require a return to their source.

In the rich tapestry of our diversity we must once again rediscover our unity in the values which inform and ground the American experiment in ordered liberty. Those values come from the Creator, the Lord of History.  Thanksgiving is a time to reflect, give thanks, and begin again.  Time truly matters. What we do with it truly matters. That is as true of the history of the world as it is our own personal histories and the history of Nations.

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We all mark time. The question is what events and what messages are we proclaiming in our calendaring? What are we saying with our lives in this increasingly barren age which needs the witness of God's loving plan? When we lose our understanding of the eternal, we empty the temporal of meaning. When we forget God, we forget what it truly means to be created in His Image, to be fully human. We lose sight of the very meaning of life itself - that we are called into His continuing work of love.
 
Many Catholics will participate in the Liturgy and hear the Gospel chosen for this day from St. Luke (Luke 17:11-19); the familiar story of the ten lepers who were miraculously healed by Jesus during his journey to Jerusalem. Only one came back to give thanks. The challenge leaps forth - are we that one? Our celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy is always a call to return to the source of every gift, the God who gave Himself for us.

Throughout the United States of America, the invitation to give thanks will gather us as families around the dinner table. We will tell stories of our past and toast the hopes for our future. Although a secular holiday, the celebration is profoundly religious at its core. Even in the midst of the struggles we have face in the United States, we recognize that we really do need to stop and give thanks! We are a truly blessed people. 

This year, my wife Laurine and I will stop by one of our grown children's homes to briefly celebrate with them. Then, we will host friends we have not seen for decades at a Thanksgiving meal in our home. We stopped hosting the celebration for the whole family few years ago as our children became adults and began having children. For me, Thanksgiving day has become a day of melancholy laced with joy; a day of memory and a day of motivation, to resolve to do more and be nore for the future tomorrows. I think about all of our children, grandchildren and all of these years of God's goodness. I get sentimental. It is a prerogative of aging.

When we strip away everything, it really all just comes down to love. Let me share about one of so many great champions of our own day who help to remind me of the meaning of this Day, a woman named Chiara Lubich. She was the foundress of the Focolare movement, one of a growing number of ecclesial movements flourishing within the Catholic Church. Her message is sorely needed in this hour. It is, after all, the message of the Gospel. She delivered it in word and deed.

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The modern Pope's have called these predominantly lay movements the "finger of God" for this new missionary age. They are what Blessed John Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis see as signs of the springtime of a new missionary age.  I believe they are correct. I am not naďve. In fact, there is not one ounce of naiveté left in this aging body. I am a Christian. That means I am filled with the hope which comes from the Gospel, the Good News.

Chiara was born on January 22, 1920 and went home to the Lord on March 14, 2008. Those who knew her say that she lived her life animated by love and in a constant attitude of thanksgiving. Inspired by her heroic virtue, men and women were drawn closer to Jesus Christ and, in Him, into a deep relationship with one another to continue the redemptive mission of Jesus. This movement spread to more than 180 countries and had 140,000 members and 2.1 million affiliates at the time of her death. She was 88 years young, still in love with Jesus and filled with joy.

It was Chiara's intimate relationship with the Lord which gave her the grace to love as He loves. It was also the source of her continual gratitude. It can be just that way with each one of us. That is really what this Holiday invites us to consider. A readiness to give thanks in all circumstances - and for everything and everyone - is a sign of holiness in the lives of so many of the great saints and heroes of the Christian tradition. On this Thanksgiving Day I want to share a few of Chiara's words as an invitation to reflection as you celebrate with your loved ones. This is a day for love, a day forgratitude, a day for giving, a day for Thanksgiving.  

Yes, love makes us be. We exist because we love. If we don't love, and every time we don't love, we are not, we do not exist. There's nothing left to do but to love, without holding back. Only in this way will God give himself to us and with him will come the fullness of his gifts.

