The smell of turkey will soon permeate our homes as we gather together around dinner tables with extended family, neighbors and friends to celebrate our many blessings. Thanksgiving Day brings us closer together as a nation in which the rich tapestry of our uniqueness and diversity is celebrated. This Thanksgiving holiday here at Holy Family, we are given the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of the word “Thanksgiving” and its translation as Catholics to the word “eucharist.” The word “eucharist” comes from the Greek words of “eucharistein” and “eulogein,” recalling the Jewish blessing proclaimed at every sacred meal. Eucharist is the ongoing expression of God’s work of creation, redemption, and sanctification in us and in the world.
As Catholics, the eucharistic meal of thanksgiving invites us to love one another today and every day. Whenever we choose to love, we are participating in the love of God. As we do so, we draw on God’s presence more deeply in our daily life. In the words of St. Paul the Apostle, “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing and in all circumstances give thanks.” When we give thanks, we learn to love. Today the Church calls us to give thanks through the Liturgy. In the gospel this Sunday, we hear Jesus’ words: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Jesus invites us to think about the cataclysmic events that shake us in our world today. How is our faith being put to the test daily? Are experiences of rejection, suffering, death, loss, deprivation and emptiness leading us to give up on the Word of Life that we once received with joy? Are our concerns about money, success at work or in school, health, release from addiction, job security, status and recognition, family or relationships choking out the word of God which has been planted in our hearts? Are we gripped by passions such as anger, grief or lust which block us from following Jesus? Is there any joy left in our life?
This Thanksgiving, we are to focus on the bigger picture of salvation history as we face setbacks, losses and tragedies in our daily life. As Catholics, we are invited to respond to the dialectics of hope and gloom which often have a grip on our lives. That is why it is so important to be firmly established in the Word of God, to draw life from that Word and live in that Word. It is then that we realize the prophet Daniel’s words: “But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.” Our faith community at Holy Family empowers us to engage in a single-minded prayer of love and gratitude that cannot be derailed by fear, grief, persecution, or deceptive powers at work in the world. All things are possible when we come to God in prayer.
Jesus shows us how to live a life of gratitude through the gift of Himself in the Eucharist, and makes all things possible and new. We rediscover how to be faithful to our call and continue the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ. Christ, who is Love Incarnate, has a hungering for us to share in the fullness of God’s love. We are to give thanks and to love with the very love of God through which all human love is perfected, thus cultivating a disposition of gratitude and a way of living our lives in love for others. No matter how difficult the challenges we face, both individually and collectively, we have so much to be grateful for. As we give thanks, let us find the strength we need to love even more fully.
May the celebration of the eucharistic meal be an invitation to give thanks around one common dinner table. We share the familiar stories of God’s Word about the past and how it remains a part of our future. Even in the midst of the struggles we face as a church and nation, we are truly a blessed people. He is the source of all that is good. 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.”
As the day of Thanksgiving unfolds, let us carry the prayer of gratitude and love with us. Let us live it, give it! It doesn’t have to end when we say grace over the turkey. In fact, it doesn’t end in one day. God’s gifts certainly won’t. Every beat of our heart affirms an unmistakable mystery, an extravagant, wonderful, painful, tumultuous, and challenging life. Let’s strive to remind ourselves of God’s blessings wherever we find them, however they come to us. And let us give thanks for them, every day, in every moment.
Fr. Rich Jakubik