• November 26, 2020, Holy Rosary at 7:30 pm ET YouTube.com/TheRosaryNetwork
• Audio Podcast available by 6:00 pm ET

Friends of the Rosary, Happy Thanksgiving day!

We’re grateful to the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary for all the graces they shed on us. The Creator of the Universe gave us our own life and Jesus Christ purchased with His holy blood and body our eternal happiness. His Divine Mother takes care of us every single day.

A word about the origins of Thanksgiving, if I may.

The puritans and protestants were not the first to celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S. Catholics were. Spanish Catholic explorers set the oldest settlement on American soil. It was in Saint Augustine, Florida, in 1565—that is, 56 years before the Mayflower and the pilgrim’s arrival.

On September 8, the feast of the Nativity of Mary, the first Mass of Thanksgiving was held, followed by a communal thanksgiving celebration with the local Seloy tribe.

Another significant year was 1598. Spanish settlers from Mexico set up camp in the American Southwest. At the end of the meal, plays were enacted with scenes depicting the conversion of Native Americans into the Catholic faith.

So before a Puritan theocracy in New England, there were Catholic settlers, who brought the Eucharistia, which is the Greek name for Thanksgiving. Through the Holy Mass, the faithful were paying respects to the Giver of all good gifts.

The first Thanksgiving in America wasn’t a meal by the pilgrims in Plymouth. It was a Eucharistic by Spanish Catholic settlers in Florida!

[Written by Mikel A | The Rosary Network, New York]

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Today, last Thursday of November of 2020, we observe the holiday of Thanksgiving as a sign of unity and gratitude to God—who has given us everything good we have. This festivity, established by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, resembles the meaning of the sacrament of the Eucharist.

For being thankful to the Lord all the time. How often we ask for something, we obtain it, and we forget to thank Jesus and Mary? That’s an offense. Let’s ask for the grace of showing thanksgiving.

In this COVID year, many will think that being thankful is an act of faith. That’s fine, too. What matters is to stay vigilant and never lose sight of our mission of sanctifying our souls and the souls of others.

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