Thanksgiving

~ On This Thanksgiving Day ~

Lord, how quickly the pages of the calendar have turned and another Thanksgiving Day is upon us. And so, as I pause and reflect, a mind full of memories rush to find expression as a heart full of gratitude wells up within me.

Thank you, Lord, for the splendor of your creation; for the beauty of the world around me, for green pastures and still waters and for tall trees that bow their heads prayerfully in the wind. I thank you for the colors with which you paint the seasons and for the passing of those seasons that has brought us to this day: for the snow glistened winter and the dogwood spring, for the watermelon summer and the russet and gold autumn.

Thank you, Lord, for this great land, for its bounty and its liberty, for the privilege of democracy and the gift of peace. Thank you for the goodness of our people and for the spirit of justice that fills this nation. I thank you today for the brave people of our land who are more interested in being right than in being popular, and for those who are willing to support a good cause publicly even though they know that the cause may not succeed.

I offer you my thanks today for the gift of family - for all those who will gather around my Thanksgiving table, and for those who break bread at other tables this year. I thank you too for those who share with you in the heavenly banquet, those who you have called home and into your embrace. Thank you for relieving their pain and suffering and thank you for all the memories that keep them alive in my mind and in my heart.

I’m grateful, Lord, for friends who continue to be friends even after they have known me well. For those whose nods, winks, and smiles celebrated my joys and triumphs, and whose broad shoulders bore my burdens and lifted me with their compassion. Thank you for all those who have come into my life this year, for older people who have shared with me the wisdom of their yesterdays, and for the young whose enthusiasm and zest for life give me hope for tomorrow.

I’m thankful for the talents of others and for those who share them so generously with us, and for advances in technology and medicine that promise us a better day in the future. And I thank you for work which challenges the talents with which I have been blessed, and for weekends and holidays and holy days which refresh my spirit. For days of pomp and pageantry and parade, and for moments of quiet solitude, I thank you.

I give thanks to you today for the wonder of life, the mystery of love, and the gift of faith. For the sound of music that fills my soul, for the sound of laughter that lifts my spirit, and for the sound of crying that moves my heart with compassion.

I thank you for cloudy days which help me appreciate the sunshine; for tears, which help me appreciate laughter; for pain which helps me appreciate health; for weakness through which I’ve discovered my strength; for sorrow, hurt, and loss through which I have discovered the depth of my own heart; and for failure which has led me to discover my dependence on you.

I thank you for the Church, for its teaching which informs me, and for its saints that inspire me. For the priests, deacons, brothers and sisters who proclaim the gospel, not merely by word but through their tireless dedication to you and your people. For my fellow parishioners who fold their hands in prayer on Sunday morning and who extend their hands in service and generosity throughout the week.

But most of all Lord, I thank you for you! I thank you for simply being God and for loving me with a Father’s love. For sending your Son to us - for the example of his life and for the redemption that his death and resurrection has won. And for the gift of your Spirit, who guides me along the path which I pray someday will lead me home to you.

For all of this Lord I offer my thanks to you on this Thanksgiving Day.

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)

When Temples Fall

Malachi 3:19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19

As you probably know, the word gospel comes from the Old English word godspell, which means "good news." Stones thrown down . . . votive offerings overturned . . . nation rising up against nation . . . earthquakes . . . famine . . . plagues? "THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD!" Well what's so good about the "good news" this morning? What's so good about wars and insurrections, earthquakes, famines, plagues and personal persecution, maybe even death? This is the Gospel of the Lord, the "good news" that we're presented with today, just a week after nature wreaked havoc on the Philippines and brought such horrific destruction and death in its path? Are you trying to tell us something, God? . . . Yes, or God is always trying to tell us something. But perhaps something different than what appears on the surface.

Today’s gospel begins with the disciples marveling at the glory of the Temple in Jerusalem. It must have been something to see. The Temple they looked at was one of the wonders of the world. It was brand, spanking new. The original Temple, the Temple that Solomon built, was destroyed by the Babylonians at the beginning of the captivity in 588 BC. When the Israelites returned to Jerusalem around 528, the people had all to do to build shelters for themselves. So, it took about fifteen years for them to begin to build a new Temple. This was a modest undertaking, merely adequate, but the best the people at the time could do. As the centuries progressed, this temple was enlarged and refurbished, but it never approached the magnificence of the Temple that Solomon built. In the year 26 B.C. Herod decided to restore the Temple to the glory of Solomon’s day. It was made of carved blocks of greenish white marble, some of them sixty feet long. The eastern front of the temple and part of the side walls, were covered with gold plate, flashing in the sun, and the inside of the Temple was filled with beautiful ornaments. It took Herod's workmen fifty years to build it, and in fact, was only completed in Jesus’ lifetime.

