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ONE PAGE SYNOPSIS OF THANKSGIVING DAY HOMILY (Nov 24)L/22

Introduction: Today is a day of national thanksgiving 1) for the blessings and protection God has given us; 2) for our democratic government and the prosperity we enjoy; 3) for our freedom of speech and religion; 4) for the generosity and good will of our people.

History: The winter of 1610 at Jamestown, Virginia, had reduced a group of 409 settlers to 60. The survivors prayed for help, without knowing when or how it might come. When help arrived in the form of a ship filled with food and supplies from England, a thanksgiving prayer meeting was held to give thanks to God. President George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789. In the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving Day as a formal holiday to express our thanks to God. In 1941 with World War II underway, Congress passed the official proclamation declaring that Thanksgiving should be observed as a legal holiday the fourth Thursday of each November.

Biblical examples of thanksgiving: (1) Today’s Gospel describes how one of the ten lepers Jesus healed, a Samaritan, returned to Jesus to express his gratitude while the nine Jewish lepers did not care to thank the healer. Jesus asks the pained question: “Where are the other nine?” (Lk 17:17-18) The episode tells us that even God expects gratitude from us. (2) In 2 Kgs 5: 1-9 Naaman the leper, the chief of the army of the Syrian king, returned to the prophet Elisha to express his thanks for the healing with a gift of 10 talents of silver, 6000 pieces of gold and six Egyptian raiments as gifts. When Elisha refused the gifts, Naaman asked for permission take home two sacks of the soil of Israel to remember the Lord Who healed him, and he promised to offer sacrifices only to the God of Israel. (3) Jesus’ example of thanksgiving at the tomb of Lazarus: “Thank you Father for hearing my prayer.” (Jn 11:41-42). (4) St. Paul’s advice (Eph 5:20): “Give thanks to God the Father for everything.”

The Eucharistic celebration is the most important form of thanksgiving prayer for Catholics. In fact, Eucharist is the Greek word for thanksgiving. In the Holy Mass we offer the sacrifice of Jesus to our Heavenly Father as an act of thanksgiving, and surrender our lives on the altar with repentant hearts, presenting our needs and asking for God’s blessings.

Life message: Let us be thankful and let us learn to express our thanks daily. a) To God for His innumerable blessings, providential care and protection and for the unconditional pardon given to us for our daily sins and failures. b) To our parents – living and dead – for the gift of life and Christian training and the good examples they gave us. c) To our relatives and friends for their loving support and timely help and encouragement. d) To our pastors, teachers, doctors, soldiers, police, and government officers for the sincere service they render us. (Fr. Tony)

THANKSGIVING DAY IN THE U.S.(Nov 24, 2022) L-22

…..(Sirach 50:22-24; I Corinthians 1:3-9; Luke 17:11-19)……

Homily starter anecdotes # 1: “Thank you.” Mother Teresa told this story in an address to the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994. “One evening several of our Sisters went out, and we picked up four people from the street. One of them was in a most terrible condition. So I told the other Sisters, “You take care of the other three: I will take care of this one who looks the worst.” So I did for the woman everything that my love could do. I cleaned her and put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful smile on her face. She took hold of my hands and said two words in her language, Bengali: “Thank you.” Then she died. — I could not help but examine my conscience. I asked myself, “What would I say if I were in her place?” My answer was simple. I would have tried to draw a little attention to myself. I would have said, “I am hungry, I am dying, I am in pain.” But the woman gave me much more; she gave me grateful love, dying with a grateful smile on her face. It means that even those with nothing can give us the gift of thanks.”

# 2: But whose hand? A school teacher asked her first graders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. She thought of how little these children from poor neighborhoods actually had to be thankful for. She reasoned that most of them would no doubt draw pictures of turkeys on tables with lots of other food. She was surprised with the picture that Douglas handed in. It was the picture of a human hand, poorly drawn. But whose hand? The other children tried to guess. One said it was the hand of God because He brings the food to us. Another said it was the hand of a farmer because he raises and grows the food. Finally, when the others were back at their work, the teacher bent over Douglas’ desk and asked whose hand it was. “Why, it’s your hand, teacher,” he mumbled. Then she recalled that frequently at recess she had taken Douglas, a scrubby, forlorn child, by the hand. She did it with many of the children and never thought much about it. But Douglas did. You see, she refreshed his spirit and he never forgot it.

# 3: Two lists: Perhaps Daniel Defoe gave us some good advice through his fictional character Robinson Crusoe. The first thing that Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to make out a list. On one side of the list he wrote down all his problems. On the other side of the list he wrote down all of his blessings. On one side he wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it’s warm and I don’t really need any. On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost. On the other side he wrote: But there’s plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island. And on down the list he went. In this fashion he discovered that for every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect, something to be thankful for.

