Thanksgiving is an American feast with religious overtones. In 1620, 102 Pilgrims began sailing to the North America continent to build a new world where they would be free to worship God according to their conscience.
The first year, 56 of them died from starvation, disease, and the cold winter. In 1621, the pilgrims who survived and 91 Indians met to give thanks for a bountiful harvest and for the preservation of their lives. They had every reason to be depressed and discouraged, but they chose to give thanks.
Making it a holiday
As the colonies grew more prosperous, however, Thanksgiving was celebrated sporadically or not at all. Sarah Hale, a plucky young widow, mother of five children, editor of a woman’s magazine, and author of the nursery rhyme “Mary had a little Lamb,” helped to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.
In 1822, despite her busy schedule, she began a 40-year campaign of writing to governors and presidents, urging them to revive Thanksgiving and restore it to its rightful place.
Three presidents turned her down. Eventually in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as an annual day of Thanksgiving.
Lincoln seemed to have little for which to be thankful. Many members of his cabinet openly despised him and joked about him publicly. His wife had been investigated as a possible traitor, a process that deeply wounded Lincoln. And the Civil War split the country and claimed many lives.
Thanking God for blessings
Thanksgiving Day invites us to thank God for our blessings. One obstacle to being thankful is the destructive habit of griping about what we don’t have. This can prevent us from seeing and appreciating what we have.
Thankful persons learn how to flee from grumbling and complaining which has a power of its own and devours our ability to be grateful. Some of us are better at criticizing than at giving thanks.
A social worker visited a poor woman in Appalachia who lived in a dirt floor, one-room house, feasted on hominy and grits, and was very poor.
The social worker asked her, “Honey, what would you do if you inherited $100,000?” Without hesitation she replied, “I reckon I would give to some poor persons.”
Thankful persons are humble
Like this poor woman, thankful persons are humble. In a world that looks out for number one and praises the valor of independence, humility frequently gets lost. Humility recognizes that we are finite and vulnerable — that we need God’s help and the help of good persons.
The pilgrims were humble persons who willingly shared with others. Despite the fact that they suffered greatly, they set aside a day to share their blessings with their Indian friends on that first Thanksgiving.
Most of us know someone who is having a difficult time this Thanksgiving. It may be a woman who is spending her first holiday as a widow or the father who lost his job and is worried about where he will find Christmas gifts for his children.
It may be friends or neighbors who are hurting alone. Maybe we can console them, visit them, pray for them, or encourage them.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 it says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” This can be most difficult when we get blindsided by unexpected setbacks as Lincoln and St. Paul experienced, but God often draws near to us in the midst of our pain.
We Catholics should especially be thankful because the center of Catholic Christian life is the Eucharist. In Greek, the word Eucharist means thanksgiving, which should be Catholics’ trademark.
At Mass, we can thank God the Father for the gift of Jesus on Thanksgiving Day, daily Mass, or Sunday Mass. During Mass, we receive God’s word and are commissioned to go in peace to share God’s love with others and bring a bit of God’s kingdom to the world.
One of the best ways to keep Jesus is to keep sharing him with others as countless Catholics have done through the centuries. Each day is God’s gift to us. What we do with the day can be our gift to God and others. Let’s begin now!
Fr. Donald Lange is a pastor emeritus in the Diocese of Madison.