Homily THANKSGIVING Nov 22, 2023

 Homily   THANKSGIVING    Nov 22, 2023

 When I was a child, which was a long time ago, we did not have AI, nor cell phones, nor the internet, nor computers, not even color TV!   But we did have something that seems less prevalent now, and that is “magic words.”   Anyone here old enough to remember the magic words?     PLEASE and THANK YOU. 

This evening we anticipate the celebration of THANKSGIVING.  And part of what we are celebrating is the attitude of gratitude and consideration that lies behind those magic words.  It is good to be grateful and to give thanks.  More, it is a mature and more fully human attitude to be grateful and to give thanks for all the blessings and good things in our lives: for health, for freedom, for our faith, and for all the relationships and good things in our lives. 

And it would be sufficient and adequate to celebrate Thanksgiving if we stopped right there.  But I am not going to stop there, because as Christians we are called to go farther; because of the example of Jesus.

In the Gospel we just heard, it says Jesus proclaimed, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth….”   Other translations, like the New Revised Standard version, put it this way: “At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth..”   

In the Bible, praising and thanking are very close together, two sides of the same coin.  So in this passage Jesus is really being grateful.  Jesus is THANKING the Father. 

Now when is Jesus doing this thanking, and what is Jesus thankful for?  Well, the passage begins, “At that time….”  What time is that?  Very curiously it is immediately after Jesus lambasts towns where Jesus preached, and ….   Nothing.  The people did not respond.  They did not repent.  They did not listen to Jesus.  They were too damn busy and pre-occupied with many things, and they did not respond to Jesus.  The Gospel states: “Then Jesus began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent, “Woe to you Chorazin!  Woe to you, Bethsiada!  For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, (notorious pagan cities) they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  But I tell you, on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you.  And you, Capernaum, will be exalted heaven?? No, you will be brought down to Hades…  and so on.

Obviously, Jesus is upset, frustrated, disappointed and angry.  (¿Ever been there?)   He preached in these towns, worked miracles, told His best parables, and……   nothing.  He was a flop.  The people did not respond.

So what does Jesus do?  ….   He thanks the Father.  Out of failure and disappointment, Jesus says our Gospel today.  “At that time Jesus said: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”  And then Jesus invites all the weary and those heavily burdened to follow Him. 

My point is that Jesus gives thanks not only in response to good things and things going right in His life, but Jesus even gives thanks for disappointments, failures, and flops. 

This peculiar attitude – to give thanks even in failure – is the CORE of Sacrifice:  it’s inner dynamic and meaning.

This is what Jesus did His entire life, and Jesus’ giving thanks culminated on the night before He died. 

          Jesus had Supper for the last time with His disciples.  Jesus knew very well what was about to happen to Him.  He would be betrayed by one of His own.  All His followers and friends would abandon Him.  He would be falsely accused, condemned in a kangaroo court, slapped, beaten, scourged, spit on, and nailed to a cross to be left to die in agony and infamy. 

Jesus knew.  He knew exactly what was going to happen.  And what does Jesus do?  He gives His followers a way to remember Him.  Jesus took bread and did what?  He gave thanks. …  Jesus took the cup of wine, and giving thanks, He said the blessing.   In the face of His total defeat and ignominious death, Jesus gave thanks.  … Not just for the physical bread and wine, but for his WHOLE self, given for and to US. //

Sisters and brothers, it is good to give thanks for the good things in our lives.  That sort of basic gratitude should be common to all people regardless of their religion or if they have no religion at all.

But the followers of Christ are empowered to do more, to live out of gratitude even in the face of failure and persecution.  That is what eucharist is about. 

The word eucharist means “to give thanks.”  That is what we are gathered here to celebrate.  We give thanks for the good, the boring, and the bad.   For ALL of it.  That is what we are called to live.

 Happy Thanksgiving!