To the Band of Brothers: November 24, 2020
Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving (a few days early)!
One of my favorite comedians is Jim Gaffigan. You may have seen him on television or on one of his many comedy specials. I confess, one of the main reasons I like him so much is because he’s Catholic. Even though he makes fun of some of his Catholic practices in his bits, it’s a well-known fact he and his wife practice their faith fervently. I also enjoy his shtick because his comedy is about real, every day life. He also makes it a point to not be too over the top with profanity so I can share it with my parents and students.
Gaffigan has this great bit on holiday practices. He goes down the list of things people do during Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July and points out that, on closer review, they seem a bit silly. For example, he claims that what families do during Christmas are more the actions of a drunk person than a sober one. To celebrate the birth of Jesus we take a pine tree and put it in our house, we take lights and put them outside our house, we hang socks over the fireplace and leaves over the doorways to see if we can “get a little action.”
For Thanksgiving, Gaffigan claims Americans really didn’t try very hard to set up a holiday practice because the tradition is simply to overeat. He follows up this comment by claiming the tradition is no big deal because Americans overeat every day.
While most of his comments are funny because of how farfetched they are, what he says about Thanksgiving is, to a certain degree, pretty accurate. Gaffigan claims the ridiculousness of the holiday tradition is that the whole country takes a day off to do something it does every day: eat too much. I, in turn, would like to follow his train of thought and claim what is more incredible is having us take a day off to do something we should do every day: give thanks.
There is no doubt Thanksgiving is the typical American holiday. It captures best the essence of what it is to be a citizen of this great nation because ours is a nation of immigrants, a nation of “outsiders.” Although there are many stories told about the origins of the holiday, most agree it began when in 1621 the religious English settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts decided to celebrate three days of giving thanks to God for having survived their first year in the new land. They also wanted to thank God for their abundant harvest. They invited the neighboring Wampanoag Tribe who had taught the pilgrims to plant and fish. The rest is history.
It is a history that repeats itself. Almost 350 years later, my grandparents fled Cuba and landed in Miami with their nine children, the clothes on their backs, and a dollar in their pocket (at least, that’s the story my grandfather tells). They arrived in a new land they knew very little about and understood even less. With the help of gracious and charitable people who had settled earlier and those who were native Miamians (especially in the form of the Archdiocese of Miami), they were eventually able to establish themselves and flourish because of their hard work and, especially, because they didn’t take anything for granted. I know that for this, my grandparents are eternally grateful.
Now, more than ever, this continues to be the case. With the increase of people who have arrived more recently in Miami from places like Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Colombia, the story of Thanksgiving is as real today as it was before. With all our ups and downs, the United States continues to be a place of great hope and optimism. It is a national trait we can never lose.
So, even though we set aside the last Thursday of November to sit at the table together for dinner, pray before the meal, go around the table and say what each of us is thankful for, invest in conversation, and make iPhones items non grata at the dinner table, we should make it a point to do it every day.
In the spirit of the holiday, I want to say to you, the young men of Belen and your parents: thank you. Thank you for your prayers, support, and for being a part of the Belen family. I pray that on a day like Thanksgiving, the Lord may bless you and keep your family safe and in the presence of His love. Actually, I pray that He does that every day.
Auspice Maria
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.