Here’s hoping you and your family have a peaceful, grateful, relaxing Thanksgiving holiday. We still have so much in terms of freedom, prosperity, and virtuous tradition that we inherited from our ancestors. We must treasure in our hearts our solemn obligation to hand that on to the next generation, whatever enemies gather to seize it. And steel our wills to do it, even when the going gets ugly.

Remember, our grandparents and parents had to fight for this heritage at places like Guadalcanal and Normandy, Inchon and Saigon. We can certainly show up to ugly school board meetings and scoff at the FBI’s threats of “monitoring” us.

Cultivating Gratitude

In honor of Thanksgiving, The Stream has published several fine pieces helping us to find ways to be thankful in this season. We encourage you to check out at least a few of these:

Thanksgiving and a Day of Prayer: Dave Kubal, the president of Intercessors for America, reminds us of how great presidents of the past led the nation in prayer during difficult times. But today, we have an administration that appears determined to ignore protections for religious liberty. He calls us to fall on our knees as a nation asking God to restore our land.

Could This be Someone’s First Thanksgiving Being Thankful? Matthew Barnett, founder the of the L.A. Dream Center, tells the story of his friend Joseph, an abused child who was shuffled through the foster care system for seventeen years. He reminds us to serve and pray for those who may have never experienced a holiday surrounded by loved ones, with food on the table, or even a roof over their heads. 

Let’s Keep the Thanks in Thanksgiving: Nolan Lewallen reflects on our duty to give thanks, no matter what’s happening. He reminds us that Lincoln gave thanks despite the Civil War, and Daniel despite the lion that approached him in the den.

Don’t Forget to be Grateful for the Little Things: Canon J. John offers a lovely theological reflection on this holiday. He shifts our focus from the big picture to the little things we often take for granted (until they’re gone!).

Coming up Later Today and Tomorrow

Recipe for a Happy Thanksgiving: Jim Tonkowich draws some lessons from a new book about how to remain thankful even when everything in life is going wrong. He quotes the great G. K. Chesterton: “When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”

How to be Thankful When Times are Tough: David Jeremiah, host of Turning Point, reminds us that when the headlines get us down, we need to meditate instead on “things above.” While there’s plenty to be anxious about, the reality is that Jesus reigns supreme.

The 400th Anniversary of Thanksgiving and What It Means: Scott Powell looks back to the very first Thanksgiving in America. He shows how the roots of the ordered liberty we cherish lie deep in the Christian virtues of the courageous Pilgrims, who risked their earthly lives in search of religious freedom. These were the real American founders, even more than the patriots of 1776.

And saving the best for last…

Cultivating Gratitude: James Robison and Jay Richards argue that many Americans are discontent, not because they suffer want and hunger, but because they have failed to cultivate a spirit of gratitude. “Even in these worsening economic times, most of us have our basic needs met, with some left over. We enjoy freedoms that earlier generations could only imagine.” They encourage us to pray for contentment in all our circumstances, lest we lose the blessing God has given us.

COVID Forced Fetal Tissue Abuse All Through Our Medical Industry

The Stream is deeply proud that it can break an important story, presented here in five parts, by pro-life researcher Julie Collorafi. Read her detailed, carefully documented series here. In Part 1, she shows how the embrace of abortion-derived vaccines by churches is a betrayal of ancient Christian doctrine. In Part 2, she connects the dots to show how widespread the use of fetal tissue really is, in Frankenstein mice “humanized” with babies’ organs. In Part 3, she shows how the COVID virus itself likely originated from such mice in Wuhan, China.

In Part 4, she exposes how unethical researchers fled President Trump’s ban on such research (since reversed, of course, by Biden) and kept up their abuses in Canada. In Part 5, she shows how most “monoclonal antibodies” such as President Trump took to fight COVID also rely on baby parts for testing. In fact, the whole pharmaceutical industry has become addicted to the abuse of the unborn, thanks to the panic over COVID. Soon, Christians might have to boycott all newly developed medicines.

Canceling Top Musicians and Athletes for COVID Crimethink

How fanatical have the Branch Covidians become about their new cult of vaccination? Kevin Burke of Priests for Life examines the “cancellation” of music icon Eric Clapton and Super Bowl winning NFL Quarterback Aaron Rodgers. What got them targeted for hate? They indulged in Crimethink about the sacred, precious vaccine that is so safe and useful, it must stuffed by the State down our throats.

How the Actor Who Plays C.S. Lewis Found Faith Himself

Later this afternoon, check out an essay on one of the most exciting new films, C.S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert. Billy Hallowell tells the story of actor Max McLean, who wrote the film and stars in it as the adult Clive Staples Lewis. It turns out that McLean, like Lewis, was once deeply reluctant to accept faith in Christ. It was his own pilgrimage of grace that inspired him to study and depict the faith journey of Lewis.

The Last Good Jesuit?

Don’t miss Stream columnist Mark Judge reviewing a new collection of essays by that rare thing, a faithfully Christian Jesuit, the late Fr. Paul Mankowski. The book documents how that wealthy religious order got taken over by a worldly, licentious spirit that put its leading members at odds with Pope John Paul II, and basic Christian morals. Judge reflects on his own experience at a Jesuit high school made famous by the smear campaign against both Judge and Brett Kavanaugh.

John Zmirak is a senior editor at The Stream and author or co-author of ten books, including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism. He is co-author with Jason Jones of “God, Guns, & the Government.”