Giving Thanks

The Coffee Break by Pam O'Connell

Feast of Christ the King
Today’s Readings: [Click here]

There’s a cute story about a woman who was at the mall not too long ago. She was tired from all her shopping, so she decided to stop at the food court for a short break. She bought herself a little bag of cookies and put them in her shopping bag. Then she got in line for coffee and found a place to sit at one of the crowded tables. She took the lid off her coffee and took out a magazine. She began to sip her coffee and read. Across the table from her there was a man reading a newspaper.

After a little while, she reached out and took a cookie. As she did, the man sitting across from her took one too. This put her off, but she didn’t say anything.

A few moments later, she took another cookie. Once again, so did the man. Now she was getting a bit upset, but still she didn’t say a word.

After a few more sips of coffee, once again she took another cookie. So did the man. She was really upset by this, especially since now there was only one cookie left.

Apparently the man realized this, because before she could say anything, he took it, broke it in half, offered half to her and proceeded to eat the other half himself. Then he smiled at her, put his paper under his arm, got up and walked away.

Boy, was she ever steamed now! Her coffee break was ruined. She sat there thinking about how she was going to tell her family about this unbelievable offense. That’s when she closed her magazine, opened her shopping bag to put it away—which was when she discovered there her own unopened bag of cookies.

I like that story. It makes me think about how well God treats me even when I’m not treating him well or thinking all that kindly about him.

It also makes me think about how, sometimes, I don’t really appreciate what I have or act like I know where it has come from. It’s kind of a reminder—just like the reminder in our first reading today from the prophet Ezekiel.

God promises that he will always look after his sheep and tend to them. That’s us, of course.

I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal…

What an amazing reminder that everything we have is a gift from God. Yes, we may have to work hard for the things we’ve got, but it’s all a gift, nonetheless—because God also gave us the hands, the brains, the strength we need to achieve what we have achieved.

If we remembered this truth a little more often, how much easier and more joyful life would seem… how much more we would bless God for his goodness… and how much more appreciative we would be.

This has been a tough year for many people. Money has been tighter than ever. There have been deaths and divorces, illnesses and accidents, all kinds of problems and setbacks… Sometimes we might be tempted to say Jesus’ own words from the cross: My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

But as we approach Thanksgiving Day this week, it is the perfect time to focus not on the bad stuff of life, but on the positive things. It is also an ideal time to ask the Lord for a faith that is thankful in everything—even the things that may not seem so great at the time. In fact, we might look to the example of the Pilgrims themselves.

Do you know the real story of Thanksgiving? I’m afraid many of us have a romantic image of this holiday that’s far from the truth.

The story of the first Thanksgiving begins in 1608, when a group of people called the Separatists left their homeland in England and settled in Holland. They had been persecuted for splitting off from the Church of England and starting their own church. In Holland, these Separatists had religious freedom, but their life was extremely poor and hard. They also discovered that the local culture was threatening the values they had so carefully instilled in their children.

So the community prayed for God’s guidance, and under the leadership of William Bradford, they sold everything they had and to pay for their journey, they indentured themselves to an English company for their first seven years in America. On the Mayflower, the Separatists joined others seeking the new land for other reasons. These two groups, a passenger list of 102, together were the Pilgrims.

Their journey lasted nine weeks. Along the way, the ship got lost. Instead of reaching Virginia, they landed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, outside the jurisdiction of the King’s Charter. So the Pilgrims found themselves responsible for their own governance. Again, they prayed a lot, and then they wrote a set of laws called The Mayflower Compact. Only after everyone had signed it on November 11, 1620, did they leave the ship to begin their new life at the place they named Plymouth.

Half the Pilgrims died that first winter. But the survivors clung to their faith in God. The Mayflower returned to England the next spring, but not a single Pilgrim decided to return. They stayed right there, and with the help of an Indian named Squanto, the Pilgrims learned how to grow corn, use fertilizer, stalk deer and catch fish.

Their first harvest brought plenty. In October, Gov. Bradford set aside a day for everyone to thank God for meeting their needs through a very difficult year. Squanto and other members of his tribe were invited to celebrate with them. The Indians brought deer and turkeys, while the Pilgrim women cooked vegetables and fruit pies.

