It looks like a happy coincidence that our American feast of Thanksgiving should come at the end of the Church year where properly thanksgiving ought to come, but actually it is no coincidence at all. The Pilgrim’s feast was another manifestation of the sense of God that is common in all men, and the need they have for giving thanks to Him. Everywhere men have had thanksgiving feasts to whatever gods they worshipped, celebrating their harvests, the end of their journeys, their protection under a divine providence. For thousands of years before a rite and feast of thanksgiving was dictated in the law of Moses, their forms appeared everywhere, out of the instinct of man. After the Exodus, the One True God made it a law for the Jews.
Three times every year you shall celebrate feasts to me: Thou shalt keep the feast of the unleavened bread . . . . And the feast of the harvest of the first fruits of thy work . . . . The feast also in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in all thy corn out of the field. (Exod. 23: 14-17)
Perhaps Elder Brewster held this in mind when he and Governor Bradford and the others planned the Pilgrim prayer meeting and the feast of thanks to follow. God gave explicit instructions to the Jews.
Thou shalt celebrate the solemnity also of tabernacles seven days, when thou. . . . make merry in thy festival time, thou, thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant and thy maidservant, the Levite also and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou celebrate feasts to the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God will bless thee in all thy fruits, and in every work of thy hands, and thou shalt be in joy (Duet. 16: 13)
For the Pilgrims, the “stranger within the gates” was Massasoit and some ninety of the Wampanoags who had helped the Pilgrims clear ground, plant crops, and hunt game that first difficult year. There were fatherless and widow, you may be sure: of the original one hundred and two only fifty remained, twenty-nine of them women and children, some with familiar names, some with strange. There were the Carvers and the Bradfords and the Allertons, Priscilla Mullins who would marry John Alden, and Myles Standish in charge of their military affairs. The Hopkins children were Constantia, Damaris, and Oceanus, and among the other children were Desire Minter, Resolved White, Humility Cooper, Love and Wrestling Brewster and a baby named Peregrine White who was born on the Mayflower and probably never knew that he bore the name of a half dozen martyrs. Governor Bradford and Elder Brewster had been with the original group who left Scrooby in England, went to Leyden in Holland, and finally set out for the new England.
They were Bible-living Christians, no more tolerant of the religious convictions of others than the Church of England was of their own, but neither is that new under the sun. Even with the ancient form of worship unrecognizable after its truncation, limping after its dismemberment, the instinct to worship is still common; if there is a meeting point left anywhere, this it is. This is the beginning point of the struggle for unity among men who two hundred years before would have offered in thanksgiving “from among Thy gifts bestowed upon us, a victim perfect, holy and spotless, the holy bread of everlasting life and the chalice of everlasting salvation.”
We must not think of ourselves as islands of “tolerant” men, worshipping in the way what is most pleasing to each. There is a true way, taught by One Who said, “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life.” We must go all the way in our desire to bring all men to His Way.
PREPARING FOR THE FEAST
Several years ago we typed out individual copies of a “long” Grace before Meals, Monica decorated them with little figures praying, and we have used these each year as our special Thanksgiving Grace. They are a bit greasy now, what with all those turkey dinners rubbed off on them; but they have become so traditional a part of our Thanksgiving that we are loath to make new copies. Since it may be used at any time, it is not accurately called Grace before Thanksgiving Dinner – but that is what it is for our family.
Father: Bless ye.
All: Bless ye.
Father: The eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord.
All: And Thou gives them their food in due season. Thou openest Thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature.
Father: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Father: Lord, have mercy on us.
All: Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. (The Our Father silently)
Father: And lead us not into temptation.
All: But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Father: Let us pray. Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Grace after Thanksgiving Dinner
Father: Do Thou, O Lord, have mercy on us.
All: Thanks be to God.
Father: Let all Thy works, O Lord, praise Thee.
All: And let all Thy Saints bless Thee.
Father: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Now we are prepared for our feast. Dinner is planned, the silver is polished; the linen is ready; the Grace is copied for each one. When the morning of our feast day has come, let us offer Him in Thanksgiving.
