Thanksgiving 2024
Despite the chaos of the world, there is much for which to give thanks.
Thanksgiving is upon us, and there is much for which to be thankful. We were spared the agony of weeks’ of battle as to who actually won the last election. The American electorate spoke clearly that we want to move in a new direction, and this time the results were pacifically accepted. If it seems to you, as it does to me, the calm before the storm, be thankful for the calm. The rest is needed.
Pope Francis has declared next year to be a Year of Jubilee. The graces will extend to the whole world. It’s of particular importance to me, as my wife and I married in the beginning of the last Jubilee, 2000, promulgated by Pope John Paul II. A close relative, not a Catholic, commented to me at the time that it was “almost like a year of jubilee.” When I mentioned to him that it was, I wasn’t sure what to make of his silence. 2000 was a very good year.
We can expect spiritual blessings to flow abundantly, then, because that’s what happens in a Year of Jubilee. We can begin our preparations for it by giving thanks to God for the trials — yes, trials — of the past year, those events that show us our own insufficiency and the beauty and peace that arise from waiting upon the Lord for the solutions that He brings. “They who wait for the Lord …” Isaiah tells us in his fortieth chapter. I won’t continue the quotation; you can find it and let the text speak directly to you.
Advent is upon us: it starts this Sunday, and it carries the twofold message of the Lord’s coming. Yes, he comes in righteousness and justice at the end of time, because he came with love and mercy 2,000 years ago and extends that love and mercy still. We can give great thanks for divine revelation, for the sacraments, and for the pastoral care that Holy Mother Church continues to offer through faithful priests and pastors and courageous religious and laity who live joyful lives of complete commitment to the Lord and his work. Their hope shines forth like stars in the night, and the love God extends through them can remove any doubt as to our own lovability and goodness.
Wars are raging throughout the world, yes, and they claim our urgent attention in prayer and in whatever action we can muster. Some of these wars are hot and some are not. All of them are destructive. Yet we have the certain hope that peace is possible even in the midst of war, and that war is not the last word. We have certain faith that as war arises in each human heart, so each human heart is capable of quenching it. This is no call to pacifism: spiritual warfare, warfare with one’s lower impulses and all the spirits that incite them, is real, and it is hard work. Victory is promised to those who persevere, and for that we can give thanks. The war for inner peace is the war worth fighting, for those who possess peace project it and give hope to the world.
Soon we will be singing “Joy to the world, the Lord is come,” and our sincerity in singing the words will mirror the depth of our inner battles to be men and women of peace, people who maintain hope and share it in a world desperately in need of it. That we can be such men and women is one of the greatest motives for thanks this Thanksgiving. I hope you think so, too, and I wish you and yours the joy of the day and of the weekend.