In a short week and a half Thanksgiving will be upon us once again. As always time passes swiftly from year to year and even more swiftly as the years go by, it really is a curious phenomenon, this passing of time. However interesting it might be, time does not hold the focus of these few lines although I suppose it is related since all I know and understand is within time.
The holiday of Thanksgiving will soon be upon us again and then of course shortly afterwards, the wonderful season of Advent followed by the celebration of the birth of our Savior. Of course, capitalist America has already begun its advertisement campaigns lest we forget about the holiday of Christmas. While I love Christmas, I am also an advocate for being properly prepared to receive the breathtaking gift of God become man, so logically I am a fan of the season of Advent. Unfortunately that season is so often missed, forgotten, or completely ignored but that is another topic for another time. Even before Advent is upon us, we have this wonderful holiday of Thanksgiving. Now this began as simply an American civil holiday yet it is certainly interesting that the origin of 'holiday' is in the Church's celebration of Holy Days, special feast days of saints or events in Salvation History with integral importance. Even though Thanksgiving is not a day set aside by the catholic Church, the universal, international Church, I maintain that it is in fact, a Holy Day.
A day set aside for the sole purpose of giving thanks accomplishes something most important that is often lost on modern man. For one day, we are encouraged, by our culture, by our civil society in the United States to be thankful for what we have received. When one places himself in a posture of thanks, he is naturally looking outward not toward himself; he thanks somebody else beside himself. One does not pour himself a glass of milk and then say "Thank you my good sir!"... if he did he would be considered odd indeed and possibly even worse an object for scientific study. So on Thanksgiving, we are encouraged to remove ourselves from the center of our lives. We are encouraged to allow ourselves to revolve around something or someone else at least for a few hours. What a relief this is for many! What a relief and relaxing time it is to not be at the center of the universe controlling everything. Funny isn't it, when we set time aside to do nothing at all besides be thankful, we are then most at peace and filled with the most joy. We are not concerned with the world turning just so and our clothes wearing without wrinkles. In fact, we are concerned with the weather, food, drink, laughter, tears, and good company. Yes, we are concerned with leisure, with celebration and festival... dare I say we are concerned with worship? Worship in the form of festival or celebration is the highest form of leisure, the very basis of culture. So I encourage you, make a trip to morning mass at your parish whether you are Catholic or not and spend thirty to sixty minutes in worshiping the Lord your God, our loving Father who gave us all that we know. Praise God for life and for Holy Days!
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