This beautifully simple yet profound truth was also regularly expressed by Blessed John Paul II, another great champion of our age, who will soon be raised to the altar and recognized for what so many of us have known all along, being a saint. In his 1979 Encyclical Letter entitled The Redeemer of Man he put it this way:

Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer "fully reveals man to himself". If we may use the expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his humanity. In the mystery of the Redemption man becomes newly "expressed" and, in a way, is newly created. (Par. 10)

The Feast we celebrate in the secular arena today, Thanksgiving Day, reveals that there really is no separation between the secular and the spiritual. After all, God is the Creator of all and the Author of life itself. He is also the source of all that is good - whether He is acknowledged to be so or not. As the beloved disciple John said Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. (1 John 1:4-7)

Let us love today and reach out to one another and to the poor, in all of their manifestations. When we choose to love, we participate in the love of God. This is true for even those who do not - yet - acknowledge Him. Let us choose to  give thanks today, for all the great gifts we have received, to the Lord. As we do, we draw His presence more deeply into our daily life together. Love and gratitude are the keys to unlock the deeper meaning of life and the goodness of this day.

The smell of turkey will soon fill this home as it will homes around this beautiful Nation. It arises from the early preparation of the gravy and dressing and lingers throughout the day. My beloved wife will make the meal. The table is already set for the Feast. And what a wonderful Feast it is - this unique American celebration called Thanksgiving. It is a rather extraordinary tradition. An entire Nation, in the beauty of all of its rich diversity and pluralism, pauses as one - to love and to give thanks for all of our blessings and our bounty.

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We gather to express our gratitude for our health, our happiness and our life together. Around tables throughout America, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will gather with mothers and fathers, Grandpas and Grandmas, extended family, neighbors and friends to thank God and one another. And then, we all feast; not only on the food, but even more importantly, on the gift of the love which informs all family relationships and true friendships, the real source of lasting joy.

As Chiara Lubich and Blessed John Paul II reminded us, we were indeed made for love. Love will call us to share our stories in countless homes throughout the Nation on this Thanksgiving day. Even the times that seemed so painful and difficult when lived in love, take on new beauty. Time has a way of revealing the mysterious plan of a loving God who was at work - not in spite of those problems but through them - drawing us closer to Him, to each other and to what really matters most in life.

On this secular holiday, infused as it is with such profoundly religious meaning, Catholic Christians should take some time to reflect on the fact that the Greek word from which we derive the word Eucharist is rendered Thanksgiving in English. The Catechism reminds us The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called: Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. The Greek words eucharistein and eulogein recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim - especially during a meal - God's works: creation, redemption, and sanctification. (CCC #1328)

How appropriate. In the Sacrament of Sacraments, the Holy Eucharist, we receive Jesus Christ in His fullness, the greatest gift of the Father. And, we are called to give thanks. In the words of the Apostle Paul to the early Christians we are reminded to Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess. 5:16-18) One of the ways Christians do this is to become people who choose to live our lives for others. When we give thanks, we grow in the capacity to love.

Today the Church calls her faithful sons and daughters to give thanks in her Liturgy. St. Teresa was fond of saying We will not learn how to love if we are not grateful. The Readings for the Mass for Thanksgiving call us to gratitude. Jesus, in His Sacred humanity shows us how to live a life of gratitude and, through the gift of Himself - makes it all possible.

Blessed John Paul II affirmed in words spoken on July 29, 1987, In the truest sense we can say that the prayer of the Lord and his entire earthly existence become a revelation of the fundamental truth: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights" (James 1:17). Thanksgiving is the source of all blessings from on high. 'Let us give thanks to the Lord our God' is (the) invitation the Church places at the centre of the Eucharistic liturgy.

Cultivating a disposition of gratitude and a way of living our lives in love for others - such as what was demonstrated in the lives of Chiara Lubich, Blessed  John Paul II - and so many others - is the key to living our earthly lives to the full. It also prepares us for eternity. We will be reminded again in the prayer of the priest in the Preface of the Mass for Thanksgiving Day:

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. We offer you, Father, this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for the gifts you have granted us. Help us to recognize them as the benefits we have received from you through no merit of our own (Prayer over the Gifts)

Let us choose to make this prayer our own today. Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers, may it be a day for love and gratitude. No matter how difficult the challenges we face, we have so very much to be grateful for. As we give thanks, we find the strength we need to love even more fully.

As we give thanks, we discover how to be faithful to our call to continue the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ, Love Incarnate, in an age hungering for the fullness of God's love. Christians are called to take the kernel which lies at the heart of this Holiday and plant it in the field of the world; so that it can bear the fruit which it points toward. We are called to give thanks and we are called to love with the very Love of God in which all human love is revealed and through which all human love is perfected.

Thanksgiving 2013: We Must Become Again a People of Thanksgiving, a People of Love and a People of Light

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