I quizzed the school children yesterday: “How many times are Catholics supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving every year?”  The answers included 1, 365, and then came the answer I was looking for, 58.  Because what we celebrate today here at church is eucaristein, to give thanks, as Catholics we celebrate this great event many times in the year.  We’re obliged to celebrate Thanksgiving 52 plus 6 times, calculated from 52 weeks plus 6 Holy Days.  (If we are going to be precise we would need to reduce that number by one because we have transferred the Solemnity of the Ascension to a Sunday.  So 57 times a year is how often Catholics are obliged to celebrate Thanksgiving.)

Thanksgiving is at the very core of who we are and what we do as Catholics, and in today’s celebration of Eucharist, all the mysteries and hopes of our lives are present.  We can take the whole liturgical year and see each aspect in the mass.  Saturday is the end of the liturgical year and we will start all over again on Sunday with the first Sunday of Advent.  How might we see each liturgical season within each celebration of mass?

Advent, a time of waiting, a time of “already not yet” is present as we look for the presence of the Lord in the signs and symbols of the mass.  When we sit in silence after the readings, when we meditate after communion, in these times we are saying “Come Lord Jesus, make yourself known to me.”

Christmas, the mystery of God with us in the Incarnation is revealed in the real presences of Christ.  We’re not just remembering, but rather entering in the mystery; that same mystery is entering into us through the very human acts of eating and drinking and singing and actively participating.  The Incarnation continues through this sacred meal.

Moving on to Lent we see that each mass begins with the inspiration of Lent.  Let us remember that we need to turn around, have a change of heart, seek the Lord anew.  For centuries our instinct has been that we need to get our hearts ready for God.  So each mass has within it a “nano-Lent,” the Penitential Rite, in which we confess our faults and receive God’s pardon.

The Eucharistic Prayer and Communion recapitulate all of the Triduum, remembering the core truth of Christ’s sacrifice, his calling together his disciples, his dying and rising.  The Eucharist is all about Easter.  His resurrection is known by our gathering today.

And finally ordinal, or counted time is reflected in our ongoing celebration of the mass.  We ritualize the normal passing of the days and weeks and months.  As we move through the calendar year and the seasons of the year we are able to bring the truths from nature and illuminate them with the truth of Jesus Christ.  I’m so grateful to be able to bring my feelings, for example, of this darkening time of year to the Eucharist and give thanks even for what I don’t understand.  We can be grateful that as Catholics we have ritual.

I’m sure that I could locate all our national holidays within the Eucharist if I put myself to it.  That will be our homework for next year.  For today, let us give thanks!  We are an Easter people and therefore, a grateful people.