Once again, it’s a great grace to be able to welcome everyone to Saint Charles this morning. Thank you for your prayer in your presence this morning. Quick question. Are there any middle children in the community this morning? Where are the middle children? Okay. A few there are a few milder. We suffer. Middle children are the forgotten child. We get the leftovers.
We get the used toys. No one remembers our names. We’re really. We’re not the crown prince. We’re not the little princess. We’re the one in the middle. If I may quote a famous royal person with the spare. I please no pity, though. I don’t want pity, because Thanksgiving is the middle child of the holiday season. We’re not the big deal.
Christmas. We’re not Halloween. We’re the one in the middle. And once again, in our culture is Thanksgiving forgotten? Yes. Try and find the Thanksgiving plate today. Try and find the Thanksgiving napkin today. It’s already Christmas everywhere. Now, on behalf of Middle Holidays everywhere, we should be offended because Thanksgiving can never be the forgotten middle child of the holidays.
Because each and every day all over the world, Christians gather to give thanks through the Eucharist. And as long as we have the Eucharist, we are a people who are called to remember and to celebrate. What we remember is salvation in Christ, the passion, the death, the resurrection of Jesus, and the glory that is yet to come. And we celebrate through music and prayer and sharing four important words.
We take break. Bless. Me take blessed. Break and share. That’s what we do on Thanksgiving Day with our family and friends. But it’s what we do every day here when we gather for the Eucharist. Now, I need to ask either Father Anthony or Monsignor a question that’s based on their last name at some point in a big Italian family meal.
The children are dismissed, right? The adults talk about things that the children are not supposed to know. But if you’re a clever child, where do you go to learn the stories? It’s that before, very often, you knew under the table. Has anyone else ever hidden under the table to learn the family secrets? Really? Wow. I, Father Anthony, is it only Sicilians who do this?
What? But that’s where we learned the real family story. Likewise, when we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, our great Thanksgiving, we learn our real family story through hearing it in the scriptures. And today’s reading from Saint Paul is so especially beautiful because it reminds us of everything we are called to be, not to do, but to be. And when we give thanks, we bring that message of love, charity and gratitude to the four front.
We learn the story of our family. Now, the wonderful thing is we don’t have to crawl under a table to do it. Rather, we sit together and stand together and listen together to know the family story and give thanks. And that’s exactly why we’re here this morning. Because in a moment we are going to go to the table, the great table of our Thanksgiving.
And we are going to remember the words of Christ Jesus. We’re going to take a blessed break and share the body and blood of Christ. Such a great gift. And so as we prepare now to go to the Eucharist, let us pray in thanksgiving for our family story. Let us pray in thanksgiving for the great gift of the Eucharist, which is our true thanksgiving.
And let us pray, especially for middle children and middle holidays everywhere. So lest we forget that we can always remember and celebrate salvation in Christ.