As we enter this week of Thanksgiving in the US, our hearts are drawn to the Eucharist—the great thanksgiving of the Church. In the Eucharistic offering, we blaze with gratitude for the present realization of salvation, a gift decreed by the Trinity from all eternity. Here we remember that God became matter to purify it and save it; He became man so that man might become God. This is the marvelous exchange of lives: the face of God in man, the face of man in God.
When bread and wine are lifted up from the earthly place to the divine altar, creation itself is carried into God’s love. Salvation is made present and real. And what do we offer in return? All we have: thanks and praise. Gratitude is the human answer to the gift of God, our recognition of His goodness.
Christianity is, at its heart, a religion of remembrance. We remember God’s marvelous deeds of love, His goodness, and the divine value of every human person. To remember is to love. God remembers us, and we remember Him. In the Eucharist, we remember Christ’s sacrifice—not as a distant event, but as a living mystery made present again. His words, “This is my Body; This is my Blood,” are as effective today as when He first spoke them.
This week, as we gather around tables of family and friends, let us also gather around the Lord’s table. In communion, we discover that thanksgiving is not just a holiday—it is the very rhythm of Christian life. To eat and drink the Body and Blood is to enter into the mystery of love, to be united with Christ, and to be sent forth as His living presence in the world.
May our gratitude this week be more than words. May it be Eucharistic—an offering of our lives, lifted up in love, and united with Christ who remembers us always.
Smitten With Goodness 