Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.

Everything fades away, but not our gratitude. We shall always pray that God will abundantly bless those who have been so good to us. – St John Bosco

(Gospel text: Lk 17:11-19)

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,

he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.

As he was entering a village, ten persons with leprosy met him.

They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,

"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"

And when he saw them, he said,

"Go show yourselves to the priests."

As they were going they were cleansed.

And one of them, realizing he had been healed,

returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;

and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.

He was a Samaritan.

Jesus said in reply,

"Ten were cleansed, were they not?

Where are the other nine?

Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"

Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;

your faith has saved you."

Here in the US, we are celebrating Thanksgiving Day and there is a tradition in which everyone goes around the dinner table and says what we’re thankful for. We are often thankful for our family and friends, the food on the table, and even for the early pilgrims, for they are the reason we celebrate today. But how often do we remember to thank God - the source of all of our blessings?  

It’s easy to take God out of holiday celebrations. With all the pumpkin pie, turkey and mashed potatoes we sometimes focus on these things (or on shopping tomorrow) instead of the real reason we have everything - God!

When we are counting our blessings, we need to remember to give thanks to our loving, merciful and protecting father who allows for us to gorge ourselves on cranberry sauce and settle into a lazy midday nap this November day because without him, we would have none of the other things we are thankful for!

Even if we do remember to thank God during our Thanksgiving meal, do we remember to thank Him all year long?

In Luke’s gospel, only one leper came back to show his gratitude for Jesus’ miracle. Out of ten, only one returned to give him thanks. On Thanksgiving Day, many people will proclaim their thanks, but what about the other the 364 days of the year?

Who are you more similar to, the one leper or the other nine?

Learning to Love is learning to Live. We are called to be a People of Thanksgiving. We are called to love.

Happy Thanksgiving

“He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much”

“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”  - ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

(Gospel text: LK 19:11-28)

While people were listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately. So he said, "A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, 'Engage in trade with these until I return.' His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, 'We do not want this man to be our king.' But when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, 'Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.' He replied, 'Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.' Then the second came and reported, 'Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.' And to this servant too he said, 'You, take charge of five cities.' Then the other servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.' He said to him, 'With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.' And to those standing by he said, 'Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.' But they said to him, 'Sir, he has ten gold coins.' He replied, 'I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.'" After he had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.

Mother Teresa told a story of the day she met a beggar who gave her everything he had. The beggar said to her, “Everybody gives you something,” he said, “and I’m going to also---in fact, everything I have.”

“That day,” Mother Teresa said, “the beggar had received but one small coin. He gave it to me and said: ‘Take it, Mother Teresa, for your poor.’”

Mother Teresa added, “In my heart I felt that the poor man had given me more than the Nobel Prize because he gave me all he had. In all probability, no one gave him anything else that night and he went to bed hungry.”

"For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required….(Luke 12:48)

“Surrender is a powerful force.”

"From Mary we learn to surrender to God's Will in all things. From Mary we learn to trust even when all hope seems gone. From Mary we learn to love Christ her Son and the Son of God!" ~Pope John Paul II

(Gospel Text: LK 19:1-10)

At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
"Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house."
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
"He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
"Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over."
And Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost."

What’s the take-away for us?

Do we hear Jesus’ stunning challenge: “Today I must stay at your house.”

What will it take for us to respond?

If we respond appropriately, we will come out changed for the better.

"I gave in, and admitted that God was God."

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. -Saint Augustine

(Gospel text: LK 18:35-43)

As Jesus approached Jericho
a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging,
and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.
They told him,
"Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"
The people walking in front rebuked him,
telling him to be silent,
but he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me!"
Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him;
and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
"What do you want me to do for you?"
He replied, "Lord, please let me see."
Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you."
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

If Jesus were to enter your room right now and ask you, “What do you want me to do for you?” what would you say?

I invite you to think about it.

Would you ask for riches? Would you ask for fame? Would you ask for all your dreams to come true? Maybe you would ask for healing or for the answer to a troublesome dilemma.

It’s an interesting thing to consider.

Of everything you could ask for, though, there is one thing that is greater than the rest: faith. Faith is a unique gift, given to us by God. It allows us to believe the things we cannot see, feel, touch, taste, or hear. It gives meaning to our everyday activities, and it is the door through which we must walk in order to discover what it means to live with Christ.

We believe in one God, who is our Father. We believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life who is eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. Do we understand it? No, we don’t. Can we ever understand it? No. All of the theology in the world cannot do away with the mystery of God. That is why we need faith.

We do not have faith because we understand. Rather, we believe so that we might come to understand better.

We will never be able to explain how Jesus Christ comes to us under the form of bread and wine in the Eucharist. All we know is that He does, and in doing so, He invites us to a deeper relationship, to a renewed faith in Him.

The choice to respond is ours.

I shall tell you a great secret my friend. - Do not wait for the last judgment, it takes place every day.

“It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown came out to inform the public. They thought it was a jest and applauded. He repeated his warning. They shouted even louder. So I think the world will come to an end amid the general applause from all the wits who believe that it is a joke.” ― Søren Kierkegaard

(Gospel text: Mk 13:24-32)

Jesus said to his disciples:

"In those days after that tribulation

the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light,

and the stars will be falling from the sky,

and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

"And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds'

with great power and glory,

and then he will send out the angels

and gather his elect from the four winds,

from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.

