November
23, 2008
No
turkey ?
Thanksgiving
Prayers
Each year our parish celebrates a great thanksgiving Eucharistic celebration.
This year, as in the past, we’ll have one mass at 9am and it will
be filled with music, prayers, and rituals from the rich traditions
of all of us immigrants.
Unless we’re native Americans, we all came from somewhere else
and we gather in this one great assembly of people to thank God for
what we have been given.
I hope you and your family will join us for this celebration.
As you prepare grace for your family table, you might find it helpful
to check out our thanksgiving psalm-maker on St. Brigid’s website.
Click
here for the link.
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past
Columns:
November 16: Will this marriage
last?
November 9: Blood and Food
November 2: Did you Know?
October 26: Visiting the
Pope
October 19: Rome-ing Around
October: 12: Lost in Translation
October 5: Violence and Life
Sept 28: Flip Flopping
Sept 21: Congratulations
Socorro!
Sept 14: Lift High the Cross
Sept 7: Happy 90th Birthday
August 31: From "saint"
to "Satan"
August 24: So you're not
the Pope
August 17: When God says
"no"
August 10: The Tiny Whispering
Sound
August 3: A Proud and Tender
Moment
July 27: What
would you ask for?
July 20: Waiting
for the Wheat
July
13: What we Wear
uly
6: We Welcome Westbrook
June
29: Sommer in the Summer
June 22: Welcome
Father Jaime
June 15: Father
Gonzalo Lopez
June 8: What happened
on Sunday
June 1: Where
do you belong?
May
25: We are the Body of Christ
May 18: Trinity,
It's About Unity
May 11: We are
One in the Spirit
May 4: Who's in
Your Top Twelve?
April 27: Now
that he's gone...
April 20: Yay
Deacons!
April 13: Here
comes the Pope
April 6: Fresh Oil
March 30: What are you doing
for Easter?
March 23: Can Easter come
too early?
March 16: Which crowd is
yours?
March 9: We believe, yet...
March 2: Oil or Mud
February
24: What are you thirsting for?
February 17: Who are You
Wearing?
February 10: Just Say No
February
3: The January
20: Being Safer
January 13: Conversations
in 2008
January 6: Matthew's Magi
December 30:
What's Next?
Columns from
2007
Columns
from 2005
Columns
from 2004
Columns
from 2003
Columns from 2002
I
recently heard of someone who was going to host her family’s big
thanksgiving dinner and she asked all the extended relatives for food
suggestions. “I’m thinking that we ought to do something other
than turkey this year. After all, we ALWAYS do turkey on thanksgiving
so I thought we ought to try something different this year.”
Well, given the strong reaction
of the family members, you would have thought that she had proposed to
poison the children instead! “No turkey for thanksgiving?? How DARE
she suggest such a thing. After all, what would Thanksgiving be without
a turkey?”
I’ll leave this fight to
this family for now (I know we’re having turkey at my family so
it’s not an issue for me). But it makes us think about what is truly
important on this national holiday. Yes, the food we share is a big deal.
Family and national traditions are also important. But let’s not
lose sight of what Thanksgiving is about: it’s a day where we consider
our relationship with God and with one another.
Naturally we know it’s about
thanking God. We celebrate the Eucharist together (the word “eucharist”
means “thanksgiving”). We say a special prayer before our
thanksgiving meal. Perhaps we go around the table and ask each person
to say something they’re thankful for. And we privately pray to
God and thank the Lord for all the blessings we have in our life.
This holiday is also about considering
our relationships with others --those who have little food, those without
friends and family, those who are struggling to get by. And we reach out
in compassion to feed others, to invite others to join us. That’s
what happened on the first Thanksgiving. The native people here in America
(who didn’t speak English), invited the new immigrants (who did
speak English) to share a rather uncomfortable meal. The growing mistrust
between the natives and the immigrants was put aside during three days
of sharing. Unfortunately the peace of those three days didn’t last.
Hundreds would die of starvation and fighting in the years ahead. Each
year we have a chance to do a better job at compassion, justice and peace.
Thank God.
