Month: November 2023

I was walking along a street in Dublin city center on a cold, wintry, wet, dark evening a few years ago, and two old “down and outs” were a few paces in front of me. Neither of them was better for ware, but one old chap was definitely sick. He was hunched over, coughing, and struggling along with the help of his friend. As the rain fell gently down on them, they came to a slow halt and one old chap put his plastic bag of belongings down on the ground and slowly took off his overcoat. He then proceeded to put his coat over his ill companion who already had a coat. He tried to shrug him off, but the old boy insisted, and he put the coat on his friend. He then took up his bag, containing his worldly belongings, took his friend by the arm, and they slowly walked on. If that’s not nobility, I don’t know what is; and if God doesn’t see that well then, He is blind.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been big on the idea of kings, queens, monarchs, royalty, aristocracy, blue blood, or all that stuff. If history tells us anything about monarchs and royalty it is that one set of thugs violently replaced another set of thugs while inflicting war, destruction, brutality, atrocities, and even genocide on their own and other peoples. Ireland’s experience with royal guardianship was not a happy one no matter who the king or queen was, no matter what their religion, or if they were home grown or some foreign pretentious idiots. The idea that one person, because of an accident of birth, is considered to have more value than another, more privileged than another, more rights, more honored, more dignity and value than another, is pure dung. The notion of inherited privilege like this is created by bullies and supported by imbeciles.

Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of nobility of character, Shakespear spoke of a nobility of mercy (Titus Andronicus, Act 1, Scene 1), and Thomas Jefferson spoke of a nobility of virtue and talent: “There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talent.” The French existentialist philosopher Albert Camus said that: “Real nobility is based on scorn, courage and profound indifference.” Our own baptism ritual tells us that we are all sealed with the chrism of salvation that in God’s eyes makes us “priests, prophets, and kings.” So, I guess, in this sense we are all nobility. In God’s Kingdom we are all royalty, we are all privileged, we all have dignity, we all have honor and value. Of course, we don’t always see ourselves or others in this way, and we don’t always treat others as if they have value and dignity. Where does our nobility come from? God created us all, and God even now holds us in being, that is what gives us dignity, value, and worth. We are created by God, we are His children, that makes us brothers and sisters, equal, valuable, dignified.

When we look to understand nobility we look to Jesus, His life, His example, and His teaching. And what do we find? A man who cares for the sick, feeds the hungry, forgives sinners, spends time with tax collectors, washes the feet of His disciples, cures lepers, delivers the possessed from the grip of the demons, a man who challenges the powerful and raises up the humble, a man of compassion, charity, courage, strength, conviction. We see a man willing to die for others. What does it mean to be noble – look to Jesus. Jesus teaches us an aristocracy, a nobility, of love. In the Gospel today, Jesus tells us what the key to life is, on earth and in heaven.

In his proclamation of the 3^rd October 1863 President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November to be National Thanksgiving Day.

Grateful for all the good things God has given to our Nation, even in the midst of a great civil war which Lincoln believed was God’s punishment on America for allowing the institution of slavery, which was an afront to God, the President said: “that we are prone to forget the source from which they come…the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.”

All over the country, and indeed for Americans all over the world, Thanksgiving is a day of celebration and joy as we give thanks for the good things in our lives. Around dinner tables people will express their gratitude to and for each other, for people remembered and benefits received. We will be grateful for family, health, those we love and those who love us, we will be grateful for our wealth, our happiness, our home and our nation. Some will express thanks for the simple things in life: my dog or my cat, my chicken, my pig and goat, the lizard or the monkey. I can hear the hippies among us giving thanks for the smell of the fresh cut grass (double meanings here), or the sunrise, or the sound of the sea breaking on the shore. Some will give thanks for the turkey they are about to eat or the love we all share.

And I must ask: “When did Thanksgiving become about us?” When did we become the center of Thanksgiving and the focal point of what we are thankful for?

