Thanksgiving is the Heart of America
Thanksgiving is a celebration at the heart of our nation with a rich and varied history based on the feast which is commonly held to have taken place on Nov. 20, 1621, between the Native Americans of the land and the pilgrims who came to it. It was called for so that the colonists could give thanks for the good crop of that year. There is a discrepancy regarding the actual time and circumstances of the first Thanksgiving, with some historians claiming it actually took place in Florida. The history of Thanksgiving also reveals the tensions that existed within our land from the very beginning, not always in keeping with the peace and tranquility depicted in the scene of the first Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is truly American, and its celebration through the years of our nation with sumptuous food, family gatherings, football games and joyful parades is a sign of the abundance of this land. Thanksgiving expresses the heart of our nation, which is gratitude to God for our land rich in many ways, especially our freedom. It is a land of welcoming of others to it. We realize that the pilgrims and colonists were the first immigrants welcomed to America and assisted by its native inhabitants.
Oct. 24 of this year, the actual day of our 40th anniversary as the Diocese of Palm Beach, Pope Francis issued his fourth encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, entitled Dilexit nos. This is an extremely rich encyclical, and one that is very fitting for the celebration of Thanksgiving at a time when our nation has gone through a difficult election and is in need of healing and very much in need of the heart. Pope Francis expresses how necessary it is to be men and women of the heart in a day and age of such massive technological advancement, leading to the beginning of the manifestation of artificial intelligence, which can produce much good, but also a movement away from what we need the most, the heart.
The heart is the center of our being as created in the image and likeness of God. The Lord allowed His heart to be pierced on the cross in order to show His infinite love for each and every one of us from the very beginning of creation. As Pope Francis expresses, “Living as we do in an age of superficiality, rushing frenetically from one thing to another without really knowing why, and ending up as insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of a market unconcerned about the deeper meaning of our lives, all of us need to recover the importance of the heart.” Pope Francis speaks words, which are so appropriate for our nation today: “All our actions need to be put under the ‘political rule’ of the heart.”
It is at the heart of Thanksgiving to celebrate food with others, which is the bounty of our land. We realize that the importance of food as basic nourishment to be enjoyed. We eat to live, but we also live to eat. Pope Francis frequently speaks about the importance of food, which joins us together as it does in the Eucharist. He especially speaks of food as part of the heart of life and the family. He makes reference to food in his new encyclical. In describing how false appearances, which are the results of a lack of heart, leave us empty-handed and unhappy, he says, “As an illustration of this, I would repeat a story I have already told on another occasion, ‘For the carnival, when we were children, my grandmother would make a pastry using a very thin batter. When she dropped the strips of batter into the oil, they would expand, but then when we bit into them, they were empty inside. In the dialect we spoke, those cookies were called ‘lies,’ my grandmother explained why: ‘Like lies, they look big, but are empty inside: they are false, unreal.’’’ The story is so true in regard to our need to ensure that our nation is one that is true to its founding principles from the beginning and never becomes a lie. Those principles include our belief in God who created us in His image and likeness, our freedom to worship God, and our openness to welcome others.
In his encyclical, Pope Francis also makes reference to what appears to be simple memories, coming from the heart, which are the most important for our lives. These memories are not great political theories, but what is in the heart of our humanity. He says, “In this age of artificial intelligence, we cannot forget that poetry and love are necessary to save our humanity. No algorithm will ever be able to capture, for example, that nostalgia that all of us feel, whatever our age and wherever we live, when we recall how we first used a fork to seal the edges of the pies that we helped our mothers or grandmothers to make at home. It was a moment of culinary apprenticeship, somewhere between child and adult, when we first felt responsible for working and helping one another.” Such memory is part of the celebration of Thanksgiving from its very beginning within our nation.
This year, on the coming weekend before the celebration of Thanksgiving, we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. Nothing speaks louder of the heart of God in Christ as Christ’s Sacred Heart is pierced upon the cross as a sign of His infinite love for all men and women. It is this loving action which proclaims His kingship for all eternity. This action would not compute with a decision from artificial intelligence. As we celebrate this great feast and as we celebrate Thanksgiving with our families, let us give thanks to God for His giving us His heart and for our great nation, which is based upon gratitude from the heart to God. Despite our many challenges and disagreements, we must unite in the heart as given to us by God so it can continue to be the center of who we are as a great nation.
God bless you and your families on Thanksgiving!
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
