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  Wednesday – Memorial of St. Martin of Tours Gospel – Luke 17: 11-19 A Simple Gift, A Simple Thank You Church of the Beatitudes, Galilee The closer we get to the holidays, the more I am reminded of one simple thing from my childhood.   It’s not putting up the Christmas decorations or shopping for the tree; it’s not even Christmas morning and opening the presents.   No, it’s the thank-you’s we were expected to give.   Whether it was Christmas day and we were shuttled to the phone to thank the relatives for the presents or it was the thank-you cards we had to write out.   Whatever form they take, the child in me always felt put out that I had to step away from all those wonderful new presents and say thank you!   Times change, of course, and we all realize the importance of saying thank you, much less hearing those words from someone we love and cherish. A simple thank you!   That’s all that was, dare I say, expected after Jesus cured the ten le...
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  Tuesday – Memorial of St. Leo the Great Gospel – Luke 17-7-10 Service With A Smile Church of Dormition, Jerusalem 5 years ago, Ginger and I had a pretty consistent routine.   Every Sunday night we would sit down and look at the calendar for the week.   The goal?   To see if there were any nights when we would both be home for dinner!   Most weeks that translated to one night, maybe two if we were lucky.   Otherwise, it was dinner for one or dinner on the run as we navigated various meetings, services, RCIA, Baptismal Prep, etc.   And that doesn’t even include all that we did as spouses, as grandparents and as caregivers for her elderly mom and dad – cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping and shuttling her parents to doctor appointments. Nowadays, the routine is very different.   We take it day by day, no more long-range prep.   We get up, assess our aches and pains and only then do we make decisions on how best to take care of each oth...
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  Monday – Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica Gospel – John 2:13-22 Temples of God The Western Wall, Jerusalem We celebrate today the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome.   Dedicated in 324 AD, the Basilica is the cathedral of Rome, the official seat of the Bishop of Rome and the mother of all churches throughout the world. It is the first public building granted to Christians as a worship site by Constantine.   It is quite unusual that we have a feast day honoring an object, as opposed to a person.   I can only think of one other – Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Today’s Gospel reflects on another religious object – the Temple in Jerusalem.    It was the center of Jewish life at the time of Jesus; it was a place to gather and worship for all major feasts and celebrations.   The very life of a Jew revolved around this magnificent house of prayer and sacrifice.   From birth to coming of age to remembrance of P...
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