For Abraham Lincoln God was to be the focus of our thanks. Lincoln was smart enough to realize that we don’t create our own bounty. In fact, we don’t actually create anything. It is all a gift. Certainly, we are inventive, and we make things, but the reality is that we are only manipulating the things that are given to us from God. Even our minds, imaginations, knowledge, life, not to speak of the material riches of creation, are all given through the benevolence of a God who gives, shares, creates, and loves.

Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as a day to give thanks to God – not to give thanks in general. For President Lincoln God is to be the focus of the day and of our thanks and he understood that we have a lot to be thankful for. So why are we focused on ourselves? When we focus on ourselves, we lose sight: we lose sight of the other, we lose sight of the important things, and most of all we lose sight of the One who really matters and makes a difference, the One who provides it all, and the One without whom none of it would exist – we lose sight of God. And if we lose sight of God, we surely will fail to find our way because without God we have no horizon to move toward, we have no guiding star to show us the way, and we replace God with ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I know that I would make a lousy god.

God our Father, we give thanks for your ever-watchful providence. Thank you for being God and thank you for caring for me, for caring for mine, and for caring for all of us. Thank you also for our great Nation. Keep us always in your providential care.

When I was a child growing up in Dublin, I can recall that almost every year we had a visit from Jehovah Witness missionaries. These were usually young men who were carrying out their missionary commitment which is part of their obligation as a Jehovah Witness. I guess they take the “witness” part of their belonging very seriously. It was also not unusual, when I was a child, to have the Jehovah Witnesses predict the imminent end of the world. The predictions were usually published in their newsletter “The Watchtower” and the years that the Biblical Armageddon was to happen included: 1878, 1881, 1918, 1925, 1975 and a number of years around the AD 2000 Millennium. I guess predicting the end is not a precise science.

Of course, we don’t have to look to the Jehovah Witnesses for a preoccupation with the end times. There was a great deal of concern about the imminent end of the world, or civilization as we know it, around the year 2000 AD and the millennium. Much of the concern was around the inability of computers to compute the date 2000 resulting in the crash of the economic and banking infrastructure which had become dependent on computers. Also included in the imminent crash was such as flight, the power grid, land ownership information, security information, government files and so forth. At the parish where I lived at the time a group of Catholic people moved into the neighboring rural areas, bought a farm, and dug a “shelter.” This shelter was filled with durable food stocks, beds, living areas, generators, fresh air supply equipment and the necessities of life. This was to be a safe shelter that would provide temporary life support in case civilization collapsed. I’m pretty sure that a number of people entered this shelter on the eve of the millennium and came out a few days later only to find that the world was as it was before.

Further back around 1000 AD there were also concern for the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ. Many Christians expected the end of the world, and some Catholic preachers predicted the end was coming. The same was true of many protestant reformers from the sixteenth century and beyond. The truth is that almost every age and every religion have a similar fixation with the “end times.”

The Gospel today hints at the same concern about the end times while in other places people ask directly when the end will come and what will be the signs that indicate its arrival. Jesus speaks about being ready no matter when the time comes because we never know when that will be. Jesus Himself predicts the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the persecution of His followers. They will be thrown out of the synagogues, brought up on charges, will have to face false witness, be stoned, and killed. Nevertheless, Jesus tells His disciples that even though all these things will happen, they are not to lose focus. Instead of wondering if this is the end, or the beginning of the end, His followers are to remain steadfast in living the life He has called them to live. The disciples of Jesus are not to waste their time in speculation but in carrying out His mission to bring salvation, not destruction, to the world. Their time should not be wasted on what might happen, but it is to be spent in making good, holy, things happen. And what is it they are to make happen? The building of the Kingdom of God. Anything else, falls short of our calling, our mission, and is a waste of valuable time and resources. This is the good oil that fills the lamp so that when the Lord comes, we are ready to meet Him.

