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Giving Thanks for the Hard Things in Life
Copyright Catholic Home and Garden 2006
Please email for permission to reprint
"Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (Thess. 5:18)
As November draws to a close, nearly everyone looks with anticipation to the Thanksgiving Day feast. Families and friends gather around tables bursting with good food, a signal that the season of winter Holy Days is about to begin.
There are plenty of websites that will offer tips for decorating, entertaining and more recipes for turkey, pumpkin pie, and stuffing than you will ever be able to use in this life. They are delightful and a lot of fun and we'll even offer a list of them for you to explore.
We'd like you to give consideration to another aspect of Thanksgiving -- a Catholic perspective.
On Thanksgiving Day, many Catholic will attend Mass, although it is not a Holy Day, it is a day when the secular culture and the Church meet. Over 400 years after the first Thanksgiving, the missals used in Roman Catholic parishes throughout the United States now present special readings for that day. In some parishes, processions of children dressed as Pilgrims and Native Americans will be incorporated into the liturgy.
Give Thanks for the Church in America. This Thanksgiving, we invite you to give thanks for the Gift of the Catholic Church in America. While there are certainly problems in the American Church, we as Catholic take a lot for granted.
One good friend of ours often experiences Sunday without the Mass. It's not because she and her family don't go to Church. The issue is the lack of a priest to offer the Mass. She doesn't live in the outback, or on a remote island in Micronesia. She lives in Western Canada. They don't live in a cabin in a remote wilderness area. They live in a thriving municipality, but their parish is considered a mission, so if the Priest assigned to minister to them has another obligation, they have to make do with a lay minister and a Eucharistic service.
Think about that. No Priest. No Mass. And then give thanks to God for the Church in your community.
And give thanks for your pastor. Even if you don't like him. Especially if you don't like him.
Give Thanks for the Suffering Church in America. The truth is that many Catholics are suffering. Some suffer from the effects of a too-liberal interpretation of the documents of Vatican II which have resulted in a wide variety of liturgical abuses.
Others suffer in the knowledge that so many of our Priests have fallen to the temptations of this secular, not-so-holy world, some in worse ways than others.
Others suffer from a lack of catechesis and unbridled feminist agendas in the Church leading them to truly believe that there is grave injustice in the lack of a female priesthood and deaconate, and even in the rejection of same sex marriages.
There are many forms of suffering among the laity, and certainly among the clergy as well.
A question: when we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the true unbloody Sacrifice identical to the humiliation and scandal of Calvary which is the most pure offering of Love ever to have taken place, can we expect, as Catholics, that we are exempt from the suffering of the Cross?
Let us each take our biases, our notions, whether misguided or not, and accept that the burden of what we may carry in our hearts and minds is our cross to bear. Give thanks for the suffering of the Church. Give thanks that we care enough to suffer.
It is ironic that we, as Catholics, have embraced the journey of the early Protestants who fled to America to escape religious persecution only to practice persecution of Catholics and others in a more vicious manner than they had ever experienced.
John Francis Maguire in 1868 wrote:
 The Puritans of New England outdid, in their fierce intolerance, those whose milder tyranny had compelled them to seek relief in exile. The contrast offered by the different policy pursued by Catholic and Puritan colonists should put to shame those who are so lavish in their accusations of Catholic persecution. When the Catholics had power or influence, they proclaimed the broadest toleration, the fullest liberty to every sect of Christians; while, on the contrary, not only were Catholics in a special degree the objects of persecution in every colony, and by every governor or legislature, but the zealots who persecuted them did not refrain from persecuting people of other denominations. We may refer to the conduct of the Catholic settlers of Maryland, and of the Catholics during the only time they ever possessed any influence in the State of New York, and contrast their enlightened policy with the laws against Quakers and Catholics--the latter of which laws were not erased from the statute-book until after America had accomplished her independence. Read more
An additional resource on Thanksgiving Day and persecution is here.
The persecution of Catholics is far from over. In some parts of the world, being a Catholic, particularly a Priest or Religious Nun, is the equivalent of a formal death sentence, or at best, imprisonment. In China, the Catholic Church is illegal. Read more.
In other, more "civilized" circles, Catholics who hold fast to the entirety of Church teaching are also persecuted in any number of ways. Anti-Catholicism is rampant in America. Give thanks for those who are willing to take up the cross of truth and to give their lives or, at the very least, their reputations up for the love of Christ.
Give Thanks for Illness and Physical Suffering - If we are able to accept that all things come from God, and that He is incapable of giving us anything that is not for the good of our souls, we have come a long way.
Although while he walked the earth, Our Lord cured many who suffered with physical ailments, we learn from the Lives of the Saints that it is in physical suffering that we are able to bind ourselves more closely to God.
Even the little sufferings of a weary body are not without merit if we offer them in love to the One who made us. St. Therese, whose illness prevented her from fulfilling her desire to serve in the mission fields would offer her weariness to alleviate the toil of those who were able to directly serve in that manner.
