A Penitent Blogger
Thanksgiving readings?
Because it is Thanksgiving Day in the United States the Church allows alternate readings. That is a good thing, because the readings of the day do not immediately convey the warm feeling that people like to have on Thanksgiving Day – quite the contrary.
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.
She has become a haunt for demons....”
These are not the kind of images that greeting card companies would put on a Thanksgiving card.
However, if we consider today’s readings carefully and thoroughly, they provide us with an opportunity to reflect on an important aspect of Christian thanksgiving, an aspect that should be a cause for comfort and a cause for joy.
Both the first reading (from Revelation 18-19) and the Gospel today (from Luke 21) present essentially the same scenario: the evil committed by humanity will come to fruition in terrible catastrophes, the evil that the world perversely considered the greatest and most valuable will be utterly destroyed, and then the perfect kingdom of heaven will begin.
“But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.”
On Thanksgiving Day, it is not a bad thing to reflect briefly on the bad things that happen in the world, because although there is evil in the world, the fundamental lesson of today’s readings is that the plan of God is already set and that all evil ultimately will be overthrown and that there will then be rejoicing and gladness without limit or end.
We remember evils of the recent past, we fear threats in the future, and we endure sufferings in the present, yet we are thankful, because God is with us and the days of evil are numbered.
God is with us and will be with us and in his own perfect time he will bring us into a state of undiluted goodness, boundless joy, and infinitely wonderful love for a journey of gladness that will never end.
The plan of God is set. In faith, hope, and grace, our eternal happiness is assured.
Praised be our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God.
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.
She has become a haunt for demons....”
These are not the kind of images that greeting card companies would put on a Thanksgiving card.
However, if we consider today’s readings carefully and thoroughly, they provide us with an opportunity to reflect on an important aspect of Christian thanksgiving, an aspect that should be a cause for comfort and a cause for joy.
Both the first reading