We cannot give thanks unless we remember! My brothers and sisters, God has given each of us a marvelous gift in our ability as human beings to remember the past, to celebrate the present moment, and to look into the future with hope.
One of the great tragedies in life is to suffer a loss of memory. While we might all admire former President Ronald Reagan for his courageous and forthright acknowledgment of the disease that is slowly robbing him of his memory, there is a sadness that we cannot help but feel knowing that this precious human gift is gradually slipping away from his life.
It is our ability to remember that brings a smile and special twinkle to the eyes of a man and woman who renew their wedding vows of 50 years before God’s altar. Their minds think back to the first time they set eyes on one another; the day of their wedding; the birth of their children; times of challenge and difficulty; moments when they were surprised by unexpected joy. Out of such memories comes a sense of gratitude for the wonder and gift of life.
On this Thanksgiving Day, 2019, we come together as a Nation and enter into the collective memory of this Land and its people. Many of us know the story of the first Thanksgiving, but it is good to remember and tell that story again - to hand on the memory of that event to another generation who call this Land their own.
The Pilgrims, the Calvinist settlers in New England, held the first Thanksgiving Day celebration in 1621. Many of the English settlers did not celebrate Easter or Christmas. They had abandoned Catholic feast days and seasons, but they were devoted to the Bible. They based their laws and customs on it.
After landing in Massachusetts the Pilgrims had a tragic winter. They found the New England winters far colder than in England, and half the settlers died. In the spring, help came from a Pawtuxet Indian named Squanto, who showed them how to plant corn and other native crops. Because of the generosity of a native of this land - these immigrants to a new and strange land had a bountiful harvest.
Inviting their Native American saviors to join them, they prepared turkeys and other wild game, seafood, corn, dried berries and vegetables. Their harvest festival lasted three days.
Thanksgiving Day didn’t become an annual event until much later. In 1789, President George Washington proclaimed a day of thanksgiving for the new country. For many years after that, some states celebrated on one day, some on another. In 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the forth Thursday of November as the official Thanksgiving Day of the nation.
How fitting it is that on this national day of Thanksgiving, we Catholics gather to do what we have done for 2000 years - gather around a Holy Table to Remember and to Give Thanks - to make Eucharist.
The strength of this nation must always be found in a people who are willing to humbly acknowledge that all that we have and all that we are comes from the hand of a good and gracious God. We must never forget that the strength and richness of this nation is found in its arms opened wide to bring solace and comfort to others - as it was given to the Pilgrims four centuries ago. This profound conviction was captured poetically by a young woman of Spanish Jewish stock who penned these words which grace the base of the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
We cannot give thanks unless we remember. As we gather today around our dinning room tables surrounded by family and friends - let us remember - the precious gift of life, the love of family and friends that is stronger than death, the smile on the faces of children who are our hope for the future. And let us remember this nation in which we live - blessed by God - with the promise of liberty and justice for all.
May we strive to make that promise more than words but a living reality in our hearts, in our homes, in this city and in our Country - from sea to shining sea.