Many Saints, whether they suffered the stigmata or more ordinary illnesses offered them for the salvation of souls, a heroic sacrifice for the greater glory of God. Don't waste your suffering. The phrase "offer it up" has more depth than we can begin to imagine. Give thanks today for your physical suffering. Read more
 Give Thanks for Financial Setbacks - Precarity is a true gift from God.
What is precarity? In the conventional sense, it is a condition of existence without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare. In the spiritual sense, it is the complete dependence on God's Will for us.
When we are comfortable and enjoying material welfare, it is the rare individual who truly gives thanks to God. In fact, the business of acquiring wealth, taking care of our possessions, updating them, accessorizing them, attending the functions that go with a certain station in life -- all of these take up so much time that we have little left for God. (see note)
When have little -- or don't know where the next influx of needed funds is coming from -- it is then that we turn to God. It is easy to say, "Oh, God, give me a good high paying job," or "Please Lord, let me win the lottery so I can buy a house." It is less easy to say, "Lord, You know what my material needs are. You know what is best for the salvation of my eternal soul. I surrender to Your Holy Will. I trust in You." It is the last prayer, we think, that is the one most pleasing to Him.
Give thanks to God for your financial setbacks because they will draw you closer to Him. Read More about Precarity.
Give Thanks for the Death of a Loved One - What a harsh concept this is. Your heart is broken. A death that has come suddenly, unjustly, too early in life, perhaps the death of a child.
How can you possibly give thanks?
Again, if we trust in God completely, and have complete faith that whatever He permits is for the good of our souls, then we must rejoice in the death of a loved one. Particularly of a child or young person. Death comes to each of us. How many days will we have on this earth? Will I die in middle age? As an octogenarian? Perhaps I will die as soon as I am born.
God alone knows the number of our days. He created each of us as an act of incredible love. He treasures each soul as though it were the only one He created. And so, God also knows how many days are needed for each soul to reach salvation. For some of us, that means a very long life. Perhaps these are the ones who are slow learners. For others, it may mean snipping the golden cord very early in life. He alone knows whether a child might wander down a dangerous path later in life -- one from which he or she might not emerge with his or her soul intact.
In His infinite wisdom, He knows the exact number of days, of hours, that we each need to be drawn up into His Eternal Heart. This life is passing. Eternity is forever. Give thanks that God has loved the one that you also have loved and that in His Charity, has gathered up that soul.
NOTE: A New York Times editorial (Let Us Pray for Wealth, 11/03/07) cites a global survey recently conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that the wealthier you are, the less likely you are to be religious. Pew found that there is “a strong relationship between a country’s religiosity and its economic status.” The poorer a country, the more “religion remains central to the lives of individuals, while secular perspectives are more common in richer nations.” Catholic Home and Garden bases our own conclusions on hundreds of visits to estate sales where we have noted, with rare exception, that the more opulent the estate, the less likely we are to find evidence of any Catholic religious devotional objects and conversely in the most modest homes they are likely to appear in abundance.
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Christ Among Us
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Give generously to your parish food pantry.
Canned goods and non-perishable goods are wonderful
but a gift of cash can often leverage better bulk prices.
Give your time by organizing a food drive or
help out in your local pantry.
If you have the time or talent learn to write grants.
They are needed not just for food, but for stoves, refrigerators, electricity to power them, vehicles
to transport workers and goods.
Send a check to
The Catholic Worker
The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal
The Little Sisters of the Poor
The Sisters of Charity
We don't know any groups that more completely and radically
serve those in need while living a life of poverty themselves.
Send a check now.
Send another one in August
when everyone has forgotten the poor,
except the poor themselves.
Thanksgiving Dinner Menus
In all the world, the United States of America is the only nation that sets apart one day each year to be devoted to thanksgiving to God for the blessings He has accorded. This is a tradition we can well be proud to carry on. The foods that the Pilgrims served on the first Thanksgiving Day are still served today as the basis of the feast — turkey, cranberries, pumpkins, root vegetables — better in quality, prepared more elaborately, but still regarded as fundamentals.
 Visit Catholic Culture for a wonderful array of recipes and activities including Latterwaerick!
(Yes, we know. It's everyone's favorite, isn't it? Well, maybe not yet.)
 Get Fed on the Word of God
No Matter What You Serve at Your Thanksgiving Day Meal think about consciously setting aside a few moments to share a reading from Scripture at the dinner table - perhaps after the main meal has been served and everyone is enjoying coffee.
Make a Thanksgiving Tree
In our family, I was always the slightly "off-kilter" creative person. This was one idea that had everyone groaning, "Oh, no. Now what is she up to!" But when it was missing one year, they all complained!
The Idea: Create a center piece resembling a tree. Use cut out leaves as a place mark with each person's name written on the leaf - leaving room for each person to write something he or she is thankful for. On the back - hidden until later - write out a Bible verse and let the Grace of God speak to that soul through scripture.