How many of us, so comfortable in these modern times, could imagine freezing and starving through a harsh winter, losing half of our community, then having such a joyous celebration to God? What an inspiring picture of Christian faith!

In our day, too, God wants us to celebrate his love. He wants us to give thanks in everything—not because he’s greedy for praise, but because he knows that this will bless us and bless the world he made. He wants us to remember what he has done, so we won’t be afraid when we need help, and so we won’t grow arrogant or rude when we’re prospering. He wants us to remember and give thanks to him and to those around us, so our lives will be full of light and hope, and our actions full of tenderness and love.

Yes, that is true thanksgiving—and truly thankful living. As our liturgical year draws to a close and we celebrate Thanksgiving, may we be sure to praise God and be grateful for his countless blessings.

Making Life Golden

The 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Readings: [Click here]

Today we hear the familiar parable about the man who entrusts his three servants with his money for safekeeping while he goes away on a journey. The money he gives them is in the form of talents, a currency of the ancient Roman world.

Over the years, I’ve heard this story countless times—and I know you have, too. I always assumed that a talent was a gold or silver coin… but never gave it much more thought than that.

As I reflected on this week’s Scriptures, though, a stray thought crossed my mind: “What exactly is a talent?” So off I went to do a bit of research.

I was stunned to discover that one talent is roughly 75 pounds of gold. At today’s gold price of about $733 an ounce, that means that in dollars, one talent is worth $880,000.

Wow. So servant number 1 was given $4.4 million. Servant number 2 was given $1.8 million. And even the poor chap who only got one talent wound up with almost a million dollars! I guess their master really trusted them.

Think about what you would do in that situation. Would you wheel and deal and try to make more money for the boss? Or would you be so gun-shy about losing the money that you’d dig a proverbial hole and bury the treasure?

Actually, a great many of us are like the third servant. God has entrusted us with extraordinary gifts—faith, wisdom, intelligence, skill, talent, freedom, health and all kinds of material things—and yet, we often guard our lives as if we might lose them at any moment instead of using them. We’re so careful not to take risks or break rules. When we don’t know what to do, our tendency is to do nothing. A lot of people do a lot of waiting to see what happens in fear of finding out!

The point of this lesson is that God does not want that. God gives us abundant life plus more talent, chances and opportunities than even the most energetic and adventurous among us can explore in a lifetime. It also seems that God provides amazing protection. We are far more resilient than we think we are, and God’s kingdom is totally so.

Do you remember the old children’s saying, “Step on a crack and break your mother’s back?” God didn’t make that up. In fact, it was God who gave us bones that heal if we happen to stumble and break a leg. It’s not God who cautions us to put our money into federally insured certificates of deposit. No, God urges us to give a feast and invite the poor… or better yet, to sell all our property and give the money to the needy.

The point is, the Lord stresses that life is a precious, joyous opportunity for the living. Jesus said to let the dead bury the dead. We—the living… God’s children—are called to follow him.

The problem is, lots of us are stymied about what to do. OK, here I am. How am I supposed to figure out what to do with the proverbial pile of gold that God has so graciously dumped in my lap?

St. Paul wrote to the Romans (8:26) that the Holy Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness. We don’t know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

We should actually believe this Scripture and let the Spirit guide and prompt us. Our job is to seek, to be open and to cooperate.

Marcel Proust, the great French writer and intellectual, once said that the voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new vistas but in looking with new eyes. News eyes can often be found in very simple ways.

A good exercise is to take ten or fifteen minutes in the evening and review the events of your day. Ask yourself three questions—and better yet, jot down your answers in a little journal or notebook.

The three questions are:

• What surprised me today?

• What moved me or touched me today?

• What inspired me today?

At first, you’ll probably answer the questions this way: nothing, nothing, nothing. But that’s because you’ll still looking at life in old ways. Instead, try looking at the people around you as if you were a novelist, a journalist, or maybe a poet. Better yet, look through the eyes of a humanitarian, a living saint, or even Jesus Christ himself. Look for the stories, the possibilities, the opportunities, the love…

As you practice, you’ll find that you won’t have to stop in the evening and look back at your day over your shoulder. With practice, you’ll begin to see things “in real time” as they are actually happening so you can do something… or say something… or pray something. And all of a sudden, things will start to change. You will be putting your talents to work in extraordinary new ways.