— It is easy to find ourselves on an island of despair. Perhaps it is time that we sit down and take an inventory of our blessings.

Introduction:  Thanksgiving is the most uniquely American of all our holidays.  President Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, established Thanksgiving Day as a formal holiday in which we express our thanks to God for the many blessings He has provided.  The first American Thanksgiving didn’t occur in 1621 when a group of Pilgrims shared a feast with a group of friendly Indians. The first recorded public Thanksgiving had taken place in Virginia more than 11 years earlier, and it wasn’t a feast. The winter of 1610 at Jamestown had reduced a group of 409 settlers to 60. The survivors had prayed for help, without knowing when or how it might come. When help arrived in the form of a ship filled with food and supplies from England, a prayer meeting was held to give communal thanks to God. Thanksgiving is the favorite holiday of many Americans.  It has the simplicity of a family gathering together for a meal.  Why should we be thankful this day?  We must learn to be thankful or we will either become bitter and discouraged or grow arrogant and self-satisfied.

However, Thanksgiving Day also has a profound religious meaning, because giving thanks is the very heart of our natural and spiritual life.  For us as Catholics, the central act of worship is called the Eucharist, a Greek word for Thanksgiving. In the Mass, we give thanks to God through Jesus, and share a sacred meal in which we acknowledge the fact that everything we have comes from God.  On Thanksgiving Day in many of our rural parishes, people used to bring items such as fruits and grains which were then blessed by the pastor before being taken home.

Exegesis: There are basically two types of people in our world: the grateful and the ungrateful.  Today’s Gospel tells the story of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed.  Only one of them, a Samaritan – a Jew despised and held unclean for being in schism – returned to give Him thanks.  The other nine (who were “real” Jews), apparently considered their healing as something they had a right to, whereas the Samaritan took it as an undeserved gift from God.  This Gospel reminds us that even God desires our gratitude.  “Where are the other nine?” Jesus asked with pain.  (Confer also Is 1:3-5.)  That is why St. Paul admonishes us, “Always be thankful” (Col 3:17).  It is a Christian’s duty as well as a privilege to be grateful for the blessings of God (Dt 8:10; Ps 107:19, 21; Col 1:12-14; Phil 1:3).  “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever” (1 Chr 16:34).  (Refer to Ps 107:1, Jn 11:41, Eph 5:20, and Col 3:17 for Biblical prayers and expressions of thanksgiving.)

Gathered around the altar celebrating the Eucharist, we find that our expression of thanks becomes part of the great Thanksgiving Prayer of Christ which joins the mighty chorus of all God’s people.  We should give thanks for this parish community in which we gather together.  It is in this community that we meet Christ in the Breaking of the Bread and receive the Sacraments that nourish and strengthen us along the way.  Hence, “let us give thanks to the Lord our God. For it is right to give God thanks and praise!”

Life messages: 1) Let us be thankful to God. Let us thank God for giving us the gifts of life and health, for providing for our spiritual and physical needs, for giving us our families and friends, and for offering us the grace of salvation through Jesus, our Lord and Savior. 2) Let us be thankful to our parents and benefactors.  Honoring one’s parents is the most basic level of gratitude, and that is why we have the fourth commandment: “Honor your father and mother.”   Let us also be thankful for the countless good people in our lives, each of whom has brought his or her own special gifts to us and has touched our lives.  Today, let us remember each one prayerfully, with reverence and gratitude. 3) Do we practice unconditional gratitude? Are we thankful only when we compare our lives with those of others?   Are we thankful only when we compare our standard of living with that of people in very poor countries; or only when we compare our relatively good health to the health of a terminally-ill cancer patient?  Let us remember the Irish proverb: “Once I complained I had no shoes – until I saw a man who had no feet.”

Jokes of the week 

1)” Where are the rotten ones for the pigs?” There was once a lady who complained about everything and everybody. Finally, her pastor found something that she couldn’t complain about. The lady’s crop of potatoes was the finest for miles around. He said to her, “For once you must be pleased. Everyone is saying how splendid your potatoes are this year.” The lady glared at him and said, “They are not so bad, but where are the rotten ones for the pigs?”

2) The turkey with a high fever!   When I think of “Turkey Day,” I am reminded of the story of the little boy who saw his mother putting a thermometer in the turkey.  He said, “If it is that sick, I don’t want any!”