So we can understand the disciples awe as they pointed out its wonders. And we can understand their shock and horror when Jesus said that all of this magnificence would come to ruin. And, in fact, within forty years, the Romans would put down the Jewish Barsabbus revolt, and to break the spirit of the zealot rebels, would completely destroy the temple leaving nothing but part of the retaining wall (what we now call the Wailing Wall) still standing.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that Jesus prophesied that the Temple would fall, he then goes on to say that the whole world will be destroyed. He says that natural disasters, earthquakes, hurricanes, and political turmoil demonstrate that the world is coming to an end. Jesus says that there will be many claiming that the end is at hand, and in fact, in our own time, every few years someone pops up with proof that the world is going to end on a specific date, like last year when the Mayan calendar expired. But remember what Jesus said: "Ignore them." In the same way we should ignore the Jim Joneses, Charles Mansons, Reverend Sun Myung Moons, and other assorted wackos who have the audacity to claim to be Jesus, incarnate again.

Jesus is adamant that we Christians are not to get flustered, distraught, or full of anxiety. These feelings are reserved for those who refuse to commit their lives to the Kingdom of God. What we need to do is to give witness to Christ, particularly in the face of persecution. Jesus wasn't just addressing the early Christians when he said that you will be delivered up to those who will murder you for being faithful. He was also talking to Archbishop Oscar Romero, Jane Donovan and the Maryknoll sisters and the six Jesuits who were all murdered in El Salvador for demanding that the poor be treated with respect. He was talking to Maximilian Kolbe and all those put to death by the Nazis, Communists and Fascists during the blood stained 20th century. He was talking to all those throughout the ages who were persecuted for living their faith. And he was talking to every one of us who is mocked for hanging on to what the media presents as a dated morality. He was talking to all of us who fight for traditional family values and who fight against the forces that deify self-gratification. All of these people, from the martyrs of the past to those living in your house, may be put to death, or at least commit social suicide for their Christian witness, but patient endurance will save their lives.

Today's gospel is indeed frightening. But it isn't frightening for the reason some fundamentalists would give: the fear of the end. It's frightening because Jesus demands that we give witness - in a sense, become martyrs - if we want to be saved.

It's frightening because Jesus demands that we stand up for him, his kingdom, his values, his call to love, to turn the other cheek, to live the Christian way of life in a materialistic, self-centered world.

It's frightening because it demands that we accept ridicule and rejection from those who mock us.

It’s frightening because it proclaims that only by patient endurance can we be saved.

And so, what do you do when your temple falls? What do you do when the security and stability of your world are gone? What do you do when everything nailed down comes loose, and the institutions, and the laws, and the people you once put your trust in all fail you? What do you do? . . . You find your strength and your security in the one thing that is rock solid, permanent, and indestructible - the Mighty Fortress that is our God.

Life can be bad. Evil is very real. But God's promise is also just as real: "Not a hair on your head will perish . . . you will gain your lives." Jesus wraps us up in a promise of safety in the only way that really matters. God holds you. He will never let go of you. That doesn’t mean that you won't go through bad times. It doesn’t mean that bad things won't happen to good people. But it does mean that God's kingdom will come nonetheless, and his will shall be done - both here and now, on earth, as well as finally, in heaven. He holds us in a grasp that will never let us go, that will never allow evil to have the final say over us.

And so, in a week and a half, when you sit with your family around the Thanksgiving dinner table, say a little silent prayer of thanks that God has allowed you the stability you need to keep on going. And give thanks for God's steadiness and dependability, that when everything else is gone, when your personal temples have fallen, God is still beside you.

And give thanks that God is a God of change, and new beginnings, and new options, and new possibilities, and new challenges, and new opportunities, and new life.

And give thanks that the day will come when we will no longer need to hide inside our temples, but can leave them behind, and walk forward, hand in hand with our Lord - head erect, eyes searching for new horizons, brave and confident - into God's glorious future!

The Solemnity of All Saints

Saints Among Us

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a 

He was born in 1985 and his smile was contagious from the moment he first gave one. A typical kid, with typical interests. He loved professional sports and was a diehard Yankees, Giants and Bulls fan. In elementary school he joined the basketball team and played trumpet in the school band. And it was in fourth grade, when he became an altar server, that his love for God, his love for the church, and his dedication to a life of service began to grow. When he was fifteen years old, he needed a kidney transplant. He never complained, never felt sorry for himself, and used that experience to come to a deeper appreciation for life. He was an average student, but what wasn’t average about him was his goodness, his gentleness, his faith, his love of God, and his commitment to serve God’s people. In his senior year of high school, he became a Eucharistic Minister and spent a week that summer serving the Navajo Nation in Arizona. But during his second year in college, his body began to fail him and he spent five months in various hospitals. The will of God proved stronger than the prayers of his family and friends, and God brought him home to Himself. He had discerned that God was calling him to be a priest. And perhaps we can question the wisdom of God: why would God take such an inspirational and faith-filled individual at a time when the Church needs priests? But if a priest is one who dedicates his life to God through service and sacrifice, in reality, although he never was ordained, he already was a priest. His name is Patrick Nilsen. He was my student, and today is his feast day.

