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We Canadians know that today is thanksgiving, but for what are we thankful exactly, and to whom? 

Far from being trivial, this question is fundamental.

There seem to be two ways this question can be answered. The first is Nihilism. It is to say, really, there is no one to thank, and therefore nothing to be thankful for. Our world began with an absurd "bang" which somehow coalesced into the flowers, birds, trees, buildings and people we see around us today. There might seem to be nice things we could be "thankful" for, but really they are nothing but the product of blind chance and a kind of chaos that is all the more cruel for seeming, for a while, to manifest a certain kind of beautiful harmony and order. But this order is an illusion, says the nihilist, for underneath it there lies dark disorder and nothingness.

Far from being thankful, proponents of nihilism (if they are honest with themselves-- which they hardly are, for why would they be?) live in a perpetual state of resentment and anger. Their basic mode of being is vengefulness. Like the son abandoned by his father and forever resentful and angry at having to stare at the empty hole in his heart where the love for his father should be, the nihilist lives out his life looting the riches of the world and despoiling it of its beauty. Everything he does is a feint or a pretext for his "will to power", his desire to control the world by swallowing it up, to be the god he believes doesn't exist. But a society driven by nihilism will not be the Nazi totalitarian empire some might believe it would be, because again, there is no reason for the nihilist to be consistently devoted to his nihilism. So a nihilist society is something much more depressingly close to where we are headed today: a society populated with people without integrity whose banal evil (adultery, sodomy, etc.) and sordid murders (abortion, euthanasia) are enforced as "the new normal". In other words, a lukewarm society, like a corpse.

Then there are those whom the nihilists hate: believers.

Believers know that pure chaos does not coalesce into a flower or a horse, much less a baby or a full grown woman in a bridal gown, no matter how many years one puts between the explosion and the wedding. Believers know that order, not chaos, is the fundamental feature of reality. They also know that order has an Author, God, who created this world ex nihilo -- out of nothing-- and therefore is all powerful, all knowing and, since he is the author of all beauty (and who can stare at a baby's face and say beauty does not exist!) beauty itself. Unlike the nihilist, the believer lives in a state of gratitude. If he slips out of this state by accident, having succumbed to a temptation in a moment of weakness, he has both a reason to pull himself back up and the means to do so: a saviour called Jesus Christ. A society built by believers is one punctuated by holidays ("Holy-days") where time is set aside to thank the Author of Life. All life in such a society will have the colour and pattern of a life of thanksgiving, a joyful life of gratitude for the gifts given and the help accorded when temptation or tragedy strikes. Crimes will happen, but they will be the exception, not the rule. They will be fought against. Abortion, euthanasia, sodomy, child sexual mutilation, child indoctrination, all would be fought and eventually outlawed, as they are wholly unworthy responses to the lavish generosity of our God.

So which way, modern man? Towards banal nihilism, or joyful gratitude? 

We at Quebec Life Coalition have chosen the path of joy. We refuse the way of resentment, despair and vengefulness, because as believers we know that a life lived in this way is an unfit response to the generosity of God. We joyfully fight the ills of our day, like abortion, euthanasia, and LGBT ideology, because life is a great gift and only a life well-lived, fighting evil and doing good, and enlivened by faith in Jesus Christ, is thanks enough.

On behalf of the whole team at Quebec Life Coalition, we wish you not only a happy thanksgiving day but a whole life spent in thanksgiving under God's loving gaze.

We are well into week two of our autumn 2023 fundraising campaign. Know that we can only do our work with your faithful support. 

Our goal is $12,000. About $ 3500 has been donated so far, and for that we are grateful. However, we remain $ 8,500 away from our goal. I hope you can help us reach it by the end of our campaign.

For Life,

Georges Buscemi