Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli

On Sept. 6, 1620, one hundred and two pilgrims sailed on the Mayflower from Plymouth, England. They were seeking freedom to worship God according to their conscience and not according to the dictates of the state. After an arduous journey, they dropped anchor in the New World on Nov. 21, 1620. They had intended to go to Virginia but found themselves in present day New England. There they first set foot at Plymouth Rock.

It was winter. It was not the best time of the year to begin a new colony in a foreign land. With no houses to live in, the pilgrims used the Mayflower as their home. Each morning the men went ashore to work. Each night, they returned to their vessel. They began by building a “common house” to shelter their sick and dying. Once they had constructed a wide street with a row of houses on each side, they finally went ashore in March of 1621.

The winter had been harsh. The work strenuous. Food scarce. Mothers had gone without eating to feed their children. Half of the one hundred and two pilgrims died of malnourishment and sickness. Yet, in October of 1621, after their first harvest, the pilgrims held a feast. A thanksgiving feast for three days! So great was their gratitude! Despite the setbacks and the suffering, the hardships and the deaths, the pilgrims gave thanks at Plymouth Rock.

Over time as our ancestors formed and passed on our national saga, they hallowed Plymouth Rock. When 19th century French diplomat, political scientist and historian Alexis De Tocqueville travelled throughout the United States, he noticed the importance given Plymouth Rock in America’s heritage. He wrote, “This Rock has become an object of veneration in the United States. I have seen bits of it carefully preserved in several towns in the Union… Here is a stone on which the feet of a few outcasts press for an instant; and the stone becomes famous; it is treasured by a great nation; its very dust is shared as a relic.”

Indeed, Plymouth Rock has become a solid symbol of the tenacity and courage of the first pilgrims, a monument to their undaunted spirit of thanksgiving in the face of hardships. It reminds us that, from the very beginnings of our nation, thanksgiving has been programmed into our DNA as Americans. That is why each year on the fourth Thursday in November, we stop our work and sit down at table with family and friends to thank God for his goodness to us.

On a purely natural level, gratitude lifts up the human spirit. Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami have done research on the effects of gratitude on a thankful person. They discovered that individuals who express thanks on a daily basis were optimistic and had a better sense of well-being than those who concentrated on the things that annoyed them. Truly, as the proverb says, “it’s not happiness that brings us gratitude. It’s gratitude that brings us happiness.”

Even more importantly, on a spiritual level, gratitude is a rock foundation of our relationship with God. Thanking God for his goodness acknowledges that all that we have and are come from his generous hands. Even though thanking God in times of suffering is difficult, the conscious decision to thank God makes us see that, even in the dark valley, the Good Shepherd is still at our side (Ps 23:4). As St Paul encourages us, “In everything give thanks” (1 Th 5:18).

So central is thanksgiving to our relationship with God that Christians delight to sing again and again The Old Hundredth. It is one of the most popular hymns of the Christian community. The musical tune comes from 16th century French composer Louis Bourgeois; but, the words come from Psalm 100.

This psalm is all about thanking God, because he is God, because he has made us and continues to sustain us, and because we belong to him who cares so much for us. The psalm overflows with joy. Thanksgiving to God in good times and in bad always brings gladness and joy, for it puts us into living contact with God who has the power and the will to save us.

This psalm is the only psalm that bears the exact title “A Psalm of Thanksgiving.” In fact, the Hebrew word for thanksgiving (todah) is the same word used for the sacrifice of thanksgiving offered in the Temple (Lev 7:12). The rabbis of Jesus’ day used to say that all sacrifices would one day be abolished; but the sacrifice of thanksgiving alone would remain. They were right. The Temple is gone. The animal sacrifices have ceased. But the sacrifice of thanksgiving truly remains. The Eucharist is that sacrifice. It is the pure offering made everywhere “from the rising of the sun to its setting” (Mal 1:11).

At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharist as the sacrifice of the Cross made present in every age. “He took the bread, and giving thanks, broke it, and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you’” (Lk 22:19). “Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them…and said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many’” (Mk 14:24-25). The Eucharist, which is the sacrifice of the Cross, is the sacrifice of thanksgiving that remains.

By uniting our thankful lives to the Eucharist, we share in the redemption won for us by Christ on Calvary. We are given strength and true freedom to make our way to God, the Rock who is our fortress and deliverer (Ps 18:2). In heaven only praise and thanksgiving of God will remain for all eternity. And so, with thanks on our lips, our voices already reach the home toward which we travel through the storms and trials of this life. And we are blessed with true happiness.