WRN # 21 Thanksgiving Thoughts

Last updated on: November 30, 2022 at 12:57 am by Mark Wilson

WRN # 21 Thanksgiving Thoughts 2022-11-30T00:57:35-05:00 Mark Wilson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

More history to ruin your Thanksgiving spirit: There were no sweet potatoes (not native to North America), cranberry sauce (no sugar available), or pumpkin pies (no butter or flour around for the crusts) either. So what was on the menu besides herons? Probably fish, eel, and perhaps a few garden vegetables like collard greens, parsnips, and turnips. The setting wasn’t conducive to a fancy feast either. Tables and chairs were scarce. The Pilgrims probably didn’t have knives, or even forks, which were dismissed by the middling folk of England as a “foppish pretension.”

So if you really want to be authentic tomorrow, eat some eel and turnips while sitting cross-legged on the cold ground.

Eating Eel: Your Guide to an Authentic Thanksgiving (NOVEMBER 25, 2015) | David Swartz (patheos.com)

To bring the world back to Christ, we must first desire His presence in our own lives. As Catholics, it is through our love for God that we desire to share it with others – those close to us and those who are strangers. It is through this that Christ’s love can be shared with the world. So, no matter the season of life, it is through relationships that we grow personally and spiritually. Let’s find the dinner table as the place for unification – a place of peace, joy, and a way to separate ourselves from the trials of the world, even if only for a small moment. These are the memories we will cleave to in the future and the moments that our children will desire to pass down to future generations. It is God’s desire that we foster connections with each other, to ultimately, foster our connection with Him.

Danielle Heckenkamp– Fostering Charity Around the Dinner Table (November 24, 2022) OnePeterFive

On this Thanksgiving, then, it remains our obligation to not only give thanks, but like the ‘Samaritan leper’ and ‘the Divine Jew’ of biblical times, cooperate to overcome hate and heal divisions. I believe that America – a nation that that ended slavery, a nation that intervened globally to end the tyranny of fascist Nazism, a nation that welcomed foreigners from every corner of the world and yet weaved them into a single fabric, a nation that overcame the horrendous terrorist attack on Sept 11, 2001 – can once again come together to heal the racial, social and political rifts that divide her. Let us ensure that we can be that nation which ensures life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all. It is within our national character to accomplish this task.

As Catholic Americans we celebrate the Eucharist. Eucharist means ‘thanksgiving,’ and Catholic means ‘universal.’ This means, then, that we offer thanks as a diverse yet universal people that bears witness to God’s gift of salvation to all. May God accept our gratitude and may God hear our prayer for unity, peace, and goodwill.

FR. SATISH JOSEPH · Still, A Time to Give Thanks –(NOVEMBER 26, 2020) Where Peter Is

The Thanksgiving meal celebrated by the pilgrims, the settlers in Canada and earlier by Spanish settlers in Florida had its roots in well-established European harvest time traditions. When I moved to England I was delighted to find that, although they didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving as such, most Anglican parishes celebrated Harvest Festival in the Autumn. The church would be decorated with autumn flowers, colorful pumpkins, squash and everyone would bring tinned goods to be distributed to the poor. Some of them joked that this was their Thanksgiving — giving thanks that they had got rid of all those troublesome Puritans. So still the English celebrate harvest festival — a medieval custom which somehow survived the stripping of the altars. This treasured tradition, however, has deeper roots which the Protestants first rejected, then forgot. Fr. Dwight Longenecker The Theology of Thanksgiving (November 24, 2022) Crisis Magazine

It seems we aren’t simply homo sapiens (thinkers) after all. Please excuse what must be rotten Latin, but you and I are more like homo colligentes: folks who gather. We could also use the term qui ecclesiam, Latin slang for “them who church.” That’s what church is: a society of believers who choose to gather together. That’s why we have a hundred different versions of gathering songs to start the Mass. It’s what we do.

So I hope and pray that you and I are gathering around Thanksgiving tables this month and Christmas trees next month. I hope we continue to assemble around altars and sing glorias every Sunday we get the chance. Let’s encircle snow-folk sculpted in parks while we belt out carols we all know by heart. Wouldn’t it be a miracle if we could pop bottles of champagne on New Year’s Eve in crowded places and do what human beings are meant to do: share the experience of life? Participating in the lives of loved ones and strangers makes us whole, heals, revives, and encourages us. May God bless us with the savor-worthy experiences of talking, laughing, arguing, and agreeing—all within the same conversation and the same room.

ALICE CAMILLE This Thanksgiving, give thanks for the gift of gathering –(November 3, 2021) U.S. Catholic (uscatholic.org)

“A great and powerful and fascinating rival has come to take the place of the Thanksgiving Day Dinner, the Thanksgiving Day Game,” declared Harper’s Weekly in 1891. “And now everyone goes out to see Princeton and Yale decide the football championship … instead of boring each other around the dinner table.”Thanksgiving football, however, was here to stay as family and friends communed around fields in addition to dinner tables. By the mid-1890s, fans could gorge on a football feast as colleges, high schools and club teams played approximately 5,000 games on Thanksgiving.

“In these times Thanksgiving Day is no longer a solemn festival to God for mercies given,” reported the New York Herald in 1893. “It is a holiday granted by the State and the nation to see a game of football.”

How the First Thanksgiving College Football Game Kicked Off a Holiday Tradition – HISTORY

holiday

Writing Write Now

Previous Post

November 21, 2022

Will You Prepare For Death

Next Post

November 28, 2022 Before EWTN There Was CatholicTV

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1889 abortion adoption Advent After Life Angles apologetics Art Awards BCCT bible book review books business Carmelite Catechetics Catholic Actors catholic authors Catholic Bard Catholic Faith Catholic List Catholic Rigorous Vortex Christian Authors Christmas church teaching civil conversation coronavirus Current Events death Different Religions Divine Mercy Easter Education encouragment Entertainment Eucharist Evangelization Event faith Family Life famous people feast day food Fun Stuff Global Church God guest post Harry Potter healing Heck of a Ride Around the Sun history holiday Holy Family Holy Orders Holy Spirit Holy Week hope Humor Interview Ireland Jesus kindle unlimited reflections Last Things Lecto Divina with Kristin Lent Lent/Easter liturgy love marriage Mary Meet the Author Mission Month in Advance Movie Review Movies Movies of the Month Music Narrative Older Writings patheos authors personal Philosophy podcasts poetry political Politics pope prayer Private Revelation pro-life public domain Quotes racial relations racism reflection Religious Life Saints science Scriptural Meditation social justice Social Media spirituality suffering supernatural theology Topics Travel Trivia Tweeting to the Choir Uncategorized universal church Vatican virtue war Week in Review women world religions writing Writing Write Now

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Christian holiday starts the new liturgical year in Western churches?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Lent Advent Epiphany Easter

Books by This Author Books by Catholic Bard

See All Titles »