Should Thanksgiving be Canceled?

By Jim Lamm, Director of Stewardship, St. Louis King of France Church, Austin

The economy is still not improving very rapidly. Our pensions, retirement funds, or other investments have seen a 40-60% loss this year. Many have lost their jobs, fear they will lose them, or are having their hours or pay cut. With all this bad news we might ask, what do we have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day? How can we possibly celebrate a holiday where we give thanks for our prosperity given this past year?

If we think of our lives only in terms of money, wealth, possessions, and earthly success, we should just skip Thanksgiving this year and every year. Thanksgiving is not a secular holiday to celebrate all the money we have made and the things we possess. Nor is it about turkey, football, stuffing, or pumpkin pie. From the very first Thanksgiving in 1621 at the Plymouth Plantation, thanksgiving has been observed as a religious holiday. It is a day set aside to thank God for the many blessings we have received from God. Yes, sometimes these blessings can come in the form of a good harvest or good health but our gratitude to God should go beyond our mere superficial measurements of success.

Instead of looking at our lives through human eyes, we need to look at our lives with the eyes of Christ. If we look at our lives with Christ's eyes, we would see that our money, possessions, jobs, prestige, and place in society mean absolutely nothing. None of these draw us closer to God and, unfortunately, often keep us from God as we place them ahead of our relationship with God. Christ's eyes would see God's love and blessings everywhere, even in difficult economic, physical, or emotional times. We would see the fullness of God's love in the Mass where we are invited to partake in the actual body and blood of Jesus in the form of bread and wine. We would see God's love and blessings in the everyday and in those with whom we live and work.

This Thanksgiving Day, let us not celebrate the superficial things that do not bring us closer to God. Let us see and thank God for all the blessings we receive every day and especially for the gift of Christ in the Eucharist, a term derived from an original Greek expression which means "thanksgiving."