Thanksgiving Day

 

 Today, American families will gather to celebrate Thanksgiving Day.

Our first president, George Washington established Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Many of us were taught in school the history of Thanksgiving. We were told Puritan pilgrims from Britain, and the local Indians, gathered at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts, in the fall of 1621. These pilgrims and Indians gave thanks to God for surviving the hard winter, and for the many blessings God had bestowed upon them. They ate wild turkey and venison, which is deer meat. Although this event really happened, perhaps we may be unaware there was an earlier Thanksgiving, which included the Sacrifice of the Mass.

The first Thanksgiving Feast was actually Catholic, involved the Mass, and a dinner with the Indians. It occurred 56 years earlier in 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida. The first settlers weren’t British and Puritan, but rather, Spanish and Catholic.

Admiral, Pedro Menendez de Aviles and the Spanish settlers came ashore in Florida on the Feast of the Birthday of Mary, on Sept, 8^th, 1565. Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, a diocesan priest offered the Holy Mass of Thanksgiving.

After the Sacrifice of the Mass was offered, the priest invited all 800 European settlers and the native Indians, for a communal meal, which consisted of wild turkey, deer meat, pork stew, and vegetables.

In the Gospel today, 10 lepers receive healing from Jesus, but only one, a non-Jew, who as a Samaritan returned to thank the Lord. All were healed, but only one returned to thank Our Lord.

Think about the times you were sick in the past. A cold, a fever, perhaps covid, or the flu, or maybe even cancer or an operation. When you got better, did you thank the Lord?

In the book of James it states, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” It is a gift to be healed from a physical ailment. It is a gift to have our soul healed when we confess our sins. It is a gift that we receive spiritual graces from God in Holy Communion. Family is a gift. Our job is a gift. Our good health is a gift. To live in the United States and be an American is a gift. Even sufferings and pain are a gift from God because they can be offered to make reparation for our sins and can be offered for the conversion of sinners.

The last time you went to Confession, did you thank Jesus for forgiving your sins? Have you thanked the Lord for all the times in your life you were physically healed? Or for all the times, you had good health. Or thank Him for your parents raising you in the faith or if you converted, to thank the Lord for the grace to become Catholic. We should thank God that we receive the grace to have a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and She intercedes for us. Some saints and religious communities, give thanks for all that God has done for Mary, such as Her Immaculate Conception, Her glorious assumption and Her being the Mother of God.

With hearts full of thanksgiving, let us give thanks and praise to God for every good gift He has ever given us and will ever give us and especially the gift of heaven.