Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, that annual civic holy day on which all are invited to remember the graces with which we have been blessed, and to simply say “thank you” to the giver of all good things.
Many families will gather under one roof to celebrate the Feast. I write this especially to young people, high school, college age and those young in spirit.
My friend Fr. John Forliti gave the following advice to young people who are invited to Thanksgiving dinner.
- Arrive early, in time to lend a helping hand in getting ready for the feast. It may be help in the kitchen or setting the table in the dining room. Be ready to lend a hand.
- Come with a willingness to share with others what it is for which you are thankful and why.
- Come with a story. Part of the joy of the Feast is that people tell stories about their lives and share what is important to them. Bring a story with you that you can share around the table. Be part of the conversation.
- Do not forget to thank those who prepared the meal and express your delight; also plan to spend some time after dinner to hang around and help clean up and put away so the chore does not fall only on the host or hostess.
This is the same advice I offer for being a good worshipper at Sunday Mass. Come early, greet those who join you, offer assistance to any who need it. Be willing to be a minister of hospitality.
Come with a willingness to be an active member of the worshipping community. Take the hymnbook and worship aid, sing and pray with a full spirit. Sunday worship is not a spectator sport, neither is Thanksgiving dinner.
Come with a remembrance of God’s gracious mercy to you and reflect on the many ways you have been blessed. Praise and thank God. Eucharist is a Greek word that means “Thanksgiving.”
Don’t hurry out the door at the end of Mass. Stay and visit with others. Inquire about the lives of others, especially those who did not show up this Sunday. Then help clean up the worship space and get things ready for the arrival of the next congregation.
Being a good guest on Thanksgiving and being an active member of the worship community are very similar. After all, Thanksgiving Dinner and Sunday Eucharist share so much in common.
Father Steve Adrian
Pastor Emeritus
P.S.: This Thanksgiving, I remember and give thanks for all of you. You have been and are instruments of God’s grace in my life and so I pray in the spirit of Paul’s prayer for the Christians of the young church at Philippi:
I thank my God every time I remember you, 4constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the way of Jesus Christ. 7It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart,* for all of you share in God’s grace* with me. 8For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. 9And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11having produced the harvest of justice that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:3-11).
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