As the American holiday of Thanksgiving approaches, I am reminded of how important thanksgiving is at every Mass we celebrate. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
2637 Thanksgiving characterizes the prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the Eucharist, reveals and becomes more fully what she is. Indeed, in the work of salvation, Christ sets creation free from sin and death to consecrate it anew and make it return to the Father, for his glory. The thanksgiving of the members of the Body participates in that of their Head.
2638 As in the prayer of petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. The letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus is always present in it: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”; “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”
It is so easy to forget to be thankful.
Thanksgiving Traditions
I come from a family with very distinct Thanksgiving traditions:
We always went to a certain aunt and uncle’s house in South Minneapolis and carried out several other heartwarming, yet predictable traditions. The customs were so predictable that I actually wrote a “process analysis essay” about my family’s Thanksgiving Day’s activities my freshman year in college. From my dad waking us for Mass to ‘give thanks’ to racing my sister to the newspaper for a chance to color the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Tom Turkey, the day was full of joy and excitement for my siblings and me! The fun day ended with a kid-swap, where my little cousin spent the night with us and my sister stayed over at his house. The next morning, they would pick out their Christmas tree at Menard’s store near our house. Traditions and memories abound from this beautiful time of year.
That being said, let’s jump ahead to my first fall with the Sisters…
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Thanksgiving in a Convent
I had started visiting the convent in Hankinson, North Dakota some months before.
Sr. Sara Marie, who would become my postulant directress, heard from me that one of our customs was checking the ice on nearby ponds. To make my first Thanksgiving experience “in the convent” more home-like, and to have a little fun, she had me pose for a picture, broom in hand, “checking the ice” on the little fishpond, to see if it was completely frozen.
Later in the day, we decided to do some baking. About a month earlier we had carved jack-o-lanterns together to decorate the convent. Now we were going to make a pumpkin dessert, complete with homemade graham cracker crust.
We were working in the convent bakery. I had dutifully crushed up some graham crackers and had them in a bowl. When I set the bowl down on the table (which, to my credit, was quite slippery), the bowl slid onto the floor.
What a mess. To make matters worse, there was a black rubber mat with circular holes on the floor nearby. Crumbs littered the bakery floor, including between these holes.
Kindly, Sr. Sara Marie got out the Shop-Vac for me. I proceeded to hook up the hose to the mechanism and turn it on. I, however, was not used to using that machine and put the hose in the “blow” instead of the “suck” end. Consequently, as you may imagine, the graham cracker crumbs were blown even more in all directions.
Poor Sr. Sara Marie. What a clumsy Affiliate she had to deal with. This wasn’t the first of my humiliating adventures at the provincial house in Hankinson.
As the years have gone by, different traditions have materialized for me. Spending the school years during my novitiate and first year in profession in Rugby, I joined my Sisters in traveling “to Grandmother’s House” ever year for Thanksgiving.
You’ll remember that St. Anne was Jesus’ grandmother. Thus, we referred to St. Anne’s (a senior living home), where we spent the Thanksgiving Holiday with our Sisters, as “Grandmother’s House.”
Now, I have been serving at St. Anne’s, myself, for quite some time, and our Sisters from Rugby continue to grace us with their presence at Thanksgiving, according to Tradition.
Another custom I continue with our residents is that of tracing our hands to make a turkey and writing things we are thankful for on each of the finger feathers.
To me, true gratitude is an essential part of the Thanksgiving tradition. May you celebrate Thanksgiving this year with a true spirit of Christian gratitude.
1 thought on “Thanksgiving: Give Thanks In All Circumstances”
Hej älskar vår högtider dem är helt fantastiska 🙂