Prayers for Thanksgiving Day

Within the framework of Thanksgiving Day (Thanksgiving), which is celebrated in the United States in memory of the first dinner of thanksgiving to God in 1621, we share three prayers to be prayed with the family or community:

Thanksgiving Prayer

Oh God, We thank You for this land, our home;
for the wide sky and the blessed sun,
by the salt sea and the running water,
through the immense hills
and the winds that never rest,
through the trees and the grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
with whom we listen to the birds singing,
We see the splendor of the summer fields,
We taste the fruits of autumn,
we rejoice when we feel the snow
and we breathe the breath of spring.
Give us a heart very open to all this beauty;
and keep our souls from being so blind
that we pass without seeing,
when even the common bramble
It is burning with your glory.
Oh God, our creator,
that you live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

(Traducido de: Living God’s Justice: Reflections and Prayers, compiled by The Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors)

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Prayer at the Thanksgiving table

O merciful God, we thank you for your overflowing generosity towards us. Thank you for the blessing of the food we eat and especially for the celebration of this day. Thank you for our home, family and friends, especially for the presence of those gathered here.
Thank you for our health, our work and our play. Please send your help to those who are hungry, alone, sick and suffering from war and violence.
Open our hearts to your love. We ask your blessing through Christ, your Son. Amen.

(Traducido de: Celebrating Faith: Year-round Activities For Catholic Families, by Mary Cronk Farrell).

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Prayer

This Thanksgiving allows us, those who have much and those who have little, to gather at the Lord’s welcome table. On this blessed feast, rich and poor alike, we must remember that we are called to serve others and walk together in the world of God’s grace. Therefore, with grateful hearts let us praise our God who, like a loving father, does not deny us the good. Amen.

(Traducido de: Songs of Our Hearts, Meditations of Our Souls: Prayers for Black Catholics, edited by Cecilia A. Moor, Ph.D., C. Vanessa White, D.Min., and Paul M. Marshall, S.M.).