Can you imagine dis-inviting a Bishop?  I’m officiating at a 7pm Saturday evening wedding in Augusta.  Bishop Boland is friendly with the bride’s family and was invited to the wedding until it had to be downsized because of the pandemic.  I’m not sure if the Bishop sees it this way but that was a win for me and a win for y’all because Bishop Boland was most gracious in his willingness to cover the Masses here this weekend.  Thank you, Bishop Boland!

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite time for getting together with my family.  In the
twenty-seven years I’ve been in Georgia, I’ve only missed going home three times.  This year will be the fourth.  It saddens me but I would not feel safe in traveling and gathering with so many people from outside of my bubble.  Since I am not use to being on duty on Thanksgiving and have rarely preached a Thanksgiving Mass, I am going to ask for your help.  Would you email me a few lines as to why even in the midst of a pandemic, you have a grateful heart. You can reply by email and put Thanksgiving in the subject line.  I’d like to read some responses during Mass.  The Gospel for the day is the one in which ten lepers were cured but only one returned to give thanks to Jesus.  So, like Jesus I probably am not going to get a huge response to this request, but I’ll be grateful if just a few of you respond.

One of my Thanksgiving traditions when I am home is to attend Mass on Thanksgiving Day with my good friend, Fr. Herb Sperger.  No matter where we attend (a few times at the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal), the church is always filled, and the great thing is that people come to Mass not because they have to…but because they want to.  Well, in this midst of a pandemic I’m not encouraging a full Church at the 9am Mass on Thanksgiving but it would be wonderful if the more cautious among felt part of the celebration, so that Mass will be live streamed.  We all need to be careful out there.

Thanksgiving
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
                                                 —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

Today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, to give it its full title in the Missal.  It is difficult for us to properly understand Christ’s kingship, because our images of earthly kings don’t really fit. Pope Francis alluded to this in a homily a few years ago, “The kingship of Christ is most evident on Golgotha, when the Innocent One, nailed to the cross, poor, naked and stripped of everything, incarnates and reveals the fullness of God’s love.  Jesus’ complete abandonment to the Father expresses his utter poverty and reveals the power of the Love that awakens him to new life on the day of the Resurrection” (Nov. 19, 2017; #7).
 
Taking the Gospel Home:  We have a king who heals and binds up wounds. What does he ask us to do? “For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.” Christ uses our generosity as a criterion for salvation. How is it also a standard for happiness? What happens to you when you give?