"Learn a lesson from the fig tree.

When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves,

you know that summer is near.

In the same way, when you see these things happening,

know that he is near, at the gates.

Amen, I say to you,

this generation will not pass away

until all these things have taken place.

Heaven and earth will pass away,

but my words will not pass away.

"But of that day or hour, no one knows,

neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Let’s take a short quiz.

The first question is a general one: what goals do you have for your life? The second is a bit more specific: what are your goals for the next five years? And the third is even more specific: what are your goals for the next year? Take a few minutes to write down your answers. Now one final question: imagine that you knew Jesus was coming back tomorrow. How would your responses to the previous three questions differ?

When a friar asked St. Francis what he would do in this situation, Francis, who was gardening at the time, said: “I would keep hoeing my garden.” What about you? Would you keep going about your business? Most of us would make some last minute changes. The lines at the confessional booth would probably reach out the church door and down the street for a few miles. Local parishes would run out of hosts because of the many people coming in for their last Mass. The phone lines would probably be jammed with people calling family and friends trying to make eleventh hour reparations. What about that last call to the poor? With no need to keep food stocked up, we can hope that people would be willing to give more to those who are hungry, sort of a last meal for the poor.

But this is all fanciful speculation. Jesus told us that no one knows when the end will come even he doesn’t know! So our best strategy is to live each day as if it were our last. We should try our best always to be at peace with the Lord and with the people around us. We should also make sure we are taking care of the needy in our midst. 

Then, whenever Jesus returns, we’ll pass the quiz.

“When the Rule of Law disappears, we are ruled by the whims of men.”

“Unless the Christian message of love and justice shows its effectiveness through action in the cause of justice in the world, it will only with difficulty gain credibility with the people of our times.” - Roman Synod of Bishops, Justice in the World (1971)

(Gospel text: Lk 18:1-8)

Jesus told his disciples a parable

about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.

He said, "There was a judge in a certain town

who neither feared God nor respected any human being.

And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,

'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.'

For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,

'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,

because this widow keeps bothering me

I shall deliver a just decision for her

lest she finally come and strike me.'"

The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.

Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones

who call out to him day and night?

Will he be slow to answer them?

I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.

But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

God's timing is different than ours. 

"This point must not be overlooked. In the Lord's eyes, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day" (2 Pt 3:8). This means that God is both very slow and very fast by our standards. We often emphasize God's supposed slowness. Yet we should also focus on His speed. God sometimes works "in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor 15:52).

"But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

For as long as I can remember, these words of Jesus have always filled me with sadness. With boundless patience our Lord put up with ingratitude, indifference and hostility on the part of those He came to save. He left his bloody footprints on the road to Calvary and there on that hill He died an agonizing death on the cross. He did all this for us. And yet He was and still is greeted with gaping yawns, crude mockery and outright malevolence.

Too many Catholics have grown complacent with the culture that has permeated our nation for nearly 40 years. They need to be awakened from their own “sleep” through the faithful preaching and teaching of bishops, priests, deacons, catechists and other leaders in the Church. Until now, with too few exceptions, our pulpits have been silent about these assaults on our faith and on our freedom to practice it. 

This must change.

“Never put a question mark where God puts a period.”

”God is more pleased to behold the lowest degree of obedience, for His sake, than all other good works which you can possibly offer to Him.”-Saint John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church

(Gospel text: LK 17:26-37)

Jesus said to his disciples:
"As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage up to the day
that Noah entered the ark,
and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot:
they were eating, drinking, buying,
selling, planting, building;
on the day when Lot left Sodom,
fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.
So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day, someone who is on the housetop
and whose belongings are in the house
must not go down to get them,
and likewise one in the field
must not return to what was left behind.
Remember the wife of Lot.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses it will save it.
I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;
one will be taken, the other left.
And there will be two women grinding meal together;
one will be taken, the other left."
They said to him in reply, "Where, Lord?"
He said to them, "Where the body is,
there also the vultures will gather."

Would you have been playing shuffleboard on the Titanic as it sank?

The good news is that Jesus has made it easy for us to be prepared. He wants to see us ready! He liked to compare the kingdom of God to a banquet—the more people come, the merrier. Yes, there is a dress code, but we have all the clothes we need. Let’s look at three particular items that are vital to any spiritual wardrobe.

First, keep your conscience clear. Even small sins can cloud our vision of the Lord and his calling for us. That’s why it is important for us to examine our conscience and repent often. It’s also why we should make regular use of the Sacrament of Rec­onciliation, an excellent way to receive even more of God’s grace to resist temptation and grow in virtue.

Second, love others. Over and over, Jesus tells us to place the wel­fare of others above ourselves. He even commands us to love others as he has loved us. And since his love is unconditional, ours should be too. Keeping our hearts and our hands open especially to the poor and needy keeps us open to the Lord himself (Matthew 25:40).

Finally, stay close to Jesus. As you draw near to him, he will draw near to you. His love and mercy will become clearer, and you will find yourself changing to become more and more like him—and more and more ready for his return.

If we clothe ourselves with these three practices, we won’t have to worry; we will be ready in an instant!