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  • The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    Today’s readings

    Blessed Pope Pius IX instituted the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on December 8, 1854, when he proclaimed as truth the dogma that our Lady was conceived free from the stain of original sin.  This had been a traditional belief since about the eighth century, and had been celebrated as a feast first in the East, and later in the West.  So let us be clear that this celebration pertains to the conception of Mary, and not that of Jesus, whose conception we celebrate on the feast of the Annunciation on March 25.  It’s easy to keep this straight if you remember the math: nine months after this date is September 8th, the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Nine months after the Annunciation is December 25th, or Christmas, the feast of the birth of our Savior.

    Today’s feast celebrates our faith that God loves the world so much that he sent his only Son to be our Savior, and gave to him a human mother who was chosen before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight.  This feast is a sign for us of the nearness of our salvation; that the plan God had for us before the world ever took shape was finally coming to fruition.  How appropriate it is, then, that we celebrate the Immaculate Conception just before Christmas, when our salvation begins to unfold.

    The readings chosen for this day paint the picture.  In the reading from Genesis, we have the story of the fall.  The man and the woman had eaten of the fruit of the tree that God had forbidden them to eat.  Because of this, they were ashamed and covered over their nakedness.  God noticed that, and asked about it.  He found they had discovered the forbidden tree because otherwise they would not have the idea that their natural state was shameful; they had not been created for shame.  Sin had entered the world, and God asks the man to tell him who had given him the forbidden fruit.

    This leads to a rather pathetic deterioration of morality, as the man blames not just the woman, but also God, for the situation: “The woman whom you put here with me: she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”  In other words, if God hadn’t put the woman there with him in the first place, he never would have received the fruit to eat.  The woman, too, blames someone else: the serpent.  As if neither of them had been created with a brain to think for themselves, they begin that blame game in which we all participate from time to time.

    Thus begins the pattern of sin and deliverance that cycles all through the scriptures.  God extends a way to salvation to his people, the people reject it and go their own way.  God forgives, and extends a new way to salvation.  Thank God he never gets tired of pursuing humankind and offering salvation, or we would be in dire straits.  It all comes to perfection in the event we celebrate today.  Salvation was always God’s plan for us and he won’t rest until that plan comes to perfection.  That is why St. Paul tells the Ephesians, and us, today: “He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.   In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ…”

    And so, in these Advent days, we await the unfolding of the plan for salvation that began at the very dawn of the world in all its wonder.  God always intended to provide an incredible way for his people to return to them, and that was by taking flesh and walking among us as a man.  He began this by preparing for his birth through the Immaculate Virgin Mary – never stained by sin, because the one who conquered sin and death had already delivered her from sin.  He was then ready to be born into our midst and to take on our form.  With Mary’s fiat in today’s Gospel, God enters our world in the most intimate way possible, by becoming vulnerable, taking our flesh as one like us, and as the least among us: a newborn infant born to a poor family.  Mary’s lived faith – possible because of her Immaculate Conception – makes possible our own lives of faith and our journeys to God.  There’s a wonderful Marian prayer called the Alma Redemptoris Mater that the Church prays at the conclusion of Night Prayer during the Advent and Christmas seasons that sums it all up so beautifully.  Pray it with me, if you know it:

    Loving Mother of the Redeemer,
    Gate of heaven, star of the sea,
    Assist your people
    who have fallen yet strive to rise again.
    To the wonderment of nature you bore your Creator,
    yet remained a virgin after as before.
    You who received Gabriel’s joyful greeting,
    have pity on us, poor sinners.

    Our celebration today has special meaning for us.  Because Mary was conceived without sin, we can see that sin was never intended to rule us.  Because God selected Mary from the beginning, we can see that we were chosen before we were ever in our mother’s womb.  Because Mary received salvific grace from the moment of her conception, we can catch a glimpse of what is to come for all of us one day.  Mary’s deliverance from sin and death was made possible by the death and resurrection of her Son Jesus, who deeply desires that we all be delivered in that way too.

    Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.  Amen.

