The Three Stories of Thanksgiving Day
In reflecting on this Day of Thanksgiving, I thought of three stories that are bound up in this National Holiday.
1) The story of the first Thanksgiving – The classic story of Thanksgiving Day is, of course, the Colonists and the Native Americans came together as a people to share a meal, and to give thanks for the harvest. “Breaking bread” together is a sign of being at peace with someone, a sign of brotherhood, of harmony. And if we look at our history and we look at the poor treatment of Native Americans, this seems to be more reason why we should emphasize this story; a story to remind us that it is possible for people to sit down and break bread together, in peace, in reconciliation, as a brotherhood that crosses cultural, ethnic, and tribal boundaries.
2) The Second Story is how Thanksgiving came to be a national holiday – In the middle of a divided nation fighting the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln saw the importance of re-emphasizing, this story of peoples from various backgrounds, various worldview, various ideologies, coming together to share a meal in peace and thanksgiving.
Here is an excerpt from Abraham Lincoln’s formal proclamation instituting Thanksgiving as a National Holiday:
I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States … to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also … … commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
As our world today has ongoing conversations about race, justice, oppression in various forms, it seems all the more reason why we need this story; not ignoring wrongs that have been done in the past, but both asking for forgiveness AND laying down our bitterness and resentment for wrongs done to us, to break bread together in peace.
This brings me to the third story:
3) The Last Supper – Bound up and at the heart of these two is the story of Christ’s Last Supper where he took the bread and wine and said: “This is my Body given up for you; This is the cup of my blood, poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.” A meal of peace and thanksgiving together that has at its heart the commemoration of a person unjustly and wrongfully hurt; yet choosing love instead of bitterness; choosing to offer peace to those who inflict hurt Him. For us as Catholics, this thanksgiving meal of Christ (that we call “Eucharist” which means “thanksgiving”) is at the heart of our worship, and in a way, is at the heart of every story worth telling. It is this story – the story of Christ’s Sacrifice and the way that we are mystically drawn into that through this meal together – that shapes all other stories.
Peace and Blessed Thanksgiving Day!
– Fr. Kevin
PS: Fr. Jangill will be gone from Nov. 20 until Dec. 4. He is traveling to Spain to do some finishing work on his doctoral thesis.
