Thanksgiving is a North American holiday. If I remember my school lessons correctly, it derives from the experience of the first European settlers here in North America and their experience of their first few years here on this continent. The way we were taught about this holiday when I was in elementary school recalled how difficult these first Europeans found the bitter winter to survive on their own and how unprepared they were to make it through this difficult climate. They were so unprepared for the conditions they found on this continent that it was only with the help of the Indigenous People, who knew the land and the ways of growing here, that they were able to make it through those initial days. Once they had learned to grow crops in this territory and figure out how to survive the conditions on this continent, they were so grateful that they began to have a special feast called “Thanksgiving” at the end of the growing season to celebrate the goods of this land and the great opportunities that they had discovered here. From my school days, I recall a part of those initial Thanksgiving celebrations involved celebrations with the Indigenous People who had helped these first settlers to make their lives possible here. That is why so many of our celebrations still highlight the many vegetables and local products that were handed over to the Europeans by the Indigenous People to help them survive. Continue reading →

This Sunday, October 4^th, the Church celebrates one of its most beloved saints, Saint Francis of Assisi. As his feast falls this year on a Sunday, the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection takes precedence over his actual feast day; something that Saint Francis would no doubt insist upon.

The life of Saint Francis has served as a model for our present Holy Father, Pope Francis, who has chosen to name himself after this beloved saint. Pope Francis has followed the example of Saint Francis’s love for the poor in much of his ministry. He has also looked to Saint Francis as a model for the way in which we ourselves might be called to care for the environment and our common home, “mother earth.”

One of Saint Francis’s most famous poems is known as the Canticle of the Sun. In this beautiful poem, Saint Francis acknowledges all of creation as a gift from God and points out the interconnectedness of creation. The poem itself goes like this: Continue reading →