  • Saint Ambrose, bishop and doctor of the Church

    Saint Ambrose, bishop and doctor of the Church

    Today’s readings

    While he was still a catechumen, St. Ambrose was chosen as bishop of Milan and was consecrated on December 7, 374. Ambrose was a classically educated man, a revered Scripture Scholar and a solid preacher. It is his preaching that in some ways influenced St. Augustine to convert to Catholicism, and it was Ambrose who baptized Augustine.

    Ambrose was a man not just of great learning, but also great courage. He strongly defended the Church against attacks by the Arians, and also by the empire. Ambrose specifically admonished Emperor Theodosius for the massacre of 7,000 innocent people. The emperor did public penance for his crime.

    St. Ambrose’s sermons and his works tell us that he was a very educated man who was willing to roll up his sleeves and get involved in the issues of the day. He practiced what he preached and he was not shy about calling people to repentance. He was able to influence learned men such as Saint Augustine, and won many converts to the Church.

    Isaiah says in our first reading this morning that “Those who err in spirit shall acquire understanding, and those who find fault shall receive instruction.”  Thanks be to God the Church has had men like Saint Ambrose to help people come to understanding and to provide instruction in the ways of the Gospel.

  • Saint Nicholas

    Saint Nicholas

    The general rule of thumb is that the saints are always supposed to point us to God.  The stories of the saints aren’t always real factual, and we cannot rely on them for actual historical records.  That’s not their purpose.  The stories of the saints are designed to illuminate the saints’ lives in a colorful way and to get us thinking about strengthening our relationship with God.

    I was thinking about that as I was reading the stories of St. Nicholas.  He died probably around the year 350 or so, so we don’t really know a lot about him.  But that doesn’t mean there aren’t stories!  One of the best known is that St. Nicholas came from a very well-to-do family.  He became aware of a family in his village that had three daughters who were close to marrying age.  The father was very poor and could not provide a dowry for his daughters, so that meant in that time, they would generally have to resort to prostitution.  St. Nicholas had no intention of seeing that happen.

    So one night, he walked by the man’s house and tossed a bunch of gold coins wrapped up in a cloth through the window.  The man rejoiced the next morning on finding it, and so he gave thanks to God.  He was able to provide a dowry for his oldest daughter.  A while later, the second daughter was to be married, and St. Nicholas repeated the same action.  The man again woke up to find the gold, and what did he do?  He gave thanks to God!  And then he was able to provide for his second daughter’s dowry.  A short time after that, St. Nicholas did the same so that the youngest daughter could have a dowry, and this time the man woke up when he heard the gold hit the floor in his house.  So he ran out the door and began to follow Nicholas, and eventually realized who it was he was following.  He knelt down and wanted to kiss the saint’s feet, but Nicholas would not let him, and made him promise not to tell of it as long as he lived.

    And so this was the story that led to the giving of gifts on St. Nicholas’s feast day.  And it’s just a little twist of the tongue in English that turned St. Nicholas into Santa Claus.  I think the celebration of St. Nicholas shines an interesting light on our gift giving.  St. Nicholas did not want to be known for his generosity.  He wanted to keep it quiet and was content to have the man give the glory and praise to God for the generous gift.  How willing are we to do the same?  Or does our gift giving have a sort of one-upsmanship to it?  The giving of gifts is not bad or good; it is the intent of the giver and the heart of the receiver that really matters.  When we wrap up our gifts in these Advent days, and when we unwrap them on Christmas, I wonder if we can tuck some prayer in it somewhere.  Maybe we can find a way to give glory to God among all the hectic-ness of our Christmas season.

  • Saint Francis Xavier, Priest (Diocesan Patron)

    Saint Francis Xavier, Priest (Diocesan Patron)

    Today’s readings: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23; Mark 16:15-20

    We celebrate the memorial of St. Francis Xavier as a feast today, because he is the patron saint of the Diocese of Joliet. Francis Xavier was a sixteenth century man who had a promising career in academics. He was encouraged in the faith by his good friend, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and went to join the new community founded by Ignatius, the Society of Jesus, better known today as the Jesuits.

    Francis had a passion for preaching the Gospel and living a life of Gospel simplicity. He would live with and among the poorest of the poor, sharing their living conditions, ministering to the sick, and preaching and teaching the faith. He lived in the East Indies for a time, before going on to minister to the Hindus, Malaysians, and Japanese. Francis even learned a bit of Japanese in order to communicate well with his people and to preach to them. He dreamed of going on to minister in China, but died before he could get there.

