Thanksgiving 2012

The First Thanksgiving celebrated a frutiful harvest after a long, arduous struggle for survival and the establishment of a colony where this daring group of settlers we now call Pilgrims could practice their religion in peace.  It meant adapting to a new climate, methods of farming, and making friends with the "First Americans" whose land they encroached upon.  Despite the challenges and difficulties, all were able to share a meal together and give thanks to the Almighty for the blessing which brought them to this point.
Thanksgiving 2012, a long time since Thanksgiving l621, still contains elements of struggle, challenge, and unsettledness even on a much wider scale.  Peace throughout the word is fragile, to say the least, the loss of values, and for some even the loss of the religious nature of Thanksgiving now overshadowed by the recent monster, Black Friday,...the list can go on...but they all point to the need to STOP and really take time to use the day as it was intended:  to give thanks to God for all the blessings that have brought us to this day, symbolized by the food on the table, and realized in the people gathered around it.  A prayer for those who have less and for a return to the values upon which this celebration was built would also be in order. Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, proclaimed this National Day of Thanksgiving to be the fourth Thursday in November in the middle of the Civil War, seeing the need for thanks and for God's mercy,...
Bishop John Carroll, the first Catholic Bishop of the United States,  composed a prayer in 1791that is still relevant today.  May it become our prayer as well.
We pray Thee O God of might, wisdom, and justice! Through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality. Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty.
Bro. Rene