Are you excited to celebrate Thanksgiving Sunday in spite of what is happening around us?
Looking back in the last 10 months, can we find something to be thankful for? In spite of the pandemic brought by COVID-19, can we still point out things that we can be grateful to God? It is difficult to be thankful when we are surrounded with challenges.
If there is one thing that is very constant and very real around us, it is anxiety. The anxiety level is so high because of the health threat pose by the virus. But for Christians, we have to hold on with the promise of Jesus that He has already overcome any troubles that may come our ways.
Let us go back to the events during and after Last Supper. After the Last Supper, Jesus will be arrested, tried, severely beaten, and then executed. Jesus could have had a nervous breakdown with anxiety and run away. But what He did was so full of calmness. He knew that He will overcome it. He sat down and to held a Passover Meal with His disciples.
Luke 22:18-19 tells us that after Jesus took the bread, he gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them. Jesus gave thanks in spite of the events that will surely follow.
The word thanks in the verse in Greek is Eucharist. This is why the Lord’s Supper is also called the Eucharist. Meaning, we give thanks to God in spite of what is happening and will happen.
Why do we give thanks to God? Eucharist comes from two Greek words – eu and charis. “Eu” means Good, and “Charis” means Grace. So, Eucharist means we give thanks because of the Good Grace of God. This good grace of God is manifested in giving us salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, in this time of difficulty, let us continue to thank God because of the grace of God that we also continue to experience.
May God bless us all!
Sincerely,
Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on
Director, Office of Communications
Central Philippine University