    Francis Xavier truly took to heart the words of St. Paul who said he made himself all things to all people in order to save at least some. Francis made it his life’s work to live as his people lived, preaching to simple folk, and calling them to Jesus. He was also able to live freely Jesus’ Gospel call today: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

    Now we might not have the opportunity to live as Francis Xavier did and to actually go out to distant shores to preach the Gospel. But we certainly are still called to preach it with our lives. We are called to witness to Christ to everyone we meet: family, friends, coworkers, neighbors-anyone the Lord puts in our path. Our diocese chose Francis Xavier for our patron because our founders took seriously the call to proclaim the Gospel to every person in this diocese. We are called upon to do the same, according to our own life’s vocation and state of life. May all who hear our words and see our actions come to believe and be saved.

  • The First Sunday of Advent

    The First Sunday of Advent

    Today’s readings

    We’ve gathered here today on the precipice of something new.  Do you feel it?  Do you come here with a sense of hope and expectation?  Are you on the edge of your seat?  Well, if not, I hope you will be by the end of Advent.  That’s what it’s all about.  The readings for these four weeks will focus on hope and expectation and will give us a view of the salvation God is unfolding for his own people.  It’s a message that I think we need now, more than ever.

    And the newness is one that we celebrate in a real way in the Church.  Today I wish you a very happy new year.  And yes, I do own a calendar!  This is the new year of the Church; it begins each year on the first Sunday of Advent.  And each new year – each year of grace – gives us an opportunity to see once again the grace that God brings us; the hope he has in store for us; the promise he intends to fulfill among us; the salvation he wants for us.

    And don’t we need that kind of hope today?  These past years have been so hard for so many, and a lot of us come here with significantly less hope than we usually have.  There have been economic woes, even right here in affluent DuPage County: families losing their homes and businesses, people finding themselves out of work at the worst possible time.  Others come here in the midst of illness – either their own or that of a loved one.  This last year might even have seen the death of a loved one, the ending of a relationship, or some other significant event.  As we end another year, some of us might be doing that with some regret, looking back on patterns of sin or the plague of addiction.  And so, for many of us, maybe even most of us, it doesn’t take too much imagination to know that there is a lot of room for renewed hope in our lives.

    And then we can also worry about the Mayan calendar seeming to point to an end of the world later this month.  That is not something that people of faith should take seriously since Jesus told us that nobody – not even the ancient Mayan calendar people – know when that time will come.  But even more close to home, when our lives get as messy as they may have been these last days, it can often seem like the whole world is falling apart.  We might very well relate to today’s Gospel reading which foretells “signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars.”  Events of our lives may make it seem like the end is near, or at least that we wish it was near.

    So what do we do while we are waiting?  How do we live among the chaos?  How do we keep on keepin’ on when every fiber of our being wants to pack it in and hope for it all to be over real soon?  The Gospel warns us that people will die in fright when they see what is going to happen, but it cannot be so for people of faith.  Even in the midst of life’s darkest moments, even when it seems like we can’t withstand one more bout of hopeless worry, we are still called to be a hopeful people.  “Stand erect,” Jesus tells us, “and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”  God is unfolding his promise among us and even though we still must suffer the sadness that life can sometimes bring us, we have hope for something greater from the one whose promises never go unfulfilled.

    So what does a hopeful people do while we are waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises?  How is it that we anticipate and look for the coming of our Savior in glory?  Our consumerist society would have us get up at midnight on Black Friday (which I still contend is at least a mildly evil name) and battle it out with a few million of our closest friends for the latest gadget or bauble or toy.  And to that kind of thinking, Jesus says, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life.”  Getting caught up in the things of this world does us no good.  It does not bring us closer to salvation or to our God, and all it does is increase our anxiety.  Who needs that?

