Many of us know the familiar experience of gathering around the Thanksgiving table and, before the meal begins, being asked to share one thing for which we are thankful.
After taking part in this ritual so many times, I have begun to notice something. Whenever people speak of gratitude, they almost always speak from a certain stance. It is the posture of facing towards into the past.
Automatically, we recall something from the past: an event, a person who shaped us, a success, or a moment that brought joy or peace. Almost every expression of thanksgiving points to something that has already happened.
Can We Be Thankful for What is Now or What Will Be?
This raises an important question.
If gratitude so often turns us toward the past, is it possible to be thankful for the present or even for the future?
Of course it is. Yet I have never heard anyone say, “I am thankful for tomorrow,” or “I am thankful for next month.” When our attention shifts forward, we tend to call that hope.
As we gather this week to celebrate Thanksgiving, we are also at a time of concluding this Jubilee Year of Hope. The connection between looking back and looking forward becomes especially meaningful. How do these two movements speak to each other?
Remembrance, Presence, Mission
The Eucharistic table offers a beautiful answer. In every celebration we remember the death and resurrection of Christ in the fullest biblical sense. We meet Christ in the present moment. And we are sent forth with confidence into the future. The Eucharist holds together remembrance, presence, and mission.
Something similar happens when we reflect on gratitude and hope. Gratitude anchors hope and hope expands gratitude. They form a living relationship within us. Thanksgiving invites us to pause and notice what has gone right, whether large or small. Recognizing these gifts gives us a foundation to believe that more grace is possible and will be coming our way. When we see how God has acted before, we begin to trust that God will continue to act, thus building faith. It is a key concept in both the Old and New Testament.
Gratitude looks back. Hope looks forward.
It is a symbiotic relationship between the two. Gratitude opens the heart to imagine a future worth embracing. Hope grows from the conviction that the grace we have known in the past will continue to accompany us into our tomorrows. More succinctly, Thanksgiving fuels and persuades the imagination of hope.
Today, our American holiday of Thanksgiving frequently talks turkey, feasting, family and football. Yet at its heart, Thanksgiving has always been about the shared table and the stories told around it. These stories come from our past, yet something deeply human happens as we share them. They strengthen our bonds and give us courage for whatever lies ahead. Again, Thanksgiving nurtures the imagination of hope. Days like these help us reconnect our past and our future.
As we end this Jubilee Year with the celebration of Christ the King, Pope Francis invited us to reflect on hope in this Jubilee year so that we might become people of hope. No theme in recent memory has stirred more thought and inspiration in me. I’m grateful for that and for the challenge Pope Francis gave me.
May this season offer you a reflective, grace filled time as we learn again to be a people of thanksgiving, yearning and fueling our hope and faith.
Fr. David—Margaret Anderson forwarded this to me and I was so happy to get it. Your words about the symbiosis between gratitude and hope gave me food for thought this Thanksgiving. I miss the regular nuggets of wisdom I got from you when attending Mass with the students of St. Agnes. This forwarded article gave me another reason to be thankful, that is to say, for those who entered our lives for a time and then went on to the next. Thanks for touching mine.
Thanks Margi,
Just so you know, I still giggle when thinking about your retirement video. “Is that ALL the tissues that you’ve got? See, I’m retiring in a week and their gonna miss me when I’m gone.” Roll music—-> Anna Kendrick.