I don’t know who he or she is, but I like H. U. Westermayer’s words that appear on a lot of websites dedicated to gratitude: “The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.”

 

We, too, set aside a Day of Thanksgiving, and we will celebrate it this week. Though we undoubtedly have seven times more than we really need to survive, and are the wealthiest and most blessed of all American generations, many of us will observe the day without any reference to its original intent (to express gratitude) or to its primary object (Almighty God).

 

Unlike many forgetful Americans, practicing Catholics give gratitude every time they celebrate the Eucharist. The Eucharist is an act of both thanksgiving and reception. It is an act of gratitude, in which we offer to the Father our thankful worship and praise, the fruit of earth and the work of human hands, and even our very selves. It is also an act of reception as we humbly accept the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself in the Holy Eucharist. Amazingly, as we unite as Church to offer thanks, God does more than accept our thanks for what he has given. He graciously gives again, and even more profoundly, by offering us the life of the Son. In Mass, then, the words of Psalm 116 are realized and definitively completed: “What return shall I make to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? I shall take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord

 

It makes perfect sense, then, for those of us who remember what Thanksgiving is and why we celebrate it, to gather for Mass on Thanksgiving Day. The day calls for acts of thanksgiving, and the Mass is the most powerful one there is. The rest of the day, with its gathering of family, its celebration and feasting, is encountered as a blessing and grace, worthy of our appreciation, when we begin it in this way.

 

I, like you, have much for which to be grateful, certainly more than I deserve. As I preside at Mass on Thanksgiving Day, I will be thinking first of Jesus, and the faith that binds us to him. I will be thinking of the Church, a sacrament of salvation and a font of grace. I will be thinking of our beautiful, bountiful country and the freedoms and opportunities it offers. And I will be thinking particularly of this parish, and all of you, whom God loves enough to make the dwelling of his own Spirit.