Thanksgiving for all

Thanksgiving is on Thursday, November 23, 2023.  Thanksgiving has been celebrated independently by colonies and states for more than 200 years.  However, in 1941, Thanksgiving was established as a federal holiday held on the fourth Thursday of November.  The first Thanksgiving celebration is believed to have occurred in 1621.

The story, historically told from the pilgrim’s perspective, is that Plymouth colonists from England shared a meal with the indigenous Wampanoag people to give thanks for a successful fall harvest. This lore, however, may not be completely accurate. The second Thanksgiving celebration was held in 1623 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to mark the end of a long drought that threatened the year’s harvest. Days of fasting and feasting would soon become common practice in other New England settlements over the years.

The national holiday began as a celebration of the harvest and other blessings, however, it has since moved away from its Puritan roots and has become a day to “symbolise intercultural peace, America’s opportunity for newcomers, and the sanctity of home and family.”

However, the United States isn’t the only country that has a designated holiday for giving thanks. Several other countries and territories also celebrate ‘Thanksgiving’. But the dates and reasons for celebrating may vary.  The countries and territories that celebrate their own versions of ‘Thanksgiving’ include: Canada, Germany, Liberia, Japan, Norfolk Island, Grenada, The Netherlands and Puerto Rico.

In any case we all have much to give thanks for, and on this day in particular, we take this opportunity to wish all our friends, colleagues and followers ‘stateside’ a joy-filled thanksgiving, with an abundant harvest of gratefulness. And we also take this opportunity to recognise and harvest the grace-filled special moments in our own lives and in the lives of those we love and care for.

A Winter Prayer  – Strengthening Darkness

Each morning when we awaken with light still hiding in the sleeve of winter, may we receive what is needed to meet the challenging requirements of the day.

O Strengthening Darkness, we are the terminal buds waiting in repose, to be energised in our vigilant dormancy.

Like terminal buds drawing strength from the roots of a wintered tree, we greet the darkest days of the year with hope, trusting that the potency of the Holy One’s love will reinforce this essence of our being.    

O Strengthening Darkness, we are the terminal buds waiting in repose, to be energised in our vigilant dormancy.

When evening arrives each wintered day and our list of “to do” is not fully accomplished, let us enter the darkness and discover gratitude for the positive features that were experienced.

O Strengthening Darkness, we are the terminal buds waiting in repose, to be energised in our vigilant dormancy.

Each day let us remember that winter darkness invites us to breathe in stillness, to rest in the arms of silence, where what is of greatest value can be deepened and enhanced in us.    

O Strengthening Darkness, we are the terminal buds waiting in repose, to be energised in our vigilant dormancy.

No matter how expansive the world’s suffering, we can unite with that pain through our empathy, the gift of compassion that our experience of darkness empowers in us.    

O Strengthening Darkness, we are the terminal buds waiting in repose, to be energised in our vigilant dormancy.

O Strengthening Darkness, we are the terminal buds on the tree of life. Waiting, trusting, remaining hopeful—may these valued movements of the heart increase in us. Light-filled days will come again into our lives. As the radiant warmth of springtime unfurls the hidden green in buds whose arms wrapped tightly around themselves, so will surprises of future light awaken and unfurl what has seemed forever buried in our winter’s repose.

~ Joyce Rupp, OSM.

Sister Joyce Rupp, O.S.M., is a Roman Catholic author and speaker. She is the co-director of The Institute of Compassionate Presence, a member of the Servite Order, and a volunteer for Hospice.  See HERE