Happy Thanksgiving!

What does it mean to be thankful? That is something that is heavy on my heart the past few days.  As we approach the holiday of Thanksgiving, it is something I think all of us should be thinking about.  Someone challenged me to do this thirty day challenge on Facebook.  That is, for around thirty days I have been attempting to come up with something each day to be thankful for.  Doesn't sound too hard does it?  The first few days didn't require much thought at all.  It was easy to come up with a blessing.  I could just look around at some relationship I had, some thing I had been given, some good event that was in my life.   All of these were evident and stood out.  After twenty days though, I began to have to spend more time thinking of something to be thankful for.

Tomorrow's reading for Thanksgiving reminds us of the ten lepers who had a great deal to be thankful for.  These men had been ostracized from community.  They were in pain and diseased.  Their family and friends probably didn't get to come close to them for fear of catching the disease.  They could have been friends, brothers, sons, fathers, uncles. Jesus healed them.  On their way to see the priest they were completely cured of their disease.  Only one of them returned to see Jesus.  Only one truly went to the priest and showed himself clean. The others sought God when they needed him, once cured they ran off to live their lives. 

How often do we do that ourselves?  We give thanks for the good, but we ignore the bad.  We seek God when we have needs.  Then when everything is going smoothly we don't have time for all that religious stuff.  When I first had my back surgery I was very disappointed.  Here I was, a relatively young man, having almost my entire spine fused.  I prayed to God that I wouldn't have to do it.  I still did.  I got a little upset later, because I was now bedridden for quite some time.   I had to have a brace on just to sit up.  My wife had to help me to the bathroom.  Help me take sponge baths.  Help me do just about everything.  At first I couldn't even have wrinkles in the sheets. My back hurt so bad the slightest fold in the fabric would bring me to tears.  My wife patiently stood by my side and helped me through this time.

If you had asked me then are you thankful for your surgery?  I would have become angry.  The thing is, I was one of the nine.   I wasn't thankful for what God had given me.  This surgery was a gift that I could not see.  So I went off to do my own thing.  I can look back now and see how much of a blessing this was.  Sure, sometimes I can't put my shoes on myself.   Some days I can barely bend over and someone has to hand me things off the floor.  Some days I have to have help taking my shirt off.  I still find that wrinkles in the sheets can cause me some pretty intense discomfort.  How can I be thankful for this? 

As a result of my surgery I was able to watch my daughter take her first steps.  I got to spend time with her.  I got to teach her.  I got to hold her when she got her first scrape.  I got to watch as her sisters taught her to ride a bike.  I got to watch them go through their firsts too.  I got to change diapers.  More diapers than I ever wanted to see.  I got to see my nieces, Liaden and Fianna, go through some of their firsts. I got to spend time with all of their siblings that I would not have been able to do otherwise.  I have been able to spend time studying, lead bible studies, prayer groups, faith sessions, and even hope to become a Deacon.   All of these things I might not have been able to do because of something I did not see as a blessing. 

What about you?  Are there things going on right now that seem like a curse?  Things that aren't going the way you want them to?  Are you thankful for them? It's not too late.  I too need to look at my life and ask, where have I not given thanks?  Then, like the one foreigner, glorify God in a loud voice; and fall at the feet of Jesus and thank him.

His servant and yours,

Brian

Keep the Holy Holy to be holy.

My wife and I were just discussing this amazing sentence in the first reading for tomorrow.  "For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy[..]"  I just love the way that reads in my mind.  If you keep the holy.. holy... you shall be holy.  That's such an easy reminder of how important it is to hold what God has given us as the center of our day.  Too often we let other things get in our way and take the place that he rightly deserves.  Only when we put him up first, following in holy obedience the revealed truth, can we even hope to be holy. 

We see that a little in the parable in the Gospel reading.  Jesus has just healed ten men of the dreaded disease, leprosy.   Only one of them returned to Him, the source of His healing, and praised and glorified Him.  All of them received the grace.   All of them came to him in their need.  Only one of them realized the beauty and grace of being healed.  Only one came to conversion.

How often we are like this in our own lives?  Tomorrow is Veterans day.  As we remember those who have served us, fighting to keep us free, we should also ask ourselves what lesson is to be learned by this parable in light of what is going on in our lives.  Have you ever noticed that during a war the church is full?  Just after 9-11 people flocked into the sanctuary to ask for prayers, to seek answers, to find comfort.  All too often we don't even remember the veterans who fought for us, giving up their lives, their comforts, even coming back to a hostile, unwelcoming country and being mistreated for decades.  We too can be like the lepers.   We pray when we need.  Then when things are going smooth we forget to. We only seem to come to God when suffering rears it's ugly head, and then when things start going smooth again we go on our way happy and never think to stop back and thank Him.

Scripture tells us in this parable that Jesus said to the one who returned, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."   This one foreigner returned to Jesus, while the others did not.  He kept the holy hallowed... He returned to Jesus because he realized the need to be near the true Kingdom of God.. that is Christ himself.  This is what we should strive for.  Faith.  True faith.  Tomorrow is also the Memorial for Saint Martin of Tours.  Very apropos on Veteran's day.  Saint Martin knew what it was like to be a soldier.   Saint Martin spent several years in the Roman Army.  He was converted at an early age, and then spent time in the Army.  Afterwards he returned to the Church and served as a Priest and Bishop.  Martin stood up for his faith.  So much so that he was thrown in prison, publicly scourged, out cast... he experienced conversion. He didn't just come to Christ when he needed something... he didn't turn away when things got better... he stayed with Him all the time.  That's what we can learn from this... Our faith is not just for Sunday.  It is not something we only live in the Sanctuary of the Church, and then abandon it when we go back to our environment.

No.  Our faith is something we live every moment of every day.  "[..]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."  I want to do that.  I want to glorify God in a loud voice.  Not a quiet, hidden one.  I want to fall at the feet of Jesus giving him thanks.  Let us pray today for those who have served.  Let us thank them for our freedom, and for their courage. Let us also ask Saint Martin to pray for us, that we too might have the courage to face whatever challenges we must face with the same courage and dedication that he did.  Then let us fall to our knees in prayer and thanksgiving to Christ, for all he has done for us. 

His servant and yours,
In Christ,
Brian