If the AAA prediction is correct, today is one of the busiest days of travel on record. More people are flying, more people are driving, and more people are taking the train. But where is everyone going? What meets them at their destination? What motivates millions of people to endure the struggles of this great American pilgrimage?

As a little kid, I found Thanksgiving travel a bit odd. Christmastime made more sense to me. The reason for the December travels was clear: PRESENTS! By contrast, in November, no gifts accompany Thanksgiving. Sure, I liked the turkey and watching football, but we could do that at home. All the travel seemed like quite the hassle, especially since there was no exchange of gifts.  

However, at Thanksgiving there is indeed a gift. It was something I learned indirectly from my mother. At the start of big family dinners, just after grace, she would slip in a quick addendum: “Thank you God for letting us all be together.” The purpose of all the travel is to receive a gift—the gift is being together.

A careful look at my mother’s words reveals even more. In many languages (but not English) the word for “to be” is the same as “to exist.” So, in other words, my mother was saying, “thank you for letting us exist together.” Stripped down to its core, the sentence says simply: “we exist.” This is reason to celebrate. Our biological parents play a huge role in the fact that we exist. Additionally, those who nurtured and raised us through our youth contributed mightily. Thank you, family, for this gift! However, most fundamentally, we exist right now in this moment not because of the past contributions of our family, but because of the constant, loving work of God himself. God lovingly gives us our existence. What a gift!

Just as we can never repay our parents for giving us life, so also, we can never repay God for our current existence. There is only one adequate response to such an immense gift: gratitude. Gratitude and thanks to God. This joyful gratitude is not only directed to God, but it overflows to those around us. It sparks generosity, enthusiasm, and love of neighbor. Gratitude causes authentic community, which rejoices: We exist! Together!

We each have our own solitary sins and struggles; however, we are united in the fact that God has given each of us the gift of life. We therefore unite in gratitude to God. We thank God that we exist, that we “be.” 

Spontaneous communal thanksgiving to God undergirds true Christian worship. Awareness of the gift of our existence prompts Christians to gather every week to worship as a community. At the summit of this worship stands the worthy reception of the Eucharist in Holy Communion. In the week ahead, you may be traveling with family or spending the weekend alone. Whatever the case, we have each received a gift from God which ties us all together. At Mass this Sunday we can fulfill the primordial desire we have to cry out in unison, “Thank you God for letting us all be … together.”

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Photo by Rudy and Peter Skitterians on Pixabay