    Instead, we people of faith are called to wait by being “vigilant at all times.”  We are called to forgive those who have wronged us, to reach out to the poor and the vulnerable, to advocate for just laws, laws that protect religious freedom and the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death, to challenge world powers to pursue peace, and even to love those who drive us nuts sometimes.  When we do that, we might just be surprised how often we see Jesus among us in our lives, in our families and schools and workplaces and communities.  It might just seem like Jesus isn’t that far from returning after all, that God’s promises are absolutely unfolding before our eyes.

    We are a people who like instant gratification and hate to wait for something good to come along.  Maybe that’s why the Christmas shopping season starts about two weeks before Halloween.  But if we would wait with faith and vigilance, if we would truly pursue the reign of God instead of just assuming it will be served up to us on a silver platter, we might not be so weary of waiting after all.  That’s the call God gives us people of faith on this New Year’s day.

    We’re gathered here on the precipice of something new, on the edge of our seats to see God’s hope unfold before us and among us.  Do you feel it?  Are you ready for it?

  • Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time

    Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Every now and then, in the Liturgy of the Word, we hear words that have directly influenced our prayers in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  Today is such an occasion.  Just before we receive Holy Communion, I will elevate the host and the chalice and say: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.  Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”  These words are directly influenced by the last line of the first reading this morning.  Here John the Revelator is told to write down specific words:

    Blessed are those who have been called
    to the wedding feast of the Lamb.

    And we all long to be on that invitation list, don’t we?  If not, we certainly should.  Here we will be brought in and given everything we need: at this banquet no one goes hungry, no one is left out, no one is unimportant.  At this banquet, Christ, the Lamb of God, is united most perfectly to his bride, the Church.  Here, all who have been called to the wedding feast are drawn up into the very life of God and are united with God in all perfection.

    This is the goal of all our lives, and we get there by following the example of the saints, and by giving our life over to our Lord, the Lamb of God, who came that we might have eternal life in all its perfection and abundance.  In these last days of the Church year, Holy Mother Church reminds us where we’re going so that, should we have strayed from the path, we might make amends and correct our course.

    Because not showing up at the wedding feast of the Lamb has eternal consequences.  And forfeiting eternal happiness with all the blessed ones is absolutely unthinkable.

  • Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time

    Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    “Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.”

    The Psalmist, as he often does, helps us to express what’s in our hearts in these closing days of the Church year.  All of our spiritual journeying through the year has been, or at least it should have been, with the goal of seeing God’s face one day in eternity.  That, says the Psalmist, is the reward of blessing for which the sinless, clean-hearted one waits.

    John’s Revelation in the first reading is the vision that continues to promise this great reward.  Here John gets a peek at the heavenly glory, that glory at which the hundred and forty-four thousand stand in awe.  Not that God limits reward to a mere hundred and forty-four thousand souls, but it’s supposed to represent a huge number, and the number is symbolic.  Twelve was a number that represented the whole known world: twelve being all of the tribes of Israel, if you recall.  So it’s the number of tribes in the world, times twelve, times a thousand!  A huge number that almost no one can count.

    As the spiritual song goes, we sure want to be in that number.  And so as the year comes to a close, we must take stock of how close we are to seeing God’s face.  If our longing for heavenly reward has not been our number one priority this year, then it’s time to get serious in the year ahead.  There are any number of earthly rewards that are nice to have.  But they will all pass away.  Only heavenly glory will give us eternal happiness, and we need to strive with all our heart and soul to get it.

    The coming of Advent next week gives us the opportunity to repent of our sins, to work on our prayer and spiritual lives, to reach out to the needy, to do everything we can to seek God’s face, that is, to strengthen our relationship with him.  We need to be longing to put habits in place that will lead us to God’s grace.  We need to be longing to create a spirit in ourselves that leads us to peace with others.  We need to be longing to see God’s face.  Because no other reward is as wonderful as that!

  • Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

    Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

    Today’s readings

    Today we celebrate the great feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King of the Universe.  It’s one of those feasts that I think we can say, yeah, okay, I believe that.  But it really doesn’t affect me.  I mean, we don’t even have the political reference of being ruled by a king any more.  Not only that, I think we as a society have pretty much bracketed the whole idea of authority.  Basically if an authority gives us permission to do whatever we want, then fine, he or she can be in authority.  But the minute that authority tries to limit us in any way, then whoa: hang on a minute.