3) “Christopher hit me!”:  It was Thanksgiving Day.  Breakfast was over and the kids were playing in a room full of toys.  Their parents lingered over a second cup of coffee.  In a short while, the parents heard the sound of a brief scuffle.  Then Mary, their three-year-old, burst into the kitchen in tears.  “Mommy! Daddy! Christopher hit me!” she sobbed.  Before either of them could think of a reply, the calm voice of their nine-year-old daughter came from the play room, “It’s Thanksgiving Day –- we must be thankful.  Thank God, he didn’t bite you!!”

4) “I can chew my food”:  It was Thanksgiving season in the nursing home. The small resident population had been gathered around their humble Thanksgiving table, and the director asked each in turn to express one thing for which he or she was thankful. Thanks were expressed for a home in which to stay, families, etc. One little old lady, when her turn came, said, “I thank the Lord for two perfectly good teeth left in my mouth, one in my upper jaw and one in my lower jaw.  They match so well that I can chew my food.”

SIMPLE THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR.

“I am thankful for the mess to clean up after a party because it means I am blessed with friends.

I am thankful for the taxes I pay because it means that I am employed.

I am thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snugly because it means I have had enough to eat.

I am thankful for my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.

I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

I am thankful for all the complaining I do about the government because it means we have freedom of speech.

I am thankful for the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.

I am thankful for my big heating bill because it means I am warm.

I am thankful for the lady behind me in church who sings off-key because it means I can hear.

I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.

I am thankful for weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.

I am thankful for the alarm that goes off early in the morning because it means I am alive.”

Let me share my little secret. When I feel that the world is caving in and my tears of hopelessness are just about to fall, I look down at my hands. I stretch my fingers and I start to count … my blessings. I say to myself, “I have 10 fingers … 1-2-3-4-5 … I can move all of them. My skin is clear. I can see. I can hear. I can talk. I can walk. I have a family. I have a home. I have friends. I have a job. Not everyone has these. I am a very lucky person. I am whole and I can cope with this minor setback.”– Try it. In your darkest hour, at the height of a most unfortunate situation, count your blessings by starting with your fingers.—Ruby Bayan-Gagelonia

 Why should we be thankful?

1. We must learn to be thankful or we become bitter.
2. We must learn to be thankful or we will become discouraged.
3. We must learn to be thankful or we will grow arrogant and self-satisfied.

Gratitude

Today, upon a bus, I saw a very handsome man,
And wished I were as beautiful.
When suddenly he rose to leave,
I saw him hobble down the aisle.
He had one leg and wore a crutch.
But as he passed, he passed a smile.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have two legs; the world is mine.

I stopped to buy some candy,
The lad who sold it had such charm,
I talked with him, he seemed so glad,
If I were late, it’d do no harm.
And as I left, he said to me,
“I thank you, you’ve been so kind.
It’s nice to talk with folks like you.
You see,” he said, “I’m blind.”
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have two eyes; the world is mine.

Later while walking down the street,
I saw a child I knew.
He stood and watched the others play,
but he did not know what to do.
I stopped a moment and then I said,
“Why don’t you join them dear?”
He looked ahead without a word,
I forgot, he couldn’t hear.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine,
I have two ears; the world is mine.

With feet to take me where I’d go,
With eyes to see the sunset’s glow,
With ears to hear what I’d know.
With loving family friends to enjoy life
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine,
I’ve been blessed indeed, the world is mine.

Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Oh, Heavenly Father,

We thank Thee for food and remember the hungry.

We thank Thee for health and remember the sick.

We thank Thee for friends and remember the friendless.

We thank Thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.

May these remembrances stir us to service,

That Thy gifts to us may be used for others.
Amen

Prayers for Thanksgiving Day 2022

We thank and praise You, our Heavenly Father, for establishing and preserving our nation in freedom, for giving us a rich land in which to dwell, and for providing us with an abundance of the fruits of the earth. In order that we might live in peace and be good stewards of all that You provide, grant us Your grace to recognize Your gifts and to live as good citizens. Give us grace to offer You ourselves as living sacrifices to the glory of Your holy name and the betterment of mankind. Of all Your many blessings, chief among them is the peace we have with You on account of the precious Blood of Jesus Christ, shed for us for the full remission of all our sins. We thank You for Your great love in sending Your Son to be our Savior, in calling us out of our rebellion and into fellowship with Him. We give You thanks that You have done this apart from any worthiness in us. Forgive us for those times when we grow complacent in Your love, not living out our baptismal identity but instead taking Your gifts for granted. As the great day of Christ’s return draws ever closer, teach us each day to cling to You, that we may on the Last Day stand eternally before Your throne, giving You our unending thanks and praise. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, God, now and forever. Amen.