In the parable, Jesus tells the successful servants: Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, come share in your master’s joy.

Wouldn’t it be great to hear those words from the Lord, especially when we stand before his judgment seat? It’s never too late to dig up the talent we’ve buried and start putting it to work. May the Holy Spirit inspire us all to do just that.

We Are God’s Temple

Feast of St. John Lateran
Today’s Readings: [Click here]

It’s not too often that we see Christ get angry enough to start throwing furniture around. If you’re like me, maybe it’s reassuring to think of this when on occasion we lose it!

But unlike our own outbursts which are often based on anger or frustration, the Lord’s scene in the Temple is very much controlled and purposeful. As Jesus sweeps the Temple courtyard clean of merchants, he causes a great frenzy among the Jews. With boldness and zeal, Jesus refers to himself as a temple. He says that if that temple should be destroyed, it will be raised up in three days.

With the benefit of hindsight, we know that Christ is speaking about the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday and the resurrection. But even for the people of the time who didn’t know what was just around the corner, Jesus by his actions tries to refocus their faith. His lesson is that the temple building and all the sacrifices and other external religious practices are not what matter in authentic religion. The real proof of a person’s faith and standing before God is their relationship with God.

The prophet Isaiah pronounced God’s beautiful promise: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples (Isa 56:7). Today, Isaiah’s prophecy and Jesus’ cleansing action truly open the door of God’s house to a multitude of people who were once excluded. Christ has become the temple everyone can enter. We can understand this both spiritually—in the sense that everyone can be baptized and become an adopted child of God—and physically—in the sense that everyone is welcome to come through our church doors, pray with us, break bread with us, commune with us, love with us... This inclusive image and its open invitation to all people has truly become the power of the gospel in our world.

In fact, this echoes the message we heard in the gospel last Sunday: Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me…” (Jn 6:37).

And there’s more. Not only does Christ become a holy temple, but the Scriptures go on to say that we are, too! As St. Paul tells the Corinthians today: You are God’s building… you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you! The temple of God, which you are, is holy (1 Cor 3:9, 16, 17). So not only has Christ included us, but we have been chosen in Christ as the dwelling place of the Spirit. As Christ continues to cleanse the temple and restore faith, our own lives are being cleansed and renewed, as well.

I think it’s important to pause for a moment and consider the significance of all this. How are we God’s temple? In the soul, definitely. But not just the soul. Our bodies are also part of the living temple that houses God’s Spirit. Remember, the body and soul are inseparable. What this means is that how we relate to our body profoundly influences our spirituality and our inner wellness. Our emotions, feelings, attitudes, and physical health all have an impact on the degree of holiness and peace we enjoy.

But if you think about it, I know you’ll agree that most people we meet—young or old, sick or well, rich or poor, male or female, single or married—do not love their bodies. This is a significant spiritual concern! Our bodies are temples—a sacred trust… but negative self-images often lead to subtle and overt acts of self-hatred. Like our souls, our bodies also need love, care and attention. We need to cherish and nurture our entire being physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually so we can thrive and live up to our fullest human potential.

Our body is one of God’s special gifts to us. You might say that it is our portable chapel. In sickness and in health, it helps us pray. For it is in God that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Many people don’t realize that learning to live peacefully with our imperfect body can help us grow in inner wellness and personal empowerment.

In our prayer today, let us thank God for choosing us as one of his own and for making us feel desired and worthy. We thank him for giving us confidence that cannot be found in the world—a thought that is both humbling and exalting. We give thanks for his love and goodness. We give thanks that Christ is our temple—and that we are his.

All Soul’s Day / Election Day

All Soul’s Day
Today’s Readings: [Click here]

Today, on All Souls’ Day, we pray for the dead. Praying for the dead is as old as the Church itself, and very much a universal practice.

Why do we do this? If a person is in heaven, the prayers obviously are not needed. If a person is in hell, the prayers aren’t going to do any good. It makes sense, then, that praying for the dead shows that we believe in purgatory, a place where the souls of the just may be detained before they are worthy to enter heaven.