    Yet there are times when we do want an authority.  Whenever we are wronged, we want an authority to give us justice.  Whenever we are in danger, we want an authority to bring us peace.  Whenever we are in need, we want an authority to bring us fulfillment.  But other than when we need something, we hardly ever seek any kind of authority.  Certainly not as a society, and if we’re being honest, not as individuals.  As an example, take the days after the tragedy of 9-11.  Our whole world was shattered.  I wasn’t here then, but I would be willing to bet the old church was filled to overflowing; I know my home parish was.  In those days, we wanted an authority to bring us peace and comfort and rest.  But now that we’re eleven years on the other side of it, look around.  Not so many people in the pews, right?  If Christ was the authority then, what makes him less of an authority now?  We certainly did not come through those harrowing days with our own feeble efforts, but when we don’t have buildings crashing down around us, we don’t seem to remember that.

    Still, the Church gives us this important feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King of the Universe to remind us that there is an authority.  Christ is King in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.  Christ is king of the Universe and king of our own lives.  And if that’s true, we have to be ready to live that way.  So no, we can’t just do whatever we want.  And no, just because we believe something with all our hearts, that doesn’t make it truth.  And no, the idea of living according to our conscience doesn’t mean that it’s okay as long as it works for me.  The world would have us believe that, but the world will one day come to an end.  If we want the possibility of eternity, then we have to be open to the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe!

    In today’s first reading, we have the promise of the king: one like a son of man with an everlasting dominion.  This part of the book of Daniel comes from a series of visions. In these visions, particularly the one we have today, Daniel gives the Jews hope in persecution.  This is a vision that is spoken to lift the people up and help them to know that their hope is in God.  The Jews of his day have been being persecuted by the Greek tyrant, Antiochus Epiphanes IV.  He and his henchmen were certainly persecuting the Jews who insisted on living the Jewish way of life.  But what is even more evil and more disastrous to the community, is that some of the Jews were starting to think that giving up their way of life and instead worshiping the gods of the Greeks was a good idea.  They figured if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.  So, why not give up their own faith to follow one that seems to be working better?  The biggest danger they faced was losing their faith to the pagans by adopting pagan ways of life.

    We clearly are not under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, but we are definitely in danger of losing our faith to the pagan forces of this world.  And there are so many seductive ways that pagan forces weasel their way into our lives and tempt us to give in to their power over us.  Relativism and intolerance for Catholic values seem to be winning more souls every day.  Everything that promises us power, success and wealth has the ability to take our hearts and souls with it.  Why not just give in?  Won’t paganism and evil win out in the end?

    Well, Daniel sure didn’t think so. He prophesied that there would be one like a Son of Man who would triumph over Antiochus and others like him.  This One would deliver them from the persecution they suffered and from the seduction that confronted them.  This One would rule the world in justice and peace, and would lead the persecuted ones to a kingdom that would never pass away.

    The early Church identified this Son of Man with Jesus Christ.  He is the One who has power to rule over all and he is the One whose kingdom is everlasting.  He even referred to himself as the Son of Man, and made it clear that he was the Son of Man who would suffer for the people.  He came to deliver those first Christians from persecution with the promise that he would indeed come again, and that same promise is made to us as well.

    But the problem was, he didn’t return right away.  People lost faith, gave in to persecution, and just went with the powerful forces of the day.  The delay in his return led some to believe that he was not returning, and so they should just do what seemed expedient.  Why not go with the victorious pagan forces of the world? Sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it?

    As we end this liturgical year and take a look back, maybe we can see some areas for improvement in our lives.  Much like the resolutions we may make January 1st, we may be able to make some resolutions for our spiritual lives in the coming liturgical year.  I don’t mean losing weight or getting more exercise: those you can make in the new calendar year.  But maybe in this liturgical year we could resolve to pray more or work for justice and peace, or reach out to the needy, or truly witness to the faith and live what we believe.  If we were to make some constructive resolutions for our spiritual lives, we could begin to take away the hold the pagan forces in our world have on us.  We could even proclaim with our lives that Christ is our King, personally, and also King of the Universe.

