The Euro-American Tradition of Thanksgiving, Catholic Mass, and Exodus

The last Thursday of November has been the Thanksgiving national holiday in the United States since 1863, proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln. They say that it is to commemorate the first Puritan settlers at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, celebrating the first thanksgiving in North America in 1620. But, actually, the very first European settler’s thanksgiving celebration in North America was in St. Augustine, Florida, on September 8, 1565.

Those who celebrated the known first thanksgiving in North America in 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida,  were Spaniards settlers . Padre Francisco Lopez was the chaplain for the settlers from Spain, who celebrated the first thanksgiving Mass. The Mass was followed by the first thanksgiving communal meal shared with indigenous people in St. Augustine, using the food left from their voyage from Spain.

In the Christian context, the 1565 thanksgiving Mass followed by a communal meal in St. Augustine, Florida, by Padre Lopez and the Spanish settlers more fitting to the tone of what Thanksgiving should be, compared to the one in Plymouth Rock in 1620 by Puritans from England.  It is because the Mass that Padre Lopez celebrated upon the arrival of the first Spanish settlers, for the ultimate Christian Thanksgiving is built into Catholic Mass as in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. 

To the Catholics, every Mass is a Thanksgiving celebration because of the Eucharist, which literally means “thanksgiving”. Because the Liturgy of the Eucharist is the anamnesis of the Last Supper, at which Jesus took bread and gave thanks before breaking it to distribute to the Apostles at the supper table , proclaiming it to be his body (Matthew 26:26), echoing his self-identification as the bread of life (John 6:35,48), the bread from heaven (John 6:41), and the living bread from heaven to give eternal life (John 6:51). Therefore, the Eucharist offered during Catholic Mass is the real Thanksgiving communion for receiving the living bread of eternal life from heaven through the body and blood of Christ - Corporis et Sanguinis Christi.

The Eucharist, as Corporis et Sanguinis Christi, is the most powerful tangible form of grace, which we are so thankful for. That is why we give thanks to God the Father for this grace of heavenly living bread of eternal life. And, this thanksgiving is apex of Catholic Mass. 

At Mass, we thank God the Father, who has sent this tangible grace or the Eucharist, and the Son, who is Godself and this Eucharist. And, the Liturgy of the Eucharist during Mass reflects the Last Supper, the Passover Seder meal that Jesus shared with the Apostles on the night before he was betrayed and crucified to death. 

As a faithful Jewish man, celebrating Passover with Seder meal was in his desire before he die (Luke 22:15), because he will not eat this until he return in the fulfillment of the prophesy of the Kingdom of God (Luke 22:16). To the Jews, and to Jesus as a Jew, Passover Seder meal is an important ritualistic meal of thanksgiving to God for the deliverance from the Egyptian oppression, on the day of Unleavened Bread, the 14^th day of Nisan.  Thus, there is a juxtaposition of Passover thanksgiving from the Last Supper to the Liturgy of the Eucharist in Catholic Mass, as well as Jesus himself thanking for the bread and wine before sharing with the Apostles, following the Passover meal at the Last Supper. 

Until he returns in the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, we give thanks to God the Father and the Son, for the grace of the Eucharist – the heavenly bread of eternal life and the wine as the precious blood of Christ, which has purchased us for deliverance from the eternal condemnation, in the form of Corporis et Sanguinis Christi. – through the Liturgy of the Eucharist in Catholic Mass. When the deliverance from the condemnation is in fulfillment upon the final judgement, we are “delivered” or ushered into the Kingdom and sit at the heavenly banquet as referenced in Psalm 23:5 and prophesized in Revelation 19:9.  In this fulfillment, once again, Jesus the Christ will share the Passover meal with us all, thanking God for delivering us into the Kingdom safely. 

When Padre Lopez celebrated Mass, followed by the very first thanksgiving communal meal, in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565, I am sure that he was thanking God for safely delivering the Spanish settlers, whom he accompanied on their voyage, to the New World – with anamnesis of Jesus and the Apostles thanking God for delivering their ancestors from Egypt into the land of milk and honey and Jesus thanking before sharing his body and blood to remember him in concluding the Last Supper.   

In fact, God’s deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian oppression into the Promised Land of milk and honey (Exodus 33:3), Exodus, is what the Jews always refer back to in their Thanksgiving with first-born-son consecration in Exodus 13:1-16 and with harvested crops Exodus 23:14-17 (Bikkurim ) and Deuteronomy 16:9-12 (Shavuot). 

Padre Lopez and the early Spanish settlers landed in St. Augustine in 1565 were delivered safely into the New World. They did not wonder deserts. They did not cross the Red Sea. But, they crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of their own “land of milk and honey” in the New World. Upon their arrival, they were thankful to God for this deliverance. 

Now, as the end of this liturgical year nears its end, our focus is on God’s deliverance into the ultimate promised land: the Kingdom of God. This deliverance journey we are on is our ultimate Exodus. It means that this journey comes with trials to wipe out sins and their effects so that only those who are cleansed are entitled to be delivered into the Kingdom. Upon our arrival, as described in Revelation 22, we are free to harvest fruits in this land of abundance. In the Kingdom, our ultimate land of milk and honey, with abundant harvest, we shall celebrate our ultimate Thanksgiving with grand feast, with Christ, our Shepherd of deliverance.