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Something to be thankful for

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Thanksgiving Day Readings: Deuteronomy 8:7-18; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 17:11-19 Some years ago a young U.S. Marine appeared on morning television and told of the ordeal of having been in an explosion, pinned under rubble and debris. The desperate cries from other soldiers shouting for help shattered the smoke-filled pit. He suddenly remembered saying, when he enlisted in the Marines, that he was not afraid to die. Now, he had different thoughts. He said that this moment was the first time in his life he really felt he knew what thanksgiving was all about. He was alive, at least, and he began to pray. He did not want to die. Thanksgiving is, perhaps, more than any other day, a day of memory. Oh, yes, Christmas is, too. But on Christmas Day we focus on someone else: Christ and his birth. Today we reflect more on ourselves: the way in which we give thanks and share in the bounty of the Earth. The way in which we experience the fullness of life. It is the one day in America that most unites us all. Ninety percent of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving—and 65 percent watch football! For the pilgrims of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, on that first Thanksgiving in 1621, the beauty of the world was found in its bounty. They could hear the author of Deuteronomy say, "The Lord, your God, is bringing into a good country, a land with streams of water, with springs and fountains welling up in the hills and valleys, a land of wheat and barley, of vine and fig trees." Contrary to the tarnished image of popular belief, a historian has said that Puritanism represents the highest and gentlest form of moralism that has ever flowered in Christianity. Our popular image of the Puritans is one of austerity and self-righteousness. And that is true. The same historian says that was the beam in their eye. But underneath it all was a deep love of nature and a sense that God was everywhere in the beauty and bounty of the Earth. Everyone here has something for which to be thankful. Like the pilgrims, most of us have fought the storms, banished the threats, overcome the fears, and made covenants of friendship with God and each other. They knelt to give thanks for that generous gift. They were now safe after a long journey and hard winter of deprivation and death in the Plymouth wilderness, sitting down with the Native Americans, undoubtedly motivated by gratitude for survival but more deeply moved by a recognition that the graciousness of God had pulled them through the dark, cold days of the struggle to form a new colony. They were the trustees for future generations and were to set an example for a civilized new world, to, as Colossians, urges, sing "with gratitude in your hearts to God." So, where do the lepers of today's gospel come in? Well, their story is one of giving and receiving. A thanksgiving story. The inability to give or show gratitude is a mark of disfigurement, a kind of spiritual leprosy. One who can neither give nor receive can never enter into a relationship of grace, a covenant of love. The leper who returned to Jesus to say "thanks" enters into a relationship with God. The others stood far off, negating even the possibility that something could happen. They stood on the fringe of life because they could not, in their hearts, find time to give thanks. Their spirits remained leprous. It is almost as if they took for granted that they would be cured, as if that were their right. Their bodies were now whole, their souls still marked with decay. Everyone here has something for which to be thankful. Like the pilgrims, most of us have fought the storms, banished the threats, overcome the fears, and made covenants of friendship with God and each other. We are all pilgrims walking an earthly path on the way to a heavenly land. Sitting down to the big meal seems like the crux of Thanksgiving, but it really comes a couple hours later. The pumpkin pie is gone, the turkey picked over, the dishes are done, the dogs and guests are snoozing, and somehow, whether afternoon or night, the year halts and there is a strange vacancy in the stillness—and you pause to look more closely at the world around you. In the deep of your soul you join a whole nation, satiated with food and drink, as if embraced by the wide arms of God, and say, "Thank you, Lord."

Authors Father George Fitzgerald C.S.P.

Special occasion thanksgiving day Deuteronomy 8:7-18 Colossians 3:12-17 Luke 17:11-19

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Take Five for Faith Daily

Tuesday
January 14

How to be amazing

The authority of Jesus comes from the fact that his words and actions are of a piece. People hear the ring of truth in what Jesus says. Indeed, Pope Francis says, “Jesus is the one who brings God to us and us to God.” And for these reasons he attracts attention, and people are amazed. If you want to command authority, don’t throw your weight around. Rather, speak truthfully, live with integrity, and bring God to others. People will be amazed.

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