In 1863 Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. In 1925 Pius XI instituted the last Sunday of the liturgical year as the Feast of Christ the King. One wonders if the President and the Pontiff are somewhere remarking on the significant coincidence that the day of national Thanksgiving falls between the feast of Christ the King and the first Sunday of Advent.
The former presages the glorious destiny that awaits our redeemed world. The latter reminds us of the arrival of ‘the Way’ we are invited to follow in order to accomplish that destiny.
This calendrical coincidence of Thanksgiving falling between these two special Sundays brings to mind the role of the food all of us hopefully will be enjoying this week. Among other things, Thanksgiving is a celebration of plentiful meals, the food we eat for physical nourishment. This is the purpose of food, isn’t it? To sustain our bodies. There is another kind of food, however, which we should consider and celebrate, one which links these two special Sundays. This is the food of purpose. Although it is non-physical, it also nourishes.
A good friend of mine recently observed that a nation without a collective sense of purpose cannot survive. His comment calls to mind the biblical admonition: Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 20:1). It raises the question: do we as a nation still have a common vision or purpose? There is much to suggest that we do not, or at best that our awareness of purpose is anemic. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to reflect on this gift, this food of purpose. But, what is this food of purpose?
According to the Gospel of John, Jesus says “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish his work (Jn. 4:34).” (Consider the second line of the prayer to his Father Jesus instructed us to pray: “Thy will be done on earth as in heaven”). As heirs of the banished Adam and Eve we, like them, are tasked by God to cultivate his creation and are called to ‘finish his work’. All of us possess God-given gifts with which we are called to contribute to ‘finishing his work’. Our lives have purpose, therefore, and it is the pursuit of this purpose which brings each of us individually and all of us together closer to the fulfillment for which we are created.
There are many ways in which the pursuit of purpose manifests itself. Philanthropy when genuinely prompted by reverence for God’s will is one. As with any act consonant with God’s will, philanthropy nourishes those who practice it. Those who engage in it find themselves somehow strengthened and reassured by a clearer understanding of where they fit in in God’s plan. By some mysterious grace, they discover that the embrace of purpose edifies and sustains their spirit. Like Jesus, they come to understand that purpose is food.
This Thanksgiving as our nation expresses its gratitude for the bountiful blessing we enjoy, we would do well to include our thanks for the salubrious gift of purpose
The trustees of NCCF wish all our readers a joyful Thanksgiving and Advent.
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