By Fr. Glenn Jones:
In World War II, when the Japanese army occupied Vietnam, they didn’t kill people wholesale; they just destroyed the food supply and let people starve to death. After all, a physically weak citizen is likely not going to be an internal threat, one might assume the army leaders thought.
A Vietnamese family lived in one of the larger houses in the city. After a time, starving orphaned children would come to the house begging for food, but there was none to be had; the meagre rations the residents were provided weren’t enough for one person, much less several, and they’d been reduced to cooking field mice when they found them to keep alive. But, as you can imagine, when starving children look up with pleading eyes, even what the residents had they shared as best they could. Nonetheless, many children starved to death in the foyer of the house. The residents would then take their emaciated little bodies to the countryside for burial. Time and again.
Fast forward to the end of the U.S.-Vietnam war. Many remember the televised scenes of the fall of Saigon, desperate South Vietnamese climbing U.S. embassy fences trying to board the last helicopters from the embassy roof. And the “boat people” who risked their lives in rickety boats fleeing on the open sea.
A few Vietnamese who had worked for the U.S. were evacuated to the States, with little more than the clothes on their back—such as one of the family residents of the large house in WWII. With his wife and their small children in tow, they started a new life in this strange and foreign land with almost nothing.
But…what he and his wife did have were their minds, their hands and their work ethic. After years of hard and diligent work building a new life and ensuring their children’s education, they see their efforts’ fruits: one child is now a billionaire, the others millionaires, one’s breakthrough research even the subject of a Hollywood movie. These good Christian parents’ hearts must sing:
I will praise thy name continually,
and will sing praise with thanksgiving.
My prayer was heard,
for thou didst save me from destruction
and rescue me from an evil plight.
Therefore I will give thanks to thee and praise thee,
and I will bless the name of the Lord.
(Sirach 51:11-12)
Yes, it’s a true story … one whose like can be heard in countless homes in the U.S., both native and immigrant. And many realize the gift given them, giving thanks and themselves showing great generosity in return as an act of thanksgiving, perhaps remembering St. Paul: “As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous, thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19), and perhaps “God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work…You will be enriched in every way for great generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God…” (1 Corinthians 9:6-8, 11-12)
On the flip side there are the ungrateful, entitled, etc., who have never been in want, or maybe have never had to work, or have no conception of their good fortune. They may be unappreciative for the hard work of previous generations which provided for them. Or, there are those who simply are selfish and greedy with all they do receive—earned or not—not realizing that intelligence, ability, opportunity are themselves gifts to be thankful for.
John Milton wrote of such: “…swinish gluttony/Ne’re looks to Heav’n amidst his gorgeous feast,/But with besotted base ingratitude/Cramms, and blasphemes his feeder.” (Comus, line 776) Such persons often die unmourned, unremembered … with vultures circling the estate which now provides the deceased no benefit whatever. As Jesus warns in His parable: “[The rich man says] I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:19-21)
So as we come to Thanksgiving Day this week, let us remember all the great blessings bestowed upon us, knowing that so many in the world have so much less. We can think of Ukrainian refugees facing the long winter, slave labor in African mines, trash-pickers in Haiti, Venezuela and even here in the U.S.
Yes, it IS both a time to give thanks … and a time to give in thanksgiving. For, imitating a theme of the Jewish Passover Denayu song of thanksgiving:
If I had been born into a loving family, it would have been enough; but then…
If I had been reared in such a country as ours, and it would have been enough, but then…
If I had always had plentiful food, medicine, and care, it would have been enough; but then…
If I had eyes to behold the wonders and beauties of creation, it would have been enough; but then
If I had received my education, which so many long for and yet not receive, it would have been enough; but then…
If in having been found so many good friends in life, it would have been enough; but then…
If I would have been given so many learning and valuable experiences, it would have been enough; but then…
If I would have just found my beloved in life, it would have been enough; but then…
If I would have been gifted with my sweet children, it would have been enough; but then…
…and I’ll leave you to fill in even more details of your lives for which you are thankful.
May you have a most blessed and joyful Thanksgiving, and to you and your families:
The Lord bless you and keep you:
The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
(Numbers 6:24-26)
Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.