Thanksgiving Day.

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Gospel: Luke 17: 11-19

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten persons with leprosy met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”
And when he saw them, he said,
“Go show yourselves to the priests.”
As they were going they were cleansed. 
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. 
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
“Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine? 
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” 
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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When the first pilgrims landed on the shores of America in November, 1620, they cried out in gratitude. One pilgrim noted, “We fell upon our knees and blessed the God of heaven.”

They had just endured a harrowing two-month journey across the Atlantic. Some died on the open seas. Half of the remaining population died of tuberculosis and pneumonia that first winter. Then spring arrived and their condition started to improve.

This was the backdrop for the first Thanksgiving. 

Trial and error. Success and failure. Famine, and at that first Thanksgiving, feast.

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Today, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving by filling their tables with plenty, gathering with family and friends, and serving those who, like the first pilgrims in the winter of 1620, still go without.

Gratitude is the reason for the season.

But as Christians, we are invited to be grateful, not only in times of prosperity, but also in times of trial. As Saint Paul says, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God.”

We give thanks for our nation. We give thanks for our faith, our family, our friends, and this parish. But what about in times of trial?

This is a deeper dimension of gratitude – being thankful for God’s presence in all things, at all times.

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It’s natural for human beings to try to make sense of their environment, even to control it. But faith adds a mysterious fourth dimension. Often enough, we don’t understand why things happen to us. 

Think about how those pilgrims felt that first winter. Why was it so cold? Why was the land so barren? 

Or think about how people might feel in our world today. Imagine sitting in a doctor’s office questioning, “Why me?”  

Having faith doesn’t mean life always makes sense in the present moment. It’s believing that God is present in all things. 

What are a few things I can easily be grateful for? Is there any aspect of my life where I struggle to be grateful, or to find God?

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“We fell to our knees and blessed the God of heaven,” one of the first pilgrims to arrive in America recounted. Little did they know how harsh that first winter would be.

But when the spring rains came, everyone gave thanks.

So, it is in the Christian life – no trial is forever. God alone remains. The spring rains will come. For that we give thanks.

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Image credits: (1) LA Today (2) Fine Art America (3) LinkedIn