Give THANKS–USA-Style!!!

The United States of America was, as far as I know, the first country to have a secular holiday set aside to give thanks to God, and we definitely should not blow this great opportunity to glorify our Lord and express our gratitude to Him for all of the great gifts, which He has given not only to each one of us, personally, but most especially to this greatest of all countries.

Let’s begin a perpetual “Novena of Thanksgiving” to God for the many wonderful favors, He has granted to our country, as well as to petition Him to help us change our ways to please Him and to gain eternal salvation for ourselves, our fellow countrymen, and all others:

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O God, of Whose Mercies there is no number, and of Whose Goodness the Treasure is infinite; we render thanks to Thy Most Gracious Majesty for the gifts Thou hast bestowed upon us, evermore beseeching Thy Clemency, that as Thou grantest the petitions of them that ask Thee, Thou wilt never forsake them, but wilt prepare for the reward to come.  Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in Unity with The Holy Ghost, Ever One God, world without end.  Amen.”  (Mass of Thanksgiving)

“Hear, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the prayers of Thy suppliants and punish not the sins of those who confess unto Thee; but in Thy Bounty grant us both forgiveness and peace.  Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in Unity with The Holy Ghost, Ever One God, world without end. Amen.”

“To my hearing, [O God], Thou shalt give joy and gladness:  and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.  Alleluia.”  (Mass for Remission of Sins)

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The following was mentioned by a prominent talkshow host last year, and I found it on the Internet and formatted it a little.  Please print out the attachment at the bottom, copy it, and distribute it to as many others, as possible.

Let’s remember that our country is suffering greatly from our inattention to and unwillingness to follow God’s Commandments as well as for our ingratitude towards Him for all of the benefits, which He has given to us.  If we do not turn to Him, now, we might not have an opportunity to do so, in the future.

G E N E R A L    T H A N K S G I V I N G

By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America

A  PROCLAMATION

 

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowl­edge the prov­i­dence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grate­ful for His ben­e­fits, and humbly to implore His pro­tec­tion and favour; and Where­as both Hous­es of Con­gress have, by their joint com­mit­tee, request­ed me “to rec­om­mend to the peo­ple of the Unit­ed States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowl­edg­ing with grate­ful hearts the many and sig­nal favors of Almighty God, espe­cial­ly by afford­ing them an oppor­tu­ni­ty peace­ably to estab­lish a form of gov­ern­ment for their safe­ty and happiness:”

NOW THEREFORE, I do rec­om­mend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devot­ed by the peo­ple of these States to the ser­vice of that great and glo­ri­ous Being who is the benef­i­cent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in ren­der­ing unto Him our sin­cere and hum­ble thanks for His kind care and pro­tec­tion of the peo­ple of this coun­try pre­vi­ous to their becom­ing a nation; for the sig­nal and man­i­fold mer­cies and the favor­able inter­po­si­tions of His prov­i­dence in the course and con­clu­sion of the late war; for the great degree of tran­quil­i­ty, union, and plen­ty which we have since enjoyed;– for the peace­able and ratio­nal man­ner in which we have been enable to estab­lish Con­sti­tu­tions of gov­ern­ment for our safe­ty and hap­pi­ness, and par­tic­u­lar­ly the nation­al one now late­ly insti­tut­ed;– for the civ­il and reli­gious lib­er­ty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquir­ing and dif­fus­ing use­ful knowl­edge;– and, in gen­er­al, for all the great and var­i­ous favours which He has been pleased to con­fer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offer­ing our prayers and sup­pli­ca­tions to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to par­don our nation­al and oth­er trans­gres­sions;– to enable us all, whether in pub­lick or pri­vate sta­tions, to per­form our sev­er­al and rel­a­tive duties prop­er­ly and punc­tu­al­ly; to ren­der our Nation­al Gov­ern­ment a bless­ing to all the peo­ple by con­stant­ly being a Gov­ern­ment of wise, just, and con­sti­tu­tion­al laws, dis­creet­ly and faith­ful­ly exe­cut­ed and obeyed; to pro­tect and guide all sov­er­eigns and nations (espe­cial­ly such as have shewn kind­ness unto us); and to bless them with good gov­ern­ments, peace, and con­cord; to pro­mote the knowl­edge and prac­tice of true reli­gion and virtue, and the increase of sci­ence among them and us; and, gen­er­al­ly to grant unto all mankind such a degree of tem­po­ral pros­per­i­ty as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of Octo­ber, in the year of our Lord, one thou­sand sev­en hun­dred and eighty-nine.

(signed) G. Washington
Source: The Mass­a­chu­setts Sen­tinel, Wednes­day, Octo­ber 14, 1789 
(tak­en from:  http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/thanksgiving/thankstext.html)

Copy­right and All Rights Reserved, The Holy Fam­i­ly House.  Feast of our Lady Moth­er of Grace, A.D. 2/7/2012.  Can be print­ed & dis­trib­uted GRATIS ONLY, with clear­ly leg­i­ble copy­right info.