Throughout our country September and October are the months of Harvest Thanksgiving. Often we pay great attention to the ‘Harvest’ part of this, thinking of the bounty of the earth and decorating our churches accordingly. However, how often do we think about the ‘Thanksgiving’ aspect to it? As the word would suggest, ‘thanksgiving’ is giving thanks to God. However the whole idea of giving God anything is paradoxical, for he is the creator of everything. How can we give to God what belongs to him already? In thanksgiving we, hand things over to their true owner, acknowledging and gladly assenting to his ownership.
Thanksgiving is a bit different from either praise or adoration. By giving thanks to God we are expressing our gratitude and indebtedness to the goodness and generosity with which he has treated us specifically. We praise God for being infinitely wise, but we thank him for his wise guidance to us personally: “Thank you, Lord, for leading me faithfully along the path of my vocation.”
Thanksgiving reminds us that everything is a gift. That may sound trite to some, but saying thank you is never trivial. The most important act of Christian worship is the Eucharist (the Greek word for ‘thanksgiving’), an act of praise and thanksgiving, saying thank you to God for the best of all gifts, Jesus Christ his Son.
So this Harvest Thanksgiving let us strive to recover the concept of ‘thanksgiving’ in our spiritual lives. Let us cherish the Eucharist the principle Christian act of ‘thanksgiving’ and let us strive to revive the practice of saying grace before meals, especially when we’re eating in public.
Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, – a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
~George Herbert
On Sunday 7 October we will celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving. All Welcome !
Don’t Miss our Harvest tide Bring and Share Lunch Buffet after Mass Wednesday 10 October at 10.30 am
Parish of Hemsworth 