 Directions: Find a small tree limb with some small branches or grab a potted plant or mini Christmas Tree (you'll be using it soon again). Cut colorful leaf shapes from construction paper. Here are some templates to print. If you really want to get crazy, attach a green or brown pipe cleaner as a stem. You can use this for hanging on the tree and to prop the leaf up as a name tag. Ask each guest to write a short thought about what they are thankful for.
How to find the verses. God has a wonderful way of speaking to us through Holy Scripture. Sit quietly for a time and prayerfully think about each guest. Open your Bible at random and find the short verse meant of that soul. Or, take the easier way out - and attach a packet of Harvest Seeds to the back of the leaf - each is printed with a verse from the Bible.
After Dinner ask everyone to share what they are thankful for and invite them to read the verse you have written on the back or to take a pack of Harvest Seeds and let God speak to their hearts.
How Will You Celebrate Thanksgiving?
For years our family rotated who would host various holidays. Thanksgiving was always at my mother's house. When she got older and moved into a Catholic senior housing complex, we would use the facility's party room and each of us would bring our assigned food, drink or decorations. (If you read the article above, you'll know who did the decorating.)
My mother passed from this life into the next seven years ago on the day after Thanksgiving. We were all able to see her and say goodbye.
When the next year rolled around, her never-married sister decided that we would do something different. We meet at her office (a famous comic book publisher) with a window overlooking the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and ooo'd and ahh'd over the bird's eye view of the balloons and dancers and bands while enjoying a light breakfast in the warmth of the indoors.
Afterwards, our small mob hits the streets and watches the amazing ballet of the street sweepers clearing up the debris from the parade as we stroll over to Kennedy's - a fabulous pub with great food, a roaring fireplace, and wonderful Irish waitresses. No one cooks, no one cleans, everyone eats, and laughs a lot.
A brisk stroll through Central Park on the way home rounds out the day and then we realize - there are no left overs!
Our new tradition includes Thanksgiving Day Part II on Friday when the doors to our tiny home are open to anyone who wants to drop in. The only rule is that you MUST bring your own take home containers. We love it because it's a time to relax and chat with friends, old and new - especially parish friends from all over the country and world who may have no family or just two people in their family. It's Thanksgiving Day all over again.
Do you have any special traditions? Let us know.
View short video on Giving Thanks
We recommend clicking the pause button to allow it to stream before playing
From St. Anthony Messenger
 Send A Thanksgiving Day e-Card
What Are Your Blessings?
The Importance of Saying Thanks
Thanksgiving Should Be A Verb
The Meaning of Thanksgiving from Living Catholicism
The First Thanksgiving Was Catholic!
Celebrating Thanksgiving
Here is the origin of Thanksgiving Day, as well as decoration suggestions, grace before and after the dinner, and an explanation of the perfect thanksgiving, which is the Mass
Lessons from the Saints About Suffering
by Peter Kreeft
By the time you finish reading this article, thousands of people will have suffered agony, terror, violence, starvation, death, and despair. Modern technology has not turned this world from a "vale of tears" into a Garden of Eden. The problem of suffering has always been with us and always will be.
We can learn some of life’s most valuable lessons from wise men and women of God who have come to terms with suffering and conquered it—not with their bodies, nor with their intellects, but with their spirits. In the scriptural sense, all Christians are saints, sanctified, set apart for God. In the popular sense, saints are especially saintly, holy, wise, strong, and loving. We understand Christ better by understanding the saints, who are like his fingers in the world, at the point or leading edge of his working body. We also understand the saints through understanding Christ. It works both ways. Read more
We understand, as Catholics, that our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, but too few of us take that truth to heart. As the season of holidays and Holy Days draws near, many are tempted to over-indulge. The Maker's Diet is a sound, healthy diet that respects our bodies and fuels them to do God's work in the world.
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From the Joseph's Studio Harvest Collection, this "Pilgrim Family" figure captures the true meaning of the season with the highly detailed pieces offering thanks. Measures 10.25"H. Verse reads: "Lord we give you thanks for this season of Thanksgiving...." Resin/Stone mix.
Unusual combination of skills in cooking, photography, fine arts and knowledge of saints' lives to present this unique cook book. Captures a wonderful variety of recipes and inspiring biographies of each saint. This richly illustrated treasure of ancient and modern recipes from 21 countries celebrates the Catholic tradition of honoring saints with special meals and recipes on their feast days. Some 73 saints are depicted here with over 170 recipes that cover a broad spectrum of dishes that includes main courses, side dishes, soups, snacks, breads and desserts. 
Grandma Pie Plate
From the Harvest Collection, this ceramic harvest pumpkin is engraved with "Give Thanks Unto the Lord". Measures 6"H.
Praise and Thanksgiving Coloring Book A fun and creative way for children to learn about giving thanks and praise to God
Kitchen Prayer
