President Abraham Lincoln’s confidence in God led him to urge his fellow citizens to pray for peace in the midst of the civil war and “to set apart and observe the last Thursday in November as a day of Praise and Thanksgiving to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”
The thing about the last Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day, is that while it is a national holiday, by presidential mandate, it is imbued with a Christian understanding of how to relate to God, which is by giving God thanks. A response to the presence of God is to give God thanks. Aware of God’s providence and sensitive to God’s action, thanks is given to God. To God, the Creator who holds us in life and who is our eternal destiny, thanks and praise are given.
This Thanksgiving Day, let us raise to our God a sincere and fervent prayer of thanksgiving. Let this happen in our parishes and in our homes. Many parishes schedule Mass either on the vigil of or on Thanksgiving morning. Mass, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, is a prayer of thanksgiving and a great way to observe the day. I suggest that in your home, when you pray grace at the beginning of your Thanksgiving meal, that you ask everyone at the table to thank God for what or for whom they are grateful. Each one, even the children, is invited to give voice to his or her gratitude to God. In this way in your home, the true spirit of Thanksgiving Day is observed. God is thanked.
When I was pastor of Saint Teresa’s in Manhattan, our parishioners would come together in large numbers on Thanksgiving morning for one Mass in which English, Spanish and Mandarin (with Cantonese translation) languages were used. No matter a person’s race or culture, to give God thanks is a universal response for believers. A focus on this national holiday is to give God thanks for the nation. A nation of many peoples who form one people, which is the greatness and genius of our country.
My immigrant parishioners in New York – mostly from mainland China, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong and Mexico – rejoiced in the many benefits they enjoy in this country, which unfortunately, we sometimes take for granted. Coming to the United States, some had left totalitarian dictatorships and welcomed the freedom they were guaranteed by this nation. For the gift of freedom, they gladly gave God thanks. Their children, their families had a future they could build on and provide for through honest work without government interruption and control. Many had left situations of poverty and were very grateful to God to have a job, a place to live, schools for their children and peace in the land. They had no trouble naming their blessings, recognizing the author of those blessings and offering God thanks. While the blessings of America are many, some abuses of those blessings do exist. We continue to seek and strive “for liberty and justice for all.”
This national holiday recalls that more than 400 years ago in 1621 in the Plymouth colony a special day of thanksgiving followed a successful harvest. The Pilgrims were a religious people. With prayers of thanksgiving, they related to God. Their religious tradition informs our national holiday. On this fourth Thursday in November, let us do as the Pilgrims did, give God thanks.
My prayers, wishes and thoughts to you, your families and those with whom you will gather on Thursday, Nov. 24, to give God thanks.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to Him and bless His name. (Psalm 100:4)