Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving. We truly have so much to be thankful for but without a doubt, the greatest thanksgiving we can offer is thanksgiving to God for his love. And how do we do that? How do we thank God for something so magnificent? We thank God for his love by offering Him a sacrifice - the kind of sacrifice that is a total gift of ourselves to God through the Eucharist. The Eucharist is an act of mutual love. It is an acceptance of God's love and it is an offering of our love to Him. When we receive Christ in the Eucharist we are surrendering ourselves to a bigger plan than we can ever imagine for ourselves. We join ourselves - our body to his, our blood to his, our soul to his, and our humanity to his divinity - as a sacrifice and an act of thanksgiving. It is a sacrifice because there, with Christ, we die to ourselves. It is thanksgiving because by partaking in the Eucharist we are showing the ultimate sign of gratitude to God for his offer of eternal love by accepting it with a full heart.

This Thanksgiving, may we all turn our heart and mind to the Almighty God who draws us into himself now and forever.

Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1328

The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called: Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God.

St.Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, 9:6-12

Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: "He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You are being enriched in every way for all generosity, which through us produces thanksgiving to God, for the administration of this public service is not only supplying the needs of the holy ones but is also overflowing in many acts of thanksgiving to God.

Thanksgiving & Eucharist By Marcellino D'Ambrosio

Blood brings nourishment and life to every cell of our bodies. It also carries away impurities that poison our system. The Eucharist offers us a transfusion–we put aside our old life and receive his ever-new life. His divine vitality for our tired, toxic blood. The life of a thing was in its blood. It was poured out at the foot of the altar and could never be consumed, for it belonged to God alone. But here God pours out his own blood at the altar of the cross gives it to us as our drink, for the transformation of our lives....

... But true thanksgiving is not just a matter of words and warm sentiments. Gratitude for a gift means offering a gift in return. He gave his whole, entire self to us–his body, blood, soul, divinity. The only adequate response would be to offer ourselves. Note what Paul says in his letter to the Romans: “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1).

So thanksgiving cannot be separated from sacrifice. The Mass is a celebration of his love and the freedom it won for us through his sacrifice. Through it, the love of God is poured into our hearts and enables us to love with his love. In the power of that love, we offer ourselves back to him and enter into that sacrifice which we celebrate.

True thanksgiving means self-giving. This is the meaning of Eucharist.

The Eucharist as a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving By Father John Corapi

We know that Christ and his church are one. The analogy is of the bride and bridegroom in a marriage. Jesus is the groom, the Church his mystical bride. "The two become one flesh" as it were. Christ come to full stature is Jesus the head of his mystical body and the church, his body, working as one. "Where I am, there my servant will be," the Master says. "It is necessary that I be lifted up in order to draw all men to myself," Jesus likewise asserted, referring to the sacrifice of the cross. Each member of the body of Christ, and the body as a whole, walk the way of sacrifice if we are to be authentic members of Christ. His way (the One who said "I am the way") is our way. Good Friday always precedes Easter Sunday on my liturgical calendar. In order to enjoy the glory we must endure, indeed even joyfully, the sacrifice. In other words, "No pain, no gain; no cross, no crown; no gall no glory!"