Let’s face it, we all are living in the last times. I’m sixty years old and have been a priest for thirty years. That means I have about ten good years of life left, possibly longer, but more likely, shorter. I’m living in the last times as far as my life is concerned. Soon, I will face God. Soon, I will have to give an account of my mission. I have no time to spare. For me, as Saint, Pope John Paul II said: “The future starts today not tomorrow.” I wonder if I have enough oil gathered.

Building the Kingdom is about love, loving God, and loving our neighbor. That love will be the only thing, the oil, we carry into God’s presence and that love will exist for all eternity. Love is the only treasure that will matter to God, and love will be the only treasure we will take with us to God. Focus on building the Kingdom the rest is just something that is left behind to turn into dust.

When I was a child growing up in Dublin, I can recall that almost every year we had a visit from Jehovah Witness missionaries. These were usually young men who were carrying out their missionary commitment which is part of their obligation as a Jehovah Witness. I guess they take the “witness” part of their belonging very seriously. It was also not unusual, when I was a child, to have the Jehovah Witnesses predict the imminent end of the world. The predictions were usually published in their newsletter “The Watchtower” and the years that the Biblical Armageddon was to happen included: 1878, 1881, 1918, 1925, 1975 and a number of years around the AD 2000 Millennium. I guess predicting the end is not a precise science.

Of course, we don’t have to look to the Jehovah Witnesses for a preoccupation with the end times. There was a great deal of concern about the imminent end of the world, or civilization as we know it, around the year 2000 AD and the millennium. Much of the concern was around the inability of computers to compute the date 2000 resulting in the crash of the economic and banking infrastructure which had become dependent on computers. Also included in the imminent crash was such as flight, the power grid, land ownership information, security information, government files and so forth. At the parish where I lived at the time a group of Catholic people moved into the neighboring rural areas, bought a farm, and dug a “shelter.” This shelter was filled with durable food stocks, beds, living areas, generators, fresh air supply equipment and the necessities of life. This was to be a safe shelter that would provide temporary life support in case civilization collapsed. I’m pretty sure that a number of people entered this shelter on the eve of the millennium and came out a few days later only to find that the world was as it was before.

Further back around 1000 AD there were also concern for the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ. Many Christians expected the end of the world, and some Catholic preachers predicted the end was coming. The same was true of many protestant reformers from the sixteenth century and beyond. The truth is that almost every age and every religion have a similar fixation with the “end times.”

The Gospel today hints at the same concern about the end times while in other places people ask directly when the end will come and what will be the signs that indicate its arrival. Jesus speaks about being ready no matter when the time comes because we never know when that will be. Jesus Himself predicts the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the persecution of His followers. They will be thrown out of the synagogues, brought up on charges, will have to face false witness, be stoned, and killed. Nevertheless, Jesus tells His disciples that even though all these things will happen, they are not to lose focus. Instead of wondering if this is the end, or the beginning of the end, His followers are to remain steadfast in living the life He has called them to live. The disciples of Jesus are not to waste their time in speculation but in carrying out His mission to bring salvation, not destruction, to the world. Their time should not be wasted on what might happen, but it is to be spent in making good, holy, things happen. And what is it they are to make happen? The building of the Kingdom of God. Anything else, falls short of our calling, our mission, and is a waste of valuable time and resources. This is the good oil that fills the lamp so that when the Lord comes, we are ready to meet Him.

Let’s face it, we all are living in the last times. I’m sixty years old and have been a priest for thirty years. That means I have about ten good years of life left, possibly longer, but more likely, shorter. I’m living in the last times as far as my life is concerned. Soon, I will face God. Soon, I will have to give an account of my mission. I have no time to spare. For me, as Saint, Pope John Paul II said: “The future starts today not tomorrow.” I wonder if I have enough oil gathered.

Building the Kingdom is about love, loving God, and loving our neighbor. That love will be the only thing, the oil, we carry into God’s presence and that love will exist for all eternity. Love is the only treasure that will matter to God, and love will be the only treasure we will take with us to God. Focus on building the Kingdom the rest is just something that is left behind to turn into dust.