Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 27, 2014)

St Paul in today’s Second Scripture Reading writes: “I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus.”

For the apostle Paul, giving thanks to God was part of his daily prayer. Paul experienced God’s presence in the trials and crosses of life as well as the joys of life. In season and out, gratitude was part of the Pauline prayer.

As we think about who we are and how we are known and what we stand for, what one word defines you? For myself personally, for the Schwartz family, and my hope for us the parish family of St. Joseph’s, I would like that one word to be gratitude. We live life with an attitude of gratitude.

I believe each of us has one significant word to say with our lives: For me it is gratitude.
Our lives are very much blessed and our best response is gratitude.

A favorite theologian of mine is the German philosopher and mystic of the 14 ^th century Meister Eckhardt. He writes: “If the only prayer you ever say in life is ‘thank you,’ that would be enough.” If the only prayer you say in life is ‘thank you,’ that would be enough.
Jesus is the great teacher of gratitude – grateful for the love of His heavenly Father, and he showed that gratitude in his living and dying witnessing to the Father’s love.
In the Gospel Jesus said: “Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” What Jesus asks of us, what Jesus expects of us is gratitude.

I think it can be said with considerable truth that our lives are directed by the stories we choose to dwell on.

A recent story that touched me to my core: I was at a birthday party for my six year grandnephew, Grant Lewis. He received was he declared the greatest birthday present ever -- a gigantic Lego truck with every feature imaginable attached to it. ( As an aside, I was sorry I didn’t think to give him this gift.) He liked it so much. Now Grant has a two year old younger brother Reid and another brother a year old than Grant. As Grant was ecstatic with joy having received this gift from his grandparents; Grant’s two brothers were feeling a little sorry for themselves that they were not getting any presents. This situation had the potential of causing a major meltdown but fortunately Grant on this occasion shared his truck with his two brothers. I tell you this story because then the two year old Reid looked his brother Grant in the eye and said; “Thank you for sharing.” Those four words spoken by the two year old Reid spoke volumes to my heart about gratitude. At the age of two, at that moment, he gets it.

Now don’t get me wrong, my hunch is the next day Reid and Grant will find something to argue about. But in that moment of gratitude, my heart was touched and my prayer is that those four words “Thank you for sharing” will be spoken many, many, many times by Reid in all sorts of situations in his life.

The meaning of the Eucharist is that we speak these words to our loving God: Thank you for sharing the life of Jesus with us.

The real spiritual life challenge for all of us is that we have “to all in” in our gratitude to our loving God. As we well know, there are both green pastures and dark valleys in the journey for all of us. Can we even give thanks to the Lord when our hearts are broken? Can we trust that all of life is a blessing – even in the dark valleys of life our loving God goes with us and is always at our side. There is not a moment in our life span in which God is not with us, in which God does not shower His love upon us.

Even in the experience of death, we have to “be all in” in our gratitude to our loving God. This does not mean we do not grieve, That we not experience brokenness in our heart, but it does mean that God aches with us and is always the Savior and Lord of our lives.
In the recent death of my sister, in my grieving over her loss, I trust and give thanks to God who continues to be a loving God for my sister into the fullness of life and continues to show me that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The Mass Intention is for Megan Garbach. She died at much too young an age. Yes, there is sorrow; there is a deep, deep loss, an irreplaceable loss, but we still on this Thanksgiving Day we give thanks to the Lord our God. We still gather as a people whose lives are very much blessed. We gather as a faith-filled people who trust in God’s unending love for us.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day as a nation, we remember that our beginnings as a nation were marked by gratitude and simplicity. On the fourth Thursday of November, we celebrate this wonderful national holiday – a spiritual holiday – in which we give thanks to God for the blessings we enjoy as a nation.

For us as Catholic Christians, the first Thanksgiving took place on another Thursday, approximately 2000 years ago, Holy Thursday, in a rented room in Jerusalem where Jesus gathered with His apostles and celebrated the Eucharist for the first time.
On this Thanksgiving morning, may we as a faith community ask for the grace that our community life will always be marked by a radical gratitude to our loving God. May we be mindful that Jesus is the great teacher of gratitude – grateful for the love of His heavenly Father, and he showed that gratitude in His living and dying witnessing to the Father‘s love.