She was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1925, the youngest of seven children. Her father passed away when she was five and there were days when there was little on the family dinner table, and years that they couldn’t even afford a Christmas tree, much less Christmas presents. She attended her parish elementary school and would love to sneak into the church during lunchtime to light a candle and say a prayer in front of the statues of the Sacred Heart, the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, and her patron saint, St. Therese. In her life, she never accomplished anything that the world would consider great, except to those who see greatness in being a loving and devoted wife to her husband of 51 years, a dedicated mother to her three sons, and a dear friend to all. She attended mass everyday, volunteered to feed the hungry every Thanksgiving, and was a member of a sewing group in her parish that provided clothing for the poor. She was someone who mastered her patron saint’s spiritual philosophy, known as “the little way” to sanctity, by doing the mundane things of everyday life and infusing them with tremendous love. When she was diagnosed with cancer in 1997, she lost her hair, she lost weight, and ultimately lost her life, but she never lost her faith. During her illness, she never admitted to being in the tremendous pain that wracked her body, but only spoke of it as “discomfort,” and refused pain medication that would cause her to be “out of it,” and chose instead to take only Extra-strength Tylenol so she could appreciate the time that she had left with her family. As her life was an example in Christian living, her death became an example in Christian death. And as she lay in her hospital bed a few days before she died, as she finished praying with her family, her face beamed with the most beautiful and serene smile as she announced to her family (while she stared at seemingly nothing at the foot of her bed), “He looks so beautiful.” Her name is Theresa Olsen, my mother, and today is her feast day.

Today, we celebrate the Feast of All Saints. And today is not about those who have been officially canonized. They already have their own particular feast days on the Church calendar. "All Saints" speaks of those who were not famous, but those nonetheless whose lives and deeds and love have endured beyond their death . . . my mother, your father, his brother, her husband, their child; our grandparents, our relatives, our friends . . . all those who have died and are now in the eternal embrace of God in heaven.

What is a saint? Saints are normal people, normal everyday people, who differ from most others in this world, not necessarily because of the degree of their moral perfection, but because of their faith. A saint is someone whose life is dedicated to the love of God and the doing of God's will in their lives. A saint is someone who inspires in us the desire to know and to follow Christ. And so, the feast of All Saints is an opportunity for us to offer a hymn to the ordinary people of the world who are extraordinary in their holiness, their love, their compassion, their dedication, and in their prayerfulness.

What makes a saint? Extravagance: excessive love, flagrant mercy, radical affection, exorbitant charity, immoderate faith, intemperate hope - none of which is an achievement, a badge to be earned or a trophy to be sought, but are secondary by-products of the one thing that truly makes a saint: their love for God.

Saints are those who hear the self-absorbed, success-orientated values that mainstream society has to offer and rejects them; values that shout out to us that: “Happy are those with strong personal ambition - they will get everything they ever dreamed of possessing!” And, “Happy are those who fulfill the expectations of the present age - the world is at their feet!”

But despite the promised happiness that the world offers, saints are those who embrace the values that Jesus proclaims in the Beatitudes, that:

• Blessed are the poor… not the penniless but those whose hearts are free. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are those who mourn… not those who whimper but those who raise their voices to weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice. They will be comforted.
• Blessed are the meek… not the soft but those who are patient and tolerant. They will inherit the earth.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice… not those who whine but those who struggle. They will be filled.
• Blessed are the merciful… not those who forget but those who forgive. They will be shown mercy.
• Blessed are the pure in heart… not those who act like angels but those whose life is transparent. They will see God
• Blessed are the peacemakers… not those who shun conflict but those who face it squarely. They will be called sons of God
• Blessed are those who are persecuted for justice… not because they suffer but because they love. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven

We can choose to accept our society’s blessing. If we do, I’m sure we will be gifted with what the world knows and understands as blessings. But if we do accept that definition, we also reject our Lord’s voice. For in the world’s blessing there’s very little room for the poor in spirit, the mourning, the merciful, or the meek.

Or we can reject the modern view of blessing and stand in the company of God’s saints. God’s saints are those who know their identity and security are found only in God. God’s saints are those who give only God their total devotion. God’s saints are those who morn because other members of God’s family suffer. God’s saints are those who renounce the violent ways of the world causing that suffering. God’s saints are those who actively strive to do God’s will, and in their merciful actions reflect God’s mercy, and bring God’s peace. God’s saints are those whose actions, and whose very selves, may be rejected by the world, but they rejoice because they know they do their Lord’s work and follow their Lord’s path.

Today we are invited to walk the path of the saints, the way of the Beatitudes. The way is narrow and hard. We need faith and courage to walk it. Today we look to the example of the saints and call upon their prayers to encourage us and strengthen us. We’re told that St Augustine found it hard to live the Beatitudes, but when he read the lives of the saints he said, "What these ordinary women and men have done, why not me?"

Why not us?