But why might souls need a stopover in purgatory? Because when our earthly life is over and we come before the Lord, we see ourselves clearly. We can no longer hide behind our body or our ego or other earthly excuses. The soul knows that it must be spotless to look God in the face and stand in his presence. A person with unforgiven or unsatisfied venial sins from life will flee from God’s presence to clean up first. It’s like standing outside the door to a fancy party and realizing you have a smudge on your face or a spot on your clothes; you’ll want to clean up in the washroom before going inside. It’s the same with heaven.

So while it’s true that Christ earned salvation for all of us, and more than made satisfaction for all of our sins, still Christ wills that in our individual lives, we share in penance to make satisfaction for sin.

As much as we’d like to believe that all our family members and friends who have died are safely in heaven, it is good and prudent, and even holy, to act as though they are in purgatory. Prayers are never wasted. If our loved ones are safely in paradise, then God will use our good prayers to benefit other poor souls in purgatory. But if they themselves are there, wouldn’t it be tragic not to use our powerful prayers to help them get out faster?

All Souls’ Day is a good time to remind ourselves that only the perfect enter heaven. So let us strive for perfection in every aspect of our life. And while we are able, let us also resolve to pray for the dead and do penance in this life so we may avoid purgatory when we cross over into eternity.

* * *

Switching gears now, I want to speak briefly about the general elections to be held this Tuesday, November 4. First, let me echo our bishop’s exhortation to vote. Bishop Jenky said, “In our American democracy, we have the freedom to choose our officials and our legislators, and so have a voice in formulating the laws that govern us. This great gift of liberty, especially our religious liberty, should never be taken for granted. We therefore have a moral duty to participate with our fellow citizens in the political process. … We owe it to God and neighbor never to allow ourselves to be marginalized from the political process. So be sure to vote.” In other words, it is an important duty and responsibility for all of us to cast our ballot. Please, exercise that right and privilege.

I don’t have to tell you that there are a number of very important issues facing our country and our world.

A great many of us are heartsick over being embroiled in another foreign war—a modern war with terrible weaponry that we know for a fact is shattering the lives of countless young soldiers and their families, not only here but in other lands, as well. We know Jesus teaches love and peace. Please, exercise your conscience and your vote to expedite the end of armed conflict.

We are blessed to live in one of the richest nations on the face of the earth. Yet not too many of us have escaped the impact of painful economic times. When the stock market was in free-fall a couple of weeks ago, some commentators were saying that nothing like that had been seen since 1937—the height of the Great Depression. That’s scary! Usually, those of us in the middle class escape the brunt of financial upheaval. But this time, even ordinary folks faced the prospect of losing their home, getting fired or laid off from their job, not being able to pay for school or heat or gasoline or even food. Maybe this experience really brings home Jesus’ message of how important it is to love and take care of the poor. Please, exercise your conscience and your vote to help make a difference.

As people of faith and hope, we are passionate about the gift of human life. Abortion has been a divisive issue in our nation for 35 years. We also face off when it comes to euthanasia, adoption and foster care, marriage rights, health care, and many other issues that impact the very right to live, the quality of life, and the dignity of every precious child of God. You might do well to reread Matthew’s Gospel, Chapters 5, 6 and 7—the Sermon on the Mount. Let Christ’s powerful words soak into your heart before you mark your ballot… “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world…Do not judge; why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?... So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you…” Please, exercise your conscience and your vote to honor the Beatitudes.

We are also a magnificently free country… but once we’ve won our own freedom, it’s easy to turn a blind eye to others. Most of our forebears came to this country in steerage class—with nothing. They worked hard and were blessed with opportunity and good fortune. But forty years ago, many of us forgot our own humble roots. We did our best to keep black folks as second-class citizens. Thank God, God’s love won out. Today’s civil rights battles focus on immigrants, gay people, people with disabilities, the elderly… Please, exercise your conscience and your vote to make this a better America for all people—not just the “in crowd.”

Yes, Tuesday is a big day. Forget the political rhetoric and posturing. Instead, say a prayer for divine guidance and vote for the candidates you feel can make a holy difference. Yes, please exercise your conscience and vote.