My Dear Friends,

This Thursday is Thanksgiving. We will have Mass at 9 am that day at St. Maurice Church. It is only fitting that we begin that secular holiday for our country with a religious celebration, for the word Eucharist itself means thanksgiving. The prayers at Mass that day are especially fitting. The opening prayer says, “Father all-powerful, your gifts of love are countless and your goods infinite; as we come before you on Thanksgiving Day with gratitude for your kindness, open our hearts to have concern for every man, woman, and child, so that we may share your gifts of loving service.” The offertory prayer says, “God our Father, from whose hand we have received generous gifts so that we might learn to share your blessings in gratitude, accept these gifts of bread and wine, and let the perfect sacrifice of Jesus draw us closer to all our brothers and sisters in the human family.” And post communion prayer says, “In this celebration, O Lord our God, you have shown us the depths of your love for all your children; help us, we pray, to reach out in love to all your people, so that we may share with them the good things of time and eternity.”