THE MASS: THE PERFECT THANKSGIVING
Men have not only prayed in thanksgiving, but have offered in thanksgiving: something that was a sign of themselves, to show they were thankful for life, were sorry for their sins against the Giver of life, would give their lives in return, if they might, to the One they owe so much. They made offerings in thanks for the things that sustain life, for the preservation of life.
“Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat.” . . . “So Noe went out, he and his sons, his wife and the wives of his sons . . . all living things went out of the ark. And Noe built an altar unto the Lord: and taking of all the cattle and fowl that were clean, offered holocausts upon the altar. . .”
They made bloody offerings, because the offering is a symbol of the offerer, and blood is the essence of life. Blood is life.
There were other offerings . . . “Melchisedech, the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God, blessed him and said: Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who created heaven and earth” . . . Because bread maintains life, and wine enhances life.
God told them what to sacrifice, and how to sacrifice; but especially He told them to make the sacrifice of the Pasch, because it was a memorial to their freedom and their protection, a memorial of thanksgiving to the God who loved them. “ . . . and it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, one year . . . and a whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening.” . . . “And this day shall be a memorial unto you: and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord . . . for with a strong hand the Lord hath brought you out of this place.”
He brought them through water, led them by fire, fed them with manna, and when they sinned against Him, He chastised them and accepted their sacrifices of expiation. He made it part of their Law, their Covenant, that they were to offer sacrifice: of reparation, of petition, of praise, of thanksgiving.
Then Christ came.
When it was time for the thing to happen for which He came, He said to the Apostles: “This is My Body, which is being given for you; do this, in remembrance of Me.”
And He said: “This cup is the new covenant in My Blood, which shall be shed for you.”
This was the new covenant, the new Pasch . . . “in My blood,” He said, From that moment on they were to make sacrifice “in My blood.”
The offering is a symbol of the offerer. Blood is the essence of life. This is our gift to offer: His Body and Blood, every day.
Think of all the things the Redemption accomplished, and do not forget this last: to put into our hands the perfect Gift, the pure Victim – “holy and spotless, the holy bread of everlasting life and the chalice of everlasting salvation.”
With the sacrifice of Holy Mass, Catholics make their thanksgiving.
~ adapted from, “ We and Our Children”, Imprimatur 1956
Three times every year you shall celebrate feasts to me: Thou shalt keep the feast of the unleavened bread . . . . And the feast of the harvest of the first fruits of thy work . . . . The feast also in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in all thy corn out of the field. (Exod. 23: 14-17)
Perhaps Elder Brewster held this in mind when he and Governor Bradford and the others planned the Pilgrim prayer meeting and the feast of thanks to follow. God gave explicit instructions to the Jews.
Thou shalt celebrate the solemnity also of tabernacles seven days, when thou. . . . make merry in thy festival time, thou, thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant and thy maidservant, the Levite also and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou celebrate feasts to the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God will bless thee in all thy fruits, and in every work of thy hands, and thou shalt be in joy (Duet. 16: 13)
For the Pilgrims, the “stranger within the gates” was Massasoit and some ninety of the Wampanoags who had helped the Pilgrims clear ground, plant crops, and hunt game that first difficult year. There were fatherless and widow, you may be sure: of the original one hundred and two only fifty remained, twenty-nine of them women and children, some with familiar names, some with strange. There were the Carvers and the Bradfords and the Allertons, Priscilla Mullins who would marry John Alden, and Myles Standish in charge of their military affairs. The Hopkins children were Constantia, Damaris, and Oceanus, and among the other children were Desire Minter, Resolved White, Humility Cooper, Love and Wrestling Brewster and a baby named Peregrine White who was born on the Mayflower and probably never knew that he bore the name of a half dozen martyrs. Governor Bradford and Elder Brewster had been with the original group who left Scrooby in England, went to Leyden in Holland, and finally set out for the new England.
