Thanksgiving Day Celebrated in the United States

27 November 2008

The First Thanksgiving, painting by

Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863–1930)

In the USA, today is Thanksgiving Day

(Optional Memorial)

(Opening prayer)

Father all-powerful,
your gifts of love are countless
and your goodness infinite.
On Thanksgiving Day we come before you
with gratitude for your kindness:
open our hearts to concern for our fellow men and women,
so that we may share your gifts in loving service.
We ask this trough our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
 Readings for Mass

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in
Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all
knowledge, as the testimony 3 to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not
lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord.

Psalms 113 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

Hallelujah! Praise, you servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD both now and forever.

From the rising of the sun to its setting let the name of the LORD be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD; above the heavens God's glory.

Who is like the LORD, our God enthroned on high,

looking down on heaven and earth?

The LORD raises the needy from the dust, lifts the poor from the ash heap,
Seats them with princes, the princes of the people,

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to saint Luke 17:11-19

As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.

As he was entering a village, ten lepers met (him). They stood at a distance from him and
raised their voice, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were
going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has
none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB

Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Discourse on Psalm 95

"Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand"

«Then shall all the trees of the forest exult before the Lord, for he comes; he comes to
rule the earth» (Ps 95[96], 12b-13). The Lord has already come once and he will come
again. The first time he came «on the clouds» (Mt 26,64) in his Church. What are the
clouds that bore him? Apostles, preachers... The first time he came borne by his preachers
and he filled all the earth. Let us not resist his first coming if we would not dread the
second...

So what should the Christian do? Profit by this world but not serve this world. And in
what does that consist? «Own as though not owning». That is what Saint Paul said:
«Brothers, the time is running out... From now on... let those weeping act as not weeping,
those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not
using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away. I should like you to be
free of anxieties» (1Cor 7,29-32). Anyone free from anxiety confidently awaits his Lord's
coming. For if we dread his coming do we love the Lord? My brethren, aren't we
blushing about it? We love him and yet we dread his coming? Do we truly love him or do
we not rather love our sins? Then let us hate our sins and love the One who is to come...

«Then shall all the trees of the forest exult before the Lord» for he has come a first time...
He has come a first time and he will return to judge the earth. At that time he will find all
those who believed in his first coming full of joy.