Eucharist {thanksgiving} is the state of the perfect man.

Eucharist is the life of paradise.

Eucharist is the only full and real response of man to God’s creation, redemption and gift of heaven.

Father Alexander Schmemann of Blessed Memory

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His mercy endures forever. (Psalm 118:1)

Eucharist – comes from the Greek word eukharistia.  Do you see the word kharis rooted right there in the middle of it?  The tenor of kharis resonates “grace” – “favor”.  It is gratitude abundant and well.  Grace and favor – so freely given by God – which is swaddled, nestled and bound up in the thanksgiving we offer graciously in return to Him.  

Thanksgiving is paramount to life – not just a national holiday contemplated once every November.  Father Alexander Schmemann said, “The only real fall of man is his noneucharistic life, in a noneucharistic world.”   In a noneucharistic world we’ve forgotten to love God with our whole heart and our whole soul and our whole mind.

There must not be a word adequately describing the lament of a noneucharistic world.

But for Orthodox Christians, every day is one ablaze with the promise of Thanksgiving : for blessings small and large, those that bring tears and those that warm the heart.

Eukharistia – it is not resevered for one day of the year or even one day of the week but celebrated in our hearts – each and every day.  The thanks rendered by each person is born of their own season and circumstance of lives lived in the Church.

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With the breaking dawn – the hope of each new day, we give thanks.

Thanks for family, and friends, near and far and for friends who walk right in the house, rather than knock.

For illness and the times we stumble and fall, we give thanks.   For crosses we bear and those who’ve  helped us to lift them up – eukharistia.

For Faith that requires everything and for marriages and love enduring and strong – eukharistia.

Thanksgiving buds and sprouts during seasons of plentiful blessing, but blooms and flourishes through our times of trouble and want  – in all of it, we lift up our hearts and render thanks to the Lord.

Eukharistia : We love Father Son and Holy Spirit : the Trinity one in Essense.  We treasure the tender hearted Theotokos, and so great a cloud of witness.  We cherish the harbor of the Church – a respite where earthly cares are laid aside.  We give thanks for the God who first loved us and  for all of His gifts, showered upon us :: gifts so freely given, unprofitable as we are, and we graciously offer to Him in return – hearts of thanksgiving.

Eucharist is the cup of salvation.  Our thanksgiving is trust in the Lord and the spacious expectation and surprising joy of the present moment. Eukharistia says Thy Will be done and glory to God for all things.  It is a new song unto the Lord (Psalm 96:1).

Eukharistia unearths love, forgiveness, peace and unity in the face of adversity, temptation and trial.  It is the antidote to jealousy, bitterness, criticism, anxiety and resentment.  The way of eukharistia allows us to endure the fatigue of the day and bear our part in all it’s passing events – resting in the assurance that it’s all for our salvation.  It nourishes and uplifts, and where one is uplifted, all are uplifted.

Eukharistia allows for the mystery.  It bursts forth and births into spiritual joy, softening hearts and making room for the coming of the Lord.

In this season of the Advent  eukharistia is the bright shining star on a still still night guiding us toward the Nativity.

Blessings on this Thanksgiving Holiday.

Resources:

Eukharistia : http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Eucharist