They were Bible-living Christians, no more tolerant of the religious convictions of others than the Church of England was of their own, but neither is that new under the sun. Even with the ancient form of worship unrecognizable after its truncation, limping after its dismemberment, the instinct to worship is still common; if there is a meeting point left anywhere, this it is. This is the beginning point of the struggle for unity among men who two hundred years before would have offered in thanksgiving “from among Thy gifts bestowed upon us, a victim perfect, holy and spotless, the holy bread of everlasting life and the chalice of everlasting salvation.”
We must not think of ourselves as islands of “tolerant” men, worshipping in the way what is most pleasing to each. There is a true way, taught by One Who said, “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life.” We must go all the way in our desire to bring all men to His Way.
PREPARING FOR THE FEAST
Several years ago we typed out individual copies of a “long” Grace before Meals, Monica decorated them with little figures praying, and we have used these each year as our special Thanksgiving Grace. They are a bit greasy now, what with all those turkey dinners rubbed off on them; but they have become so traditional a part of our Thanksgiving that we are loath to make new copies. Since it may be used at any time, it is not accurately called Grace before Thanksgiving Dinner – but that is what it is for our family.
Father: Bless ye.
All: Bless ye.
Father: The eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord.
All: And Thou gives them their food in due season. Thou openest Thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature.
Father: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Father: Lord, have mercy on us.
All: Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. (The Our Father silently)
Father: And lead us not into temptation.
All: But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Father: Let us pray. Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Grace after Thanksgiving Dinner
Father: Do Thou, O Lord, have mercy on us.
All: Thanks be to God.
Father: Let all Thy works, O Lord, praise Thee.
All: And let all Thy Saints bless Thee.
Father: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Now we are prepared for our feast. Dinner is planned, the silver is polished; the linen is ready; the Grace is copied for each one. When the morning of our feast day has come, let us offer Him in Thanksgiving.
THE MASS: THE PERFECT THANKSGIVING
Men have not only prayed in thanksgiving, but have offered in thanksgiving: something that was a sign of themselves, to show they were thankful for life, were sorry for their sins against the Giver of life, would give their lives in return, if they might, to the One they owe so much. They made offerings in thanks for the things that sustain life, for the preservation of life.
“Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat.” . . . “So Noe went out, he and his sons, his wife and the wives of his sons . . . all living things went out of the ark. And Noe built an altar unto the Lord: and taking of all the cattle and fowl that were clean, offered holocausts upon the altar. . .”
They made bloody offerings, because the offering is a symbol of the offerer, and blood is the essence of life. Blood is life.
There were other offerings . . . “Melchisedech, the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God, blessed him and said: Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who created heaven and earth” . . . Because bread maintains life, and wine enhances life.
God told them what to sacrifice, and how to sacrifice; but especially He told them to make the sacrifice of the Pasch, because it was a memorial to their freedom and their protection, a memorial of thanksgiving to the God who loved them. “ . . . and it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, one year . . . and a whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening.” . . . “And this day shall be a memorial unto you: and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord . . . for with a strong hand the Lord hath brought you out of this place.”
He brought them through water, led them by fire, fed them with manna, and when they sinned against Him, He chastised them and accepted their sacrifices of expiation. He made it part of their Law, their Covenant, that they were to offer sacrifice: of reparation, of petition, of praise, of thanksgiving.
Then Christ came.
When it was time for the thing to happen for which He came, He said to the Apostles: “This is My Body, which is being given for you; do this, in remembrance of Me.”
And He said: “This cup is the new covenant in My Blood, which shall be shed for you.”
This was the new covenant, the new Pasch . . . “in My blood,” He said, From that moment on they were to make sacrifice “in My blood.”
The offering is a symbol of the offerer. Blood is the essence of life. This is our gift to offer: His Body and Blood, every day.
Think of all the things the Redemption accomplished, and do not forget this last: to put into our hands the perfect Gift, the pure Victim – “holy and spotless, the holy bread of everlasting life and the chalice of everlasting salvation.”
With the sacrifice of Holy Mass, Catholics make their thanksgiving.
~ adapted from, “ We and Our Children”, Imprimatur 1956
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