Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thursday, November 27, 2014, Thanksgiving Day, Mass is at 9 AM ONLY

Friday, November 28, 2014, Mass is also at 9 AM ONLY. 

While we usually think of the first Thanksgiving as being a feast between Native Americans and the early Puritan settlers, thanksgiving celebrations took place much earlier. An “acción de gracias” was first celebrated on what is presently American soil on September 8, 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida. It was a day of thanksgiving between the Native Americans and Spanish settlers and it included the celebration of Mass. Another similar “Thanksgiving” celebration took place on April 30, 1598 in Texas when Don Juan de Oñate declared a day of Thanksgiving and it too included the celebration of Mass.

Believe it or not, Squanto, the Native American man who mediated between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, was a Catholic. He had been a slave of the English but was freed by Spanish Franciscans and received baptism as a Catholic.

There is so much for which we need to give thanks. Remember, the Mass is the great act of thanksgiving any human being can make. At Mass we offer up the fruit of the earth (bread), vine (wine) and the work of human hands as symbolic of our very lives. We give thanks to God by offering ourselves and He transforms our meager offering into His own Body and Blood as our spiritual nourishment.