In Luke 17:11-19 Jesus cures 10 lepers of the horrible disease of leprosy; however, only one leper, a Samaritan, thanked him.
Jesus seems hurt when he asks, “Were not ten cured? Where are the other nine.”
Jesus likes to be thanked.
After a long hard first year during which more than half of the pilgrims died from scurvy or exposure to the elements, survivors held a thanksgiving feast during which they shared their blessings with Indian friends. The pilgrims thanked God that enough of them survived to start a new life for themselves. As the colonies grew more prosperous, however, richer people tended to forget about Thanksgiving; consequently, it was celebrated sporadically or not at all.
Reviving the celebration
Sarah Hale, a plucky widow, and mother of five children, in her motherly heart, wanted Thanksgiving Day revived. She wrote for a woman’s magazine and also wrote the popular nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
In 1822, she began a 40-year campaign of writing letters and editorials to governors and presidents, urging them to revive the celebration of Thanksgiving and restore it to its rightful place like the pilgrims did.
She finally succeeded when President Lincoln, who had little for which to be thankful during the bloody Civil War, issued a Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in 1864.
In his Proclamation, Lincoln stated, “Now, therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November 1864 next, to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, is, or will be — That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks — for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country.”
Americans believe that Norman Rockwell expressed the spirit of thanksgiving in his famous painting entitled “Saying Grace”.
This painting is a 1951 painting Norman Rockwell did for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post’s November 24, 1951, Thanksgiving issue.
The painting depicts a grandma and a young boy saying grace in a crowded restaurant, as they are observed by other people at their table who had mixed reactions.
Its courageous quality is that the grandma is not afraid of thanking God for the gift of food with her grandson in the midst of strangers.
“Saying Grace” sold for $46 million, a record for the artist.
Three Norman Rockwell paintings sold for a combined total of nearly $58 million on December 4, 2015. The sale of the famous painting of a woman and boy bowing their heads in prayer at a table in a bustling restaurant set a record for his paintings and inspired many who admired the grandma’s faith.
A Thanksgiving hymn by Martin Rinkart that we often sing at Mass has a moving story of faith behind it. Martin Rinkart was a Lutheran minister who came to Eilenburg, Saxony at the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War.
The walled city of Eilenburg became the refuge for political and military fugitives.
The result was overcrowding, deadly pestilence, and famine.
Armies overran it three times.
The Rinkart home was a refuge for the victims, even though Rinkart was hard-pressed to provide for his own family.
During the height of a severe plague in 1637, Rinkart was the only surviving pastor in Eilenburg, conducting as many as 50 funerals in a day.
He performed more than 4,000 funerals in that year, including that of his wife.
His deep faith enabled him to write the song “Now thank we all our God who wondrous things has done, in whom God’s world rejoices, who from our mother’s arms has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.”
Thanks for blessings
Thanksgiving Day invites us to thank God for our blessings through prayer, thanking others, sharing our blessings, and in other ways.
And what a wonderful feast, this uniquely American celebration called Thanksgiving.
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.
Thanksgiving Day offers graced opportunities to thank family members. Dr. Nick Stinnett of the University of Nebraska did research which showed that families are stronger when members express appreciation to each other.
Since Eucharist means “thanksgiving,” we can thank God for our blessings by participating in a Thanksgiving Day Mass. We receive the Body of Christ in order that we might be strengthened to give thanks by sharing our gifts with others.
We probably learn to be grateful from our parents.
I opened the door at McDonald’s for a mother carrying a little boy.
“Thank you, sir,” she said.
Her little boy imitated his mom by shouting, “Thank you, sir, thank you.”
This mother taught her son to be thankful by a good example.
On Thanksgiving and every day may we remember that one of Jesus’ favorite words is “thanks!”
Fr. Donald Lange is pastor emeritus in the Diocese of Madison.