Thanksgiving: Gratitude for the Eucharist and Christ-Centered Relationships, by Thomas Griffin

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Detail, Jan Anton van der Baren, ‘Eucharist in a Garland’ (photo: Public domain)

By Thomas Griffin, National Catholic Register, November 25, 2024

Thomas Griffin Thomas Griffin is the chair of the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island, where he lives with his wife and sons. He is the author of Let Us Begin: Saint Francis’s Way of Becoming Like Christ and Renewing the World (OSV, September 2024).

It is the Eucharist that allows us to be in communion with the God of love whose identity is relationship.

Thomas GriffinTurkey, football, family and an endless number of pies often fill Thanksgiving Day in America. All over the country, people will gather with friends and family to celebrate this national holiday. While it has become a commercialized secular holiday for many people, there is still so much about this day that is aligned with our Catholic faith. A goal of mine this year is to have a Thanksgiving spirituality.

The first Thanksgiving took place in 1621. It was truly a matter of diplomacy between the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag people. They gathered together, with their families, to share a meal and bring about fellowship between the people. Two years later, we have records that the Plymouth colonists gathered for a more direct “thanksgiving” meal to celebrate the rains that had come after much drought. They gave thanks to God on this day, grateful for providential care. …