{"id":621,"date":"2011-11-24T18:24:01","date_gmt":"2011-11-24T23:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=621"},"modified":"2011-11-24T18:24:01","modified_gmt":"2011-11-24T23:24:01","slug":"thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/thanksgiving\/","title":{"rendered":"Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is a national holiday here in the United States.\u00a0 Today we celebrate Thanksgiving.\u00a0 It is a holiday celebrated by many people, religious and atheist alike.\u00a0 We have much to give thanks for.\u00a0 While Thanksgiving is considered a secular holiday, it is a day that is in keeping with our Catholic faith.\u00a0 In fact, the word Eucharist covers from a Greek word that means “thanksgiving.”\u00a0 Each time we celebrate the Eucharist we give thanks to God.<\/p>\n

The story of the “first thanksgiving” is a familiar story to school children.\u00a0 The Puritans had come from England to establish a new home in the colonies.\u00a0 They have suffered a long journey and a difficult first year.\u00a0 They survived with the help of the Native American Indians and at the first harvest they gathered with the Native American Indians\u00a0to give thanks.\u00a0 Of course, the Puritans were a religious people who had come to America seeking religious freedom.\u00a0 They would have understood that God had been with them and given thanks to God.<\/p>\n

Scripture contains words of thanksgiving to God.\u00a0 Often we give thanks with everything is going well.\u00a0 In the second reading for this coming Sunday<\/a> (1 Corinthians 1:3-9), Paul gives thanks to God for the grace God has bestowed upon the Corinthians.\u00a0 In reading some commentaries, some suggest that Paul writes with a sense of sarcasm here.\u00a0 If you read the read of the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians you will find that Paul is writing to correct them on their many sins and failings such as lust, incest, and failing to care for one another.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If we think we only give thanks to God when everything is going perfectly, and clearly things are not perfect with the Corinthians, one might think Paul is writing sarcastically.\u00a0 I propose another possibility.\u00a0 Paul knows things are not perfect.\u00a0 That doesn’t mean that God hasn’t given the people the grace they need.\u00a0 The problem is that the people have not totally opened themselves to that grace and have not lived up to their potential.\u00a0\u00a0 Paul gives thanks to God knowing that\u00a0God has given them the grace they need and that they are\u00a0“not lacking in anything.”<\/p>\n

Perhaps the secular\u00a0comparison is to ask yourself \u00a0‘do you see the cup as half-full or half-empty?’\u00a0 If you see the cup as half-empty, then you think about\u00a0what you are lacking in life.\u00a0 As such, it can seem like you can\u00a0never get ahead and it can be very difficult to find something to be thankful for.<\/p>\n

If you see the cup as half-full, then you can be thankful for\u00a0what you do have.\u00a0 You can live with an\u00a0attitude of gratitude<\/em>, thankful for what you do have and using what you have received in gratitude to help all.<\/p>\n

God is a god of blessing and abundance.\u00a0 Let us give thanks for the blessings God has bestowed upon us.<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is a national holiday here in the United States.\u00a0 Today we celebrate Thanksgiving.\u00a0 It is a holiday celebrated by many people, religious and atheist alike.\u00a0 We have much to give thanks for.\u00a0 While Thanksgiving is considered a secular holiday, it is a day that is in keeping with our Catholic faith.\u00a0 In fact, the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Thanksgiving’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[90],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-a1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":622,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions\/622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}