A Franciscan Thanksgiving

The following was written by Bonnie Hardwick, Regional Formation Director for the Secular Franciscans in the southwest. Bonnie is also involved in alumni relations at the Franciscan School of Theology.

A FRANCISCAN THANKSGIVING   "And he begged them [Clare and her sisters] particularly to provide for their bodies with discernment from the alms which the Lord would give them, with cheerfulness and thanksgiving." The Assisi Compilation, no. 85   "and they ate together with gratitude and joyful hearts." Thomas of Celano, The Life of Saint Francis, Chapter XIV   In America, Thanksgiving is the one great secular holiday that brings together and celebrates our diversity as a people-in our families and across cultures. A Thanksgiving many years ago, when my husband, Doug, was surveying the disputed Navajo/Hopi lands in New Mexico and Arizona for the U.S. Geological Survey, he had a Navajo "rod man" working for him. I was studying at the University of Pennsylvania at the time and as Doug got ready to leave for Philadelphia to spend the holiday with me, he asked: "Roy, tell me, what is a Navajo Thanksgiving like?" "Oh," Roy replied , "you know-turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams." And then he laughed! What he didn't need to add was family, all gathered into his mother's hogan from throughout the reservation and nearby towns, for this is the one time of the year that ALL families gather together to simply share a feast, leaving divisions behind and strengthening bonds. Or perhaps we celebrate family with our friends, with the homeless or poor we serve in our shelters, or with our religious communities. What is important is that we eat together in gratitude and joy. Truly a Franciscan feast.   One of the most moving experiences at these occasions is when we go around the table and each person tells what they are thankful for in the past year. We rejoice with each other and in that joy there is renewed solidarity and hope.   Gratitude is a core Franciscan attitude. To see everything as GIFT is the foundation of the spirit of poverty. To receive all that comes to us with gratitude is the source of our joy, as well as the impetus for our own generosity. And this gratitude is not to be just for the manifestly good things that come our way, but the difficulties as well. There is story after story about how Francis from the very beginning embraced even every hardship and every suffering as a reason to give joyful thanks. When, for example, a peasant tossed out the brothers from the hut they were huddled together in by the Rivo Torto, to make room for his donkey, Francis concluded, "While we are preaching the way of salvation to people and are giving them wise counsel, we should dedicate ourselves most of all to prayer and thanksgiving"(The Legend of Three Companions, Chapter XIII). He later wrote the entirety of Chapter XXIII of the "Earlier Rule" on the subject of "Prayer and Thanksgiving."   Studies have shown that taking time each day-not just on Thanksgiving Day-to think about just a few things for which we are grateful, and then recording them in a "gratitude journal," results in greater optimism, happiness, and even physical well-being. As someone has wisely said, "It isn't happiness that makes us grateful. It is gratitude that makes us happy."

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