Thanksgiving Intercessory Prayers for Thanksgiving Day Holy Mass

 Response to priests’ prayer: We give You thanks, and bless Your holy Name.

Priest: Let us cry aloud our thanks to the all-blessed Trinity:

P:   For the tender love You show Your whole creation. We give You thanks, and bless Your holy Name.

P:   For the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the homes in which we live.

P:   For our families, for husbands and wives, and especially children with their  joy and their trust, for grandparents and grandchildren, for aunts and uncles.

P:   For the fields and their harvest, for farmers and their labors, for the good earth and all its bounty.

P:   For our nation and all its people, and for the freedoms we enjoy, especially for the freedom to worship You in peace.

P:   For the sufferings that come upon us and for the reminder they bring of the one thing needful.

P:   Above all for the Incarnation of our Lord, for His suffering and death, for His glorious Resurrection and Ascension and for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.

P:   For the holy Church, for the divine waters of Baptism, for the comfort of Holy Absolution, and for the life-giving Sacrament of the Altar.

P:   For the Sacred Scriptures, for the holy Law that shows us our sin, and for the  Holy Gospel that reveals the righteousness of Christ as Your gift to us.

P:   For these and all Your mercies, mercies beyond number and measure, for all of which it is our joy to stand before You and give You thanks.

P:  You are indeed blessed and holy and worthy of all honor and praise, O Father Almighty, O only-begotten Son, O Spirit of Holiness. To You alone do we give all glory now and ever and unto the ages of ages!

C:  Amen!

Concluding prayer by the celebrant

 8 Additional anecdotes

1) Be thankful to Jesus, our Lord and Savior: Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan of Yale University wrote a remarkable study of the significance of the person and work of Jesus Christ, Jesus Through the Centuries. Dr. Pelikan demonstrates how Jesus has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture. Each age has made Jesus relevant to its own needs. Jesus has furnished each new age with answers to fundamental questions as every generation has had to address new social problems that tested the more fundamental questions of human existence. The world had to take note of Jesus as a rabbi, as the Cosmic Christ, the Ruler of the World, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the Son of Man, the True Image of Man, the Great Liberator. In many other ways Jesus furnished the answers and the images that affected society in positive ways. — Dr. Pelikan’s thesis is that Jesus did not and does not belong to the churches and the theologians alone, but that he belongs to the world. None of this is to say that we can make Jesus what we want Jesus to be. Quite the opposite. It is to say that the Christ is adequate for all our needs and that Jesus transcends culture in such a way that he is able to belong to each age and to address the issues of all time. To understand that, we can do no better than to look to the Holy Gospel for today, which celebrates the transfiguration of our Lord. In that momentous event we learn how and why Jesus belongs to the centuries.

2) “Bow your heads.” Greg Anderson, in Living Life on Purpose,   tells a story about a man whose wife had left him. He was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God; he found no joy in living. One rainy morning this man went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else. Our miserable friend hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon. In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by almost shouting, “Momma, why don’t we say our prayers here?” The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, “Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?” And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, “Bow your heads.” Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, “God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen.”
That prayer changed the entire atmosphere. People began to talk with one another. The waitress said, “We should do that every morning.” — “All of a sudden,” said our friend, “my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl’s example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stop majoring in all that I didn’t have. I started to be grateful.” (Rev. Brett Blair)

3) “Now Thank We All Our God.” You can even be thankful during the most difficult of circumstances in life. It’s true! We see an especially inspiring example of a brave and thankful heart in the story behind one of the church’s most popular hymns, “Now Thank We All Our God.” This particularly hymn was written during the Thirty Years War in Germany, in the early 1600s. Its author was Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in the town of Eilenburg in Saxony. Now, Eilenburg was a walled city, so it became a haven for refugees seeking safety from the fighting. But soon, the city became too crowded and food was in short supply. Then, a famine hit and a terrible plague and Eilenburg became a giant morgue.  In one year alone, Pastor Rinkart conducted funerals for 4,500 people, including his own wife. The war dragged on; the suffering continued. Yet through it all, he never lost courage or faith and even during the darkest days of Eilenburg’s agony, he was able to write this hymn:

Now thank we all our God,

with hearts and hands and voices,

Who wondrous things hath done,

in Whom the world rejoices

…[So] keep us in His grace,

and guide us when perplexed,

and free us from all ills,

in this world and the next.

