It is very appropriate that this Gospel is read for Thanksgiving Day Mass. When I was a child growing up in England the village had an Autumn Harvest Festival. While I know now that some of these celebration may go back to pagan times, when I was in the village of Semington, England, only the Protestant Churches seemed to celebrate this thankfulness for the crop. Now, after almost 30 years of living in the US, the Thanksgiving vacation has become very precious to our entire family. It is the time when we give thanks for all the gifts of the year, not just the crop or physical goods that God has given, but the love, friendship, assistance, fellowship and community of his presence in our lives. Especially though giving thanks for the gift of family.
Who leads this family? Who gives all the gifts? Who gives them to those that don’t go back and “thank him”, like the leper in today’s Gospel? It is God who makes all these things possible. Today, let us accept those gifts with a thankful heart and rejoice in the ever-loving God who created them.
A very Happy Thanksgiving.
Mike
Daily prayers and meditations 