Homily for Thanksgiving Day

Today, we in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving Day. Traditionally, this is a day to gather with family and friends and share a meal, time together, and perhaps, a football game.

 

For many, that is not going to happen this year. Restrictions and safety concerns with the COVID-19 Pandemic will keep many families and groups of friends from gathering together, sharing time, laughter, and a meal. For many, this may even get in the way of feeling any sense of gratitude.

 

But Saint Paul tells us to be grateful in all circumstances. Indeed, there is always a reason to be grateful to God for our gifts are many, even in trying times such as these.

 

We have the gift of life, and the gift of God’s love that we share with so many others. We can be grateful for our family and friends and the love that we share with them. We can be grateful for those whose work helps us in times of crisis: first responders, police, fire fighters, EMTs, doctors, nurses, medical workers, those whose work becomes the action of God’s mercy in our world. We can be grateful for those who teach and care for our youth. We can be grateful for those who work to stock grocery store shelves, those who deliver goods to our homes, those who work in the restaurant and food industries. We can be grateful for the air we breathe, the water, we drink, the food we eat. And in all these things, in all these people, we can be grateful for the hand of God at work in our world.

 

This Thanksgiving, let us be mindful of the ways God is present to us, ways that we may miss when life is not so difficult, and let us give thanks for that presence in its many manifestations.+