Celebrating Thanksgiving during Ordinary Time

Beginnings are usually pretty simple.  In this case, it was the simplicity of addressing a cashier by her name.  After all, is not that what name tags are for?

Years ago, I would occasionally help one of my community sisters do the grocery shopping.  After some time I began to notice she always called cashiers by name.  I also noticed what happened as a result. Not only did we get better service but something in the person’s face changed; even if it was just ever so slightly. 

Like the seed the sower went out to sow, the grain spouted. I started doing the same. The stalk grew and I moved on to “Looks like you’ve had a long day.”  That ripened into “Who is your manager, I’d like to tell him I am a happy customer thanks to you.” 

Then I discovered the Eucharist for a second time.

Many years ago I became a Catholic because I discovered Jesus in the Eucharist.  Then I entered a religious community dedicated to the Incarnate Word AND the Blessed Sacrament.  Later, when the office of Extraordinary Minister was instituted, I became one and I have often served in that capacity during Mass in our convent chapel as well as elsewhere. 
 
At some point, I made the connection: something so simple as “thank you” is also Eucharist in a way I cannot explain but just know.   It is not the superficial gratitude of “please” and “thank you,” although good manners are always in style.   But this gratitude is one that risks in reaching out to another. 

For example, several days ago, I went to lunch with good friends of mine.  As I stood to leave our booth after the meal, I happened to look down at a lady who had been sitting across from us. The word hospice on her name tag caught my eye.  So I leaned over and whispered, “Thank you.” 

She replied, “Oh, how I love my job.  But most people don’t understand.”
 
“But I do.  Thank you again.” 

That day I gave that woman the Eucharist.  I know I did because I know the Eucharist is the supreme Thank You.  The word eucharistia, after all, means thanksgiving. 

I have often tried to wrap my mind and heart around the mystery the Eucharist is both sacrifice and gratitude at the same time.  Thanks to the fact I am a human creature, I cannot. Yet I do know this; ordinarily, most people sacrifice because they are grateful or because they are desperate.  The former happens because they want to give back; the latter because they need something to the point of bargaining.  But the Eucharist…the Eucharist is something altogether different. And we can take a bit of that Holy Difference into our day precisely in order to give it to others.  In other words, the Eucharist we receive at Mass is both the “thank you” we say to God and then say to other people. 

Thanksgiving Day has been set aside to celebrate all that God has given us.  Set aside; that too, echoes the Eucharist as the word sacrifice means “to make holy, sacred,” “to set aside for God’s use.” Moments can be made holy as well as days. 

What began as a simple gesture years ago continues now as a lifestyle of thanking others who come into my life on a momentary basis. One Facebook friend posted this meme: “What if tomorrow you woke up with only the things [people] you gave God thanks for today?”  Then, by extension, what would I wake up to if I seldom or ever went out of my way to share my gratitude? 

After you give thanks to God for all that he has given you, the question remains:  How many times can you share the “Eucharist” with others during your day?  These individuals may not be able to put a name on what they are receiving, but they will know they have been given something very special.

So to you, my dear reader, I give you that same special gift as well: I thank you.