Dear NACPA Members and Friends,
As Thanksgiving nears, we send our deepest gratitude to you for your support for this association and your ongoing commitment to justice in the workplace.
We wish you and all whom you hold dear a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving and we offer this reflection and prayer for you.
Sincerely,
Regina Haney, Ed.D.
Executive Director
Reflection: National Day of Thanksgiving
Although Thanksgiving may be traced back to 1621 and the early celebration of the Pilgrims, it was two centuries later that a day of National Thanksgiving was declared.
In the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed this day to remind Americans of the many blessings our country has received. Although the times were challenging, Mr. Lincoln looked forward with confidence to the days when peace and tranquility would return, thanks to the “ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.”
From the Thanksgiving Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863
“The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and even soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.”
Lord, we thank you
for the goodness of our people
and for the spirit of justice
that fills this nation.
We thank you for the beauty and fullness
of the land.
We thank you for our work and for our rest.
We thank you, Lord, for one another and for our homes.
Accept our thanksgiving on this day.
We pray and give thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(c) USCCB (adapted)