    Jesus told Pilate in today’s Gospel that his Kingdom was not of this world.  That should be the red flag for us.  When we begin to worship and follow the forces of this world, we know that we are in the wrong place.  Christ is the King, the Son of Man, who will lead us to a kingdom not made by human hands, a kingdom that will not pass away, a kingdom of justice and peace, a kingdom of love and mercy, a kingdom of grace and comfort, a kingdom of eternal beauty and unfathomable joy.  The choice is ours, though.  Will we follow the pagan forces of this world, or will we follow Our Lord Jesus Christ the King to that perfect and everlasting kingdom, not of this world that will certainly pass away, but the kingdom of eternity and the live of heaven?

  • Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service

    Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service

    Readings: 1 Kings 8:55-61; Ephesians 1:3-14; Luke 17:11-19

    Earlier this week, my sister emailed me pictures of a storybook that my niece, Molly, wrote for a second grade school project.  It was a story about an unnamed boy and girl – who were certainly the author and her older brother Danny!  The boy and the girl were having a discussion, and later an argument, about what they wanted to be when they grew up.  At some point, they were called to dinner, and the table was set with their favorite meal: pizza and fries.  I briefly wondered what my sister had been giving the kids for dinner, but since I’m not a parent, I let it pass.  They both enjoyed the meal and cleaned their plates and the boy said, “I want more.”  He didn’t get more, of course, but the girl did.  She asked nicely and thanked her mother, then she told her brother, “Use your manners.”  The really scandalous part of this exchange is that I’ve heard the real girl demand more at the table without using her manners on more than one occasion!

    Molly’s story came to mind when I was mulling over the Gospel for this evening.  Because in some ways this story is deeply scandalous.  That nine believers – people who should have known how to use their manners – failed to express their gratitude over a miracle that literally gave them back the life that leprosy took away from them is unthinkable.  I’m almost willing to cut them a little slack, because when you look closely at the story, Jesus really didn’t say or do anything indicative of healing – all he did was say “Go show yourselves to the priests.  Now, it was the priests’ job to take care of ritual purity, but I’m guessing they had seen priests about their illness in the past and obviously had not been healed.  So I can see how they would have been confused, frustrated, and maybe even a little angry at Jesus’ response.  But they absolutely could not have been confused about the fact that they had been healed.  And yet the only one who thought to give thanks and praise to God was a Samaritan – a foreigner and a religious outcast who wasn’t expected to know the religious etiquette that one should follow.

    What may in fact be most scandalous for us, of course, is that this story, like so many Gospel vignettes, can be a bit like looking into a mirror.  How often have we been oblivious to the grace that has taken us out of a bad situation?  How often have we forgotten to “use our manners” and give God the thanks and praise, which he is due? So the tug of the Gospel here is not just that we look at the story and give that Samaritan a pat on the back and a “shame on you” to the other nine.  The tug of the Gospel is that we would hear the message and use it as a lens to examine our lives, and a framework for reforming our lives.    Like the Samaritan, we are called to bring Jesus our need for healing, and to receive what’s given to us in the spirit in which it is offered.  Then, of course, we are called to give God thanks and praise, with all our heart and soul.

    Bringing Jesus our need for healing may be the hardest part.  First off, we have to know that we need healing and we need to be ready to accept it the way we get it.  Then we have to trust God to do it.  God is not too small to deal with the issues that confront us, nor is he too big to care about them.  Too often, I think we really don’t ask for enough from God.  Not that we don’t come to him with countless petitions, some of which, quite frankly, it’s a good thing if we don’t get them.  God is not, after all, a genie in a bottle who goes about granting all of our wishes.  Contrary to what some may think, our prosperity in this life isn’t necessarily at the top of God’s priority list, especially if that’s not what he thinks would be helpful to our salvation.

    But I think the problem can be that we don’t ask for enough: we don’t ask for grace to grow in holiness, motivation to eradicate patterns of sin, the courage to become saints, or the faith to move mountains.  I think we get too comfortable with life the way it is, and besides, those things scare us, and so we often don’t trust God enough to give us what he wants for us, to give us that which would make us really, truly happy.

