The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-11-19
THANKSGIVING DAY.

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving day, the one day
in all the year set aside by custom and tradition
upon which the people of the nation urged to
gather in public places and return thanks to the
All-Wise God for the blessings which the year has
brought for them. 1t is pleasant custom, handed
down from the earliest days Of the American peo
ple but much of it's spiritual significance mas been
lost in the development of football and the big din
ner, which have come to be the principal features
of the holiday. The celebration, under these con-
ditons, loses much that should properly be the par
amount thought of the day. The tendency Is to
exalt man and humble God, whereas, man should
humble himself before the Throne of Grace, and
God should be exalted as the Giver of all good
gifts.
AS the Thanksgiving celebration has drifted
away from spiritual things into material things,
have the people tended to drift in the direc-
ton. Or is it that the celebration represents the
characteristics of the people? Instead of coming
before God in humble submission to His superior
knowledge, we have come to ask ourselves, "What
have we to be thankful for?" The festival of
Thanksgiving each year, whether the year
has been one of plenty or of meager returns
for our labor Whether the season be one of
tional JOY national VICE. the day of Thanksgiving
comes just the same, and we have come to diferen-
tiate between them If the harvests have been pen-
tifu we give thanks for them, but if the harvests
have been below the average, there is questioning
of the wisdom of God in thus depriving us of what
we have come to believe is our only good But it
is plain to all of US who hold God as the Ruler of
the Universe that what He sends to us whether
- e.
for our good. For from God NO evil thing can
come. What may seem evil to us, or that in which
the good is hard for finite minds to discern, as
gift from God must be good-it cannot be evil.
And must come to recognize that all things
coming from God are good, and we must learn to
accept what seems evil with the same humble and
devout thankfulness with which we express our
gratitude for what are our manifest blessings. I'm
less we can realize these things, the spiritual sig
nifcance of Thanksgiving will be lost entirely and
the day will become and more day of con-
graduation of each other for the good things
which we have accomplished leaving God entirely
out of our calculations.
It is natural that men should come to look upon
themselves as of prime Importance in the world,
and their physical sustenance as necessary to their
wellbeing, especially in these days when exalts
himself. 1t is natural too that the popular idea
of Thanksgiving should take toll Of what has been
provided, and that should gauge expressions
of hankfulness by the fullness of the measure Yet
God shows his kindness to us in many more ways
than in providing for our physical wants and giving
us prosperity and affuence. Just much is said
of our national prosperity, our progress and the
necessity of continuing that prosperity and prog
ress And it would be ungrateful nation indeed
that did not take these things into account this
day. But above these things are thousand joys |
of life, the home the happy sunshine of these brisk
November days, the companionship of friends, and
wife and children, the pages of the books we love-
and all the little joys and the great that go
to make up a life. We need to get into our minds
and souls and hearts of the spiritual signif
canoe of hfe to know that if hunger it is to
chasten us and to humble before God. We
should be thankful for ability to distinguish |
between right and wrong, for the helps receive
in the performance of our duties, for our victories
over temptations and weaknesses, for the innumer-
able manifestations of Gods love and the countless |
incentives to higher endeavor in our struggles after
righteousness.
And for the blessed promise of Immortality |
How can hearts give thanks in one day for
that? "The earth is the Lords, and the fulness
thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein"
Let be thankful, then, not only for the things
which to finite minds good, but for the knowl-
edge that all the world is in the disposition of the
Creator. And not only thankful, but let us renew
our trust, and by humbling ourselves before the
Throne of Grace be more worthy in the sight of
God. And let that ever-abidng trust make us
kinder to others less fortunately situated than our
selves, and thus to closer realization of what
a day of Thanksgiving really is and show the true
spirit of thankfulness. The one day set aside for
solemn contemplation of the manifold blessings of
God must inevitably renew the faith which is in US
and make the world better place in which to live