THANKSGIVING EVERYDAY
Author: Fr. Michael Byron
November 26, 2020
When I was a child I learned that giving thanks was a
transaction – at least in this sense: all gifts received required the sending
of a “thank you” card. It was a rule of politeness that I didn’t always welcome
because sometimes it felt like a burden, or obligation. I’m sure I sent out my
share of rote thank you cards because it was expected, or because I was
required to. It was a task to be crossed off the to-do list. But it was also
the beginning of instilling in me an awareness of my blessings, and cultivating
in me a grateful heart… not only when I receive some extraordinary gift, but
especially when I don’t. Gratitude is a disposition of life that is both
cultivated and expressed in 100 ordinary ways each day, both when I’m expressly
aware of gifts received from others and when I’m not.
Occasionally I receive thank you notes and cards now from
people for seemingly no reason at all. My first reaction is often to think, “well,
I haven’t done anything specifically for you – or at least not much. There’s no
need for me to be thanked.”
But that’s missing the point. Thanksgiving is not a
transaction. It’s the natural and even necessary expression of people who are
aware of being constantly surrounded by blessings. It’s what a grateful heart
feels compelled to do.
In the gospel, one of those cleansed lepers did what he felt
he simply had to do in returning to thank and worship at the feet of Jesus. It was
the only thing that a really grateful heart could do, even though Jesus had not
required it of any of them. And although Jesus did not condemn the other 9, h
did wonder where they were. He wondered what kind of hearts they had.
Thanksgiving day is of course an annual tradition, and a
good one. It jogs our memories and makes us aware of all that we have, all that
we have been given by God and by others. But once a year is not, by itself,
sufficient to charge our hearts from indifference to gratitude. We do that as
we live each day. But Eucharist – well that’s another matter. Here we gather
week by week, sometimes day by day in order to say thank you and to worship the
Divine Giver of all good gifts. It both cultivates and expresses an ongoing
disposition of life in us. It changes us, and it pleases God. So here’s exactly
where we belong – together – on Thanksgiving morning.
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