What People Remember:  Recently, I went to a funeral home to pay my respects and visit with an old seminary contemporary whose dad died.  This particular friend was also in Rome with me at the North American College.  We often would have each other’s family cart things back and forth for us when they traveled to Rome.  When I got to the funeral home, the wife of the deceased and thus my friend’s mom gave me a huge and long hug.  We hadn’t seen each other in some 20 years.  At first, she was crying but then she started to laugh.  I wasn’t sure where the laughter was headed, but then it all made sense.  “Oh my,” she started to say.  “I’ll never forget those tiny little coffins your mom once asked me to take to Rome.”  Now, I was thoroughly confused!  “What in the world was she talking about,” I asked myself.  As she was talking, she was using hand gestures to show the size of these little “coffins.”  I had no clue where this conversation was headed.  She then offered an explanation that made sense.  “Your mom once asked me to bring some shoes for you over to Rome.  When she came over to the house before our trip, I took one look at those huge boxes and remarked how they looked like little coffins.  And then I realized those little coffins were for your shoes!”  No, it wasn’t my pastoral abilities or my technical skills.  She will always remember my big feet and those little boxes that looked like coffins! Oh my!
 
Thanksgiving Day Mass:  Please consider starting your Thanksgiving Day celebrations by joining us for mass at 9:00 a.m.  We usually have several hundred people in attendance.  It’s a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with your “church” family!  Parishioners from St. Lucy and Our Lady Star of the Sea parishes will join us as well.  As is our custom, the collection taken up at mass will be given to our local St. Vincent DePaul Society Conference.  Your contributions help our local Vincentians assist the poor and needy who live within our parish boundaries!  I would also like to suggest that everyone come to the Thanksgiving Day mass with some canned goods or non-perishable food that can be used in our food pantry.  Your support helps us respond to the many people who come to our doors looking for food or assistance.
 
Thanksgiving Day:  Of all holidays, Thanksgiving Day is at the top of my list.  While Christmas and Easter are up there too, this one, as far as a national holiday, is one of my favorites.  It’s one of my favorites because I usually have only one liturgy (a rarity with holidays) and more importantly, it’s a day to celebrate with family and friends.  There’s no gift giving; you simply get to “be” with family and friends.
 
As with all holidays and holy days, we need to reflect upon them in their proper context.  Thanksgiving Day isn’t just about parades, turkey, mashed potatoes, pie and football games!  It’s about being thankful to God for all he has given us.  Because we live in such a busy and fast-paced world it would be easy to breeze through Thanksgiving Day without pausing to thank God for all he has given us.  Going around the dinner table and asking people to share what they are thankful for would be a great way to start or end your gathering.
 
Thanksgiving Day Part Two:  Mitch Albom had a great column several years ago entitled, “The Turkey Shrinks as the Absences Grow.”  Mitch spoke about how missing Thanksgiving Day with family and friends was once unthinkable.  Today, however, the turkey “shrinks” as the excuses trickle in.  People have all kinds of excuses why they can’t attend the usual family Thanksgiving Day celebration.  Again this year we have the added excuse that people may have to shop early given the vast number of stores that are opening on Thanksgiving evening for the start of Black Friday.  The saddest reality, as Mitch points out, is that people are missing the best part of Thanksgiving … being with family!  Mitch’s article is a great read and worth sharing with family and friends.  You can find the column at Mitch Albom’s website: mitchalbom.com and search for “The Turkey Shrinks.”
 
Thanksgiving Day Part Three (courtesy of the New York Times):  Several years ago I found a great editorial column about Thanksgiving Day posted in the archives section of the New York Times website.  The piece was originally published on November 18, 1869.  Here are a few snippets:  “Thanksgiving is the Home Holiday.  We have no sweeter festival in the calendar…. We need more holidays in our American life.  We have many anniversaries, but few days sacred to friendship (and) faith …. This is the feast day of Family and of Friendship.  Many a truant son and daughter will cross seas and travel weary miles to sit in the old pew, and hear the familiar psalms, and gather around the fireside with those they love.  The real meaning of this day is Coming Home.  There are no traditional glories, no memories of sacred adventure or suffering to divide it.  It has but one embracing sentiment. ‘God has blessed us,’ we say, ‘and we thank Him in our homes.’  While we come together and thank God for his manifold kindness … let us remember that with our privileges there comes a duty always present, but in seasons like this, commanding and imperative.  In the fullness of our own joy we must not forget those who are poor and sick and cast down by bitter fortune. The Master to whom so many praises will be sung this morning showed no holier attribute of divinity than when he taught us that true Christianity gave clothing to the naked and food to the hungry, and opened the prison doors to those in bonds.  We have many prisons around us, where poverty and misfortune and hard necessity hold their victims with sterner grasp than with chains and bars.  It is for us to open these doors and break these bonds, to spread our substance and store, to lend the helping hand and bless the day with deeds of charity.  As we do to others so may we hope that others will do to us and our children.  This is the lesson of the day.  By its full observance we can make a true Thanksgiving, and show that the gifts we have received from the Father of all have not fallen upon hard and stony ground.”
 
Enjoy the week.  Know of my prayers.  Happy Thanksgiving!
 
In Christ,
 
gmb
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