Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

  Thursday – Day of Giving Thanks Gospel – Luke: 17:11-19 Giving Thanks St. Kateri Center, Chicago And so we celebrate this Day of Giving Thanks!   It is a day that recalls that event 400 years ago when the Wampanoag people (People of the First Light) shared a meal with the Pilgrims to celebrate the simple gifts of life – shelter, the fruits of the harvest, family and friends, life itself.   It was a meal that held so much promise and hope for the future but, even today, that hope for Native Americans remains unrealized and largely ignored.   Forget about all the cleaning and prep work!   Forget about setting the table and assigning seats!   Forget about the appetizers and putting the bird in the oven!   Forget about the mashed potatoes and gravy!   Forget about that ‘secret’ family recipe for the green bean casserole!   Forget about the drumsticks and sweet potatoes!   Forget about the stuffing and the pumpkin pie!...

  Wednesday – 34 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Luke 21:12-19 It Ain’t Easy Being Christian Church of All Nations, Gethsemane It’s the day before Thanksgiving!   Are you ready?   Are the plans/menu all set?   Are you already chopping and mixing and even cooking some of your dishes?   Is the bird defrosting in the fridge?   Are you already worrying that something will go wrong?   You missed an ingredient in the stuffing!   Overcook the turkey?   Mismanage the baking time of the pumpkin pie?   Have you already started doubting yourself?   Telling yourself it will all be a complete failure! Ever tried out for a basketball team?   Or that part in the play?   Or that entrance exam for nursing or law school?   Or that interview for your dream job?   In the end, the tryout or the exam was nothing!   It was all the time and effort, all the prep work, the sweat and the time you put in!   It was not, ...

  Tuesday – 34 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Luke 21:5-11 Into The Darkness Old City, Jerusalem As we quickly say goodbye to long sunny days, I decided to put in little solar lights to line the driveway up to our house. Especially in the dark, it is rather difficult to locate/navigate our entrance, much less the serpentine drive up to our home.   Ask any Uber driver at 5am in the morning!   Daylight grows shorter and the night tightens its grasp!   Winter is approaching!   And out here in the hills of Tennessee, darkness seems so much deeper and scarier. Without the obvious daytime signs and sights, we can get lost so easily.   Life can be that way as well!   We find ourselves down a dark road of despair and fear.   It can lead us to lose faith!   It is easy for us to fall into the trap of giving up.   And yet consider this; consider all the times in the past when we thought we were lost, when we thought our life was over, t...