“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.” (2 Cor 1,3f)

The seeds of compassion and encouragement that God sows in our hearts in the midst of our afflictions produce a harvest of compassion and encouragement that we then sow in the lives of others when we encourage them in a time of affliction.  These seeds that have been sown by God continue to bear fruit and can pass down through generations to yield a rich harvest of grace a hundredfold.  God comes to our aid in times of affliction and so we come to the aid of our brothers and sisters in need in their time of affliction, and so we pay it forward by bearing a harvest of love and compassion to the glory of God.  Sometimes the seeds that God has sown long ago bear fruit that touches our lives today.  For that we are thankful.  When Jesus healed the ten lepers, their healing was not immediate, they did not see the effects of his merciful love and grace until farther down the road of their life, only one leper made the connection of his healing to the action of God in Jesus, he alone returned to give thanks. (Lk 17,11-19)  I am sure that Samaritan paid it forward in living a new life of faith and spreading the gospel to others.

Seeds and harvests.  The celebration of Thanksgiving is about seeds and harvests.  The seeds that were sown that resulted in that first harvest and Thanksgiving celebration in the Plymouth colony were not solely those that were sown by the Pilgrims but were the fruit of seeds that were sown long before.  God the Father, in his compassionate love, sowed the seed of the Incarnate Word, Jesus his only begotten Son, in a world that was lost and suffering the afflictions of sin.  That seed died and was raised up in new life to yield a rich harvest.  Jesus planted the seeds of the gospel into the hearts and souls of some fishermen, among whom was Simon Peter, who carried the seed to Rome where it died and bore new fruit.  From the Chair of Peter, the seed of the gospel went out to the corners of the world in a great missionary endeavor to be planted in the lives of all peoples whose hearts were prepared to receive it.

In the year 1537, Pope Paul III, sitting on the Chair of Peter, issued the papal bull, Sublimus Dei, in response to letters from Archbishop Juan de Zumarraga, who had been named by the Emperor Charles V, to be the Protector of the Indians and who had received, six years earlier, the roses from the tilma of San Juan Diego after his apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The papal bull declared that Indians could not be made slaves:  “We, who, though unworthy, exercise on earth the power of our Lord and seek with all our might to bring those sheep of His flock who are outside into the fold committed to our charge, consider, however, that the Indians are truly men and that they are not only capable of understanding the Catholic Faith but, according to our information, they desire exceedingly to receive it. Desiring to provide ample remedy for these evils, We define and declare by these Our letters, or by any translation thereof signed by any notary public and sealed with the seal of any ecclesiastical dignitary, to which the same credit shall be given as to the originals, that, notwithstanding whatever may have been or may be said to the contrary, the said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.”

In the year 1614, two friars in Malaga, Spain, encountered Thomas Hunt who was attempting to sell several Indians in the slave market among whom was a Patuxet Indian named Tisquantum.  With the authority rendered by the papal bull they seized the Indians from Hunt and freed them.  The Indian Squanto, as he was also known, stayed with the friars for a while learning the Catholic  faith.  He eventually made his way back to England, where he had previously been on an earlier journey and had learned English.  From there after a few years working as an interpreter he made his way back to his home near Plymouth and joined the Wampanoag Indians as the Patuxet tribe had been wiped out by illness.

In 1621, the Pilgrims of the Plymouth Rock colony were struggling for survival when, one day, out of the woods walked Squanto, who could speak English well and who proceeded to teach the Pilgrims how to plant corn and how to fish and catch eels for food and who was able to help them make peace with the local Wampanoag Indians.  The crop yielded an abundant harvest and the Pilgrims established the first Thanksgiving day to give thanks to God for helping them in their time of affliction.  Without the help of Squanto, the colony probably would not have survived.  Without the help of two friars, Squanto would not have been released from slavery.  Without the papal bull of Pope Paul III, the friars would not have had the authority to obtain Squanto’s release.  Without the faithfulness of Peter, Paul III would not have occupied the Chair of Peter.  Without the love, teaching and forgiveness of Jesus, Peter would not have assumed the Chair of Peter in Rome.  Without the compassion and encouragement of God, Jesus, the seed of the Eternal Logos, would not have been sent into the world.

This year, in the annual Presidential Proclamation of Thanksgiving for 2016, President Obama opened his proclamation reflecting back on the importance of the relationship between the Wampanoag people and the Pilgrims, “Nearly 400 years ago, a small band of Pilgrims fled persecution and violence and came to this land as refugees in search of opportunity and the freedom to practice their faith. Though the journey was rough and their first winter harsh, the friendly embrace of an indigenous people, the Wampanoag — who offered gracious lessons in agriculture and crop production — led to their successful first harvest. The Pilgrims were grateful they could rely on the generosity of the Wampanoag people, without whom they would not have survived their first year in the new land, and together they celebrated this bounty with a festival that lasted for days and prompted the tradition of an annual day of giving thanks.”  Without the negotiation of Squanto, the friendship and kindness of the Wampanoag people would not have been extended.  This is how God “rolls” through history.  Sometimes it takes a while for the seed to grow and it grows, “we know not how”, but when it does it bears a rich harvest. (Mk 4,26-29)

Today, the seed that God planted in the womb of Mary that is Jesus, bears fruit and touches our lives so that we must gather in Thanksgiving.  As we gather in our homes we give thanks and we remember how God has been with us in times of affliction, offering compassion and encouragement, and saving us from slavery and destruction.  We remember, as Jesus reminded the healed leper, that no matter how many instruments of grace that it has passed through, it is our faith that has saved us.  For this, we return to the Lord, to give thanks.