Tag Archives: Thanksgiving Eve Mass

Thanksgiving Eve Mass

Homilies,

The German theologian and Philosopher of many centuries ago, Meister Echart, once shared, “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”

Maybe our thanksgiving celebration, our giving thanks on this special day of the year, is meant to remind us that thanks and prayer, go hand in hand today and every day of the year.

+ As we give thanks for the place we call home, may it lead us to pray for those who are homeless…

+ As we give thanks for the people we call family and friends, may it lead us to pray for those who have no family and no friends.

+  As we give thanks for the food on our tables, may it lead us to pray for those who hunger around our world.

+  As we give thanks for the freedoms we have, may it lead us to pray for those who are away from home, serving our nation in the Military.

+  As we give thanks for the gift of faith, may it lead us to pray that we will truly live that faith, daily.

+  As we give thanks for all we have, may it lead us to pray for all who do not have even the basics of life.

What is it that we as person, family, church and country are thankful for this Thanksgiving 2018 that will lead us to prayer…

But, it goes without saying that our thanks and prayer need to lead us to continuing works of God and goodness daily…

Of course our ultimate Thanksgiving is what we do here tonight, and every weekend… Gather around this table to give thanks to God, to pray and then to go out into the world to bring the Good News of the Gospel to others in and thru the lives we live daily.

Finally, let me close with a quote from the late philosopher, Johnny Carson, “Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year.  And then discover once a year is way too often.”

Just kidding… Enjoy the moments and give thanks!

Thanksgiving Eve Mass

Homilies,

The great British Poet, Rudyard Kipling was a very famous writer even before he died, and made a great deal of money at his trade.

One day a newspaper reporter came up to him once and said, ”Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over $100 a word.”  Mr. Kipling raised his eyebrows and said, ”Really, I certainly wasn’t aware of that.” The reporter cynically reached into his pocket and pulled out a $100 bill and gave it to Kipling and said, ”Here’s a $100 bill Mr. Kipling.    Now give me one of your $100 words.”

Rudyard Kipling looked at that $100 bill for a moment, took it and folded it up and put it in his pocket and said, ”Thanks.”

One might say the word ”thanks” is certainly a $100 word.   Maybe even a million dollar word.    A word that may be close to being put on the endangered species list.

Tonight we, the Disciples of Jesus, from Corpus Christi Church and St. Mary’s Church, Crescent and beyond gather to say, thanks!  Today and hopefully throughout the year.  We give thanks for the blessings of faith, family, friends, the blessings of opportunity…  the blessing to make a difference…

In the past few days, a national news item, shared the story of a young boy in NYC who wanted the NYC Police Department to know that he really appreciated their efforts.  The boy, age about 7, decided he wanted to PERSONALLY thank every NYC police person (all 34,000 of them).  So began the process a year ago and one day a week he and his mother, on her day off, visit NYC Police Stations and there the boy personally gives each police officer a hand-shake and a word of thanks, along with a card of appreciation.  The boy is a year older from when he began, but he continues to give thanks.

Makes you wonder what we could do that maybe we have put off, or maybe have not had time to consider, when it comes to giving thanks to God and to others.

And maybe this Thanksgiving we might ask our God for a more positive attitude… something that is often lacking in our world today.

It’s been said that:

A POSITIVE ATTITUDE IS CONTAGIOUS, BUT DON’T WAIT TO CATCH IT FROM OTHERS.    BE A CARRIER.