(Listen to this homily here).
For daily Mass readings a priest often has a choice of
readings to choose from, either from the day or from a particular saint or
other feast. Typically I choose
the usual daily readings as they are in order and we can hear fuller portions
of the books.
Last
night I was kicking around choosing different ones! As a country we celebrate Thanksgiving—in our Church we
meditate on the end and hear such things as the destruction of Babylon and the
annihilation of Jerusalem.
The
saving grace came in one verse from Revelation: “Then the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed
are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.’” The priest says something at every
Mass, “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.”
The
word Eucharist in Greek means thanksgiving. What we do every time we come to Mass
is to give God thanks and praise for all the gifts He has given us. It is fitting that we start our secular
holiday of Thanksgiving—which commemorates the first Thanksgiving many years
ago—with Mass.
I
encourage you today to think about what you are thankful for from God. Think of those gifts we often take for
granted—vision, heartbeat, walking, home and working. We have nothing that we did not receive from God.
Prayers
of gratitude are a mature offering in our spiritual lives. But they are also good for our
minds. When we are grateful and
say “thank you,” something happens in our brain for the better. This greatly assists our psychological
well-being. Being gracious to God
points our focus away from ourselves and to Another. It allows us to escape focusing only on ourselves.
As
we celebrate turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and pie and football
today, let’s not forget to be truly thankful to God. Connected with our daily presence at Eucharist, may we
become men and women with thankful hearts.
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