    But what if we had the courage of the ten lepers and were to name our need and cry out, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” – what would happen then?  Maybe then, if we’re attentive enough, we might see spiritual growth, realize the Lord’s presence as we walk through life, and truly become a thankful people.  I guess I’m hoping that there’s somewhat better of a one-in-ten shot at it; that we as believers would be more willing to attribute the miracle to God rather than our own efforts or some kind of cosmic serendipity.  Because people in need of healing must always be ready to be grateful.  And it’s amazing what gratitude does for your spiritual life.

    Grateful people live differently.  Grateful people look for the blessing in every moment, they hunt for the grace constantly at work in their lives.  They are like radios which are powered on so that they can receive the broadcast.  When you’re grateful, it’s amazing how much more you seem to be blessed.  Only it’s not necessarily that you’re blessed more; instead it’s that you’re more aware of the blessing.  Thankful people are happier with their lives, because they’re simply more aware of what God is doing, how God is leading them, and they feel the touch of God’s hand leading them through life.  Being grateful is a choice, but it’s a choice worth making, it’s a choice that makes our lives richer and more beautiful every day.

    So how do we become thankful people.  As I mentioned, gratitude is a choice, so I think it’s something we have to do intentionally.  A good spiritual practice is to spend some time at the end of every day reflecting on the day gone by.  Think about all the events and encounters of the day, and particularly note the ones that have been blessed in some way.  When have you experienced an interaction that was far more pleasant than you’d expected?  Or when did someone say just the thing you needed to hear?  When were you able to accomplish something that you never thought you could or be in the right place to help someone at the right time?  Then, like the Samaritan, fall at the feet of Jesus and thank him.

    Thanksgiving should not simply be a one-day-a-year event for us.  The believer’s life should be regularly marked by thanksgiving.  We, after all, worship a God who, as Solomon says in our first reading, keeps his promises.  We are the ones, as Saint Paul reminds us, have been consecrated, set aside for redemption by the Blood of our Lord.  We have every reason to be thankful, and we know how to “use our manners.”  May the grace of giving thanks find us growing in blessing every day of our lives.

  • Friday of the Twenty-second Week of Ordinary Time

    Friday of the Twenty-second Week of Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    We sure have some scary readings today, don’t we?  They’re talking about floods, and fire and brimstone raining from the sky, and someone taken and another left behind.  That’s pretty scary stuff when you stop to think about it.  But I want you to remember this: we don’t ever have to be afraid, because we always have Jesus.  And that’s a huge point.  If you read readings like this and you don’t know the rest of the story of the Gospel, it would be scary.  But we know that Jesus loved us enough to come and save us from our sins, and so floods and fire and brimstone might be scary, but we know that we can be spared all things like that if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.  Do we have to be afraid?  No.  Why?  Because we always have Jesus.

    The readings that we get toward the end of the year like this are wrapping up the story.  We are also wrapping up the Church’s liturgical year and in a couple of weeks we’ll start a new liturgical year, so the Church wants us to hear some of the readings that talk about the end of time.  Readings like this can be scary because they talk about how people were persecuted over time, or about how God wants sin to come to an end.  Or like in the Gospel today, it talks about how people might miss the second coming of Jesus because they’re so wrapped up in themselves.  But if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we don’t have to worry about missing his second coming, because we’ll be right there to see it.  Do we have to be afraid?  No.  Why?  Because we always have Jesus.

    You may also have heard some people talk about the ancient calendar developed by the Mayan people centuries ago.  If you have, then you know that calendar stops on December 23rd of this year, and so many people are thinking that means this is the end of time.  Is that true?  Probably not.  Jesus always told us that there’s no way we’d ever know the exact time that he would return; that the only one who knows is God the Father.  So the Mayans aren’t so special that they would know something only God the Father knows.  People are afraid of this, but we don’t have to be.  We’ll never miss the coming of the Lord if we’re always keeping our eyes fixed on him.  Do we have to be afraid?  No.  Why?  Because we always have Jesus.

    The point is that God is good.  He made us so that we could be with him forever.  He is not going to abandon us.  The only way we’ll get left out of a relationship with him is if we choose to walk away.  But if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we’ll always be able to rely on God’s goodness.  Do we have to be afraid?  No.  Why?  Because we always have Jesus.