Even when he was waist deep in destruction, Pastor Rinkart was able to lift his sights to a higher plane. He kept his mind on God’s love when the world was filled with hate. He kept his mind on God’s promises of heaven when the earth was a living hell. — Can we not do the same – we whose lives are almost trouble-free, compared with the man who wrote that hymn? Whom can you say “thank you” to? (Rev. Erskine White)

4) “Not one of them ever thanked me.” Bishop Gerland Kennedy of California tells the true story of a shipwreck off the coast of Evanston, Ill. Many years ago. The students of Northwestern University came to the rescue. One student, Edward Spenser, personally saved the lives of 17 persons that day. Years later a reporter was writing a follow up story on the event, and went to interview the now elderly Spenser. When asked what was the one thing that stood out about the incident in his mind; Spenser replied: “I remember that of the seventeen people I saved that day, not one of them ever thanked me.

5)” I taught school for forty years, and yours is the first letter of appreciation.” In the book A Window on the Mountain, Winston Pierce tells of his high school class reunion. A group of the old classmates were reminiscing about things and persons they were grateful for. One man mentioned that he was particularly thankful for Mrs. Wendt, for she more than anyone had introduced him to Tennyson and the beauty of poetry. Acting on a suggestion, the man wrote a letter of appreciation to Mrs. Wendt and addressed it to the high school. The note was forwarded and eventually found the old teacher. About a month later the man received a response. It was written in a feeble longhand and read as follows: “My dear Willie, I can’t tell you how much your letter meant to me. I am now in my nineties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and like the last leaf of fall lingering behind. You will be interested to know that I taught school for forty years, and yours is the first letter of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning and it cheered me as nothing has for years. Willie, you have made my day.”

6) On that day John D. Rockefeller established his foundation. The very first person to reach the status of billionaire was a man who knew how to set goals and follow through. At the age of 23, he had become a millionaire, by the age of 50 a billionaire. Every decision, attitude, and relationship was tailored to create his personal power and wealth. But three years later at the age of 53 he became ill.
His entire body became racked with pain and he lost all the hair on his head. In complete agony, the world’s only billionaire could buy anything he wanted, but he could only digest milk and crackers. An associate wrote, “He could not sleep, would not smile and nothing in life meant anything to him.” His personal, highly skilled physicians predicted he would die within a year. That year passed in agonizing slowness. As he approached death he awoke one morning with the vague remembrances of a dream. He could barely recall the dream but knew it had something to do with not being able to take any of his successes with him into the next world. The man who could control the business world suddenly realized he was not in in control of his own life. He was left with a choice.He called his attorneys, accountants, and managers and announced that he wanted to channel his assets to hospitals, research, and mission work. On that day John D. Rockefeller established his foundation. This new direction eventually led to the discovery of penicillin, cures for current strains of malaria, tuberculosis and diphtheria. The list of discoveries resulting from his choice is enormous. But perhaps the most amazing part of Rockefeller’s story is that the moment he began to give back a portion of all that he had earned, his body’s chemistry was altered so significantly that he got better. It looked as if he would die at 53 but he lived to be 98. Rockefeller learned gratitude and gave back from his wealth. Doing so made him whole. — It is one thing to be healed it is another to be made whole. It appears that the one leper who returned and threw himself at Jesus’ feet in gratitude was not only healed he was saved by his thanksgiving. “Rise and go,” Jesus said, “your faith has made you well” (Lk 17:19). (Rev. Bret Blair).

7) “How do you know?” asked Lincoln. “You haven’t written her”. A story is told of Abraham Lincoln. One day the President summoned to the White House a surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland from the state of Ohio. The major assumed that he was to be commended for some exceptional work. During the conversation Mr. Lincoln asked the major about his widowed mother. “She is doing fine,” he responded. “How do you know?” asked Lincoln. “You haven’t written her. But she has written me. She thinks that you are dead and she is asking that a special effort be made to return your body.” At that the Commander and Chief placed a pen in the young doctor’s hand and ordered him to write a letter letting his mother know that he was alive and well.
— Oh, the blessings that we take for granted! Oh, the wretchedness of ingratitude! It was Shakespeare who worded it more appropriately than ever we could. He wrote: “Blo blow thou winter wind, / Thou art not so unkind / As man’s ingratitude;  ….”(Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, Scene Vii, ll 174-176).

8) First National Thanksgiving Proclamation by George Washington,   
 [New York, 3 October 1789]

By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

(Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-04-02-0091. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 4, 8 September 1789 – 15 January 1790, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 131–132.]

 “Scriptural Homilies” Cycle C (No 63) by Fr. Tony:

Visit my website by clicking on https://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle C homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  of Fr. Nick’s collection of homilies or Resources in the CBCI website:  https://www.cbci.in.  (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, 1655 McGill Ave, Mobile, AL 36604