GUEST OP-ED: Giving Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time for families and neighbors totake a moment and come together, share a meal and engage inconversation. We look forward to this time of sharing with others,just as for centuries, people have come together at the end of theharvest season to share the bounty and give thanks.

The celebration of a successful harvest is an ancient tradition.Our own Thanksgiving predates the establishment of our country. TheEuropean settlers of the colonies that were to become our nationrecognized a need to share their bounty and give thanks to God theprovider of all things.

We understand that we may till the soil or plant the seed but thefertile soil, gentle rains and warm sun are essential for a richharvest. From this understanding, we understand the story ofthanksgiving has two parts which are learning moments for usall.

First, Thanksgiving teaches us that our hard work leads toaccomplishment and reward. Secondly, it also teaches us thatnothing is possible without God. Allowed to experience life from asimpler perspective, our forbearers knew that if it were not fordivine intervention, even our greatest labors would be invain.

Even though the farms of Bay Ridge and Flatbush, Brooklyn are longgone, and every day seems a harvest at your local supermarket, Iencourage you to use this time of thanksgiving to reflect on theeveryday harvest of our lives: the beauty of our world, theopportunity that our country provides and the bountiful blessingsfrom a God that loves us.

However, our reflection should not be mere contemplation. We arecalled upon at Thanksgiving to give thanks to God in the form of aprayer, offer a kind word of friendship to your neighbors, and givea portion of your time, talents or treasures to a needycause.

In a society, which continues to grow more secular, filled withmoments in which we only take and do not give back, let us bethankful for a brand new day, filled with God’s abundant gifts andthe chance to make a difference in the lives of others in ourcommunity.

Make this Thanksgiving a true learning moment in which weremember humbly and with gratitude that greater than the self isour experience of others in community, which exists through theintercession of God and His love.

May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello is pastor at Mary Queen of Heavenand is vicar for development of the Roman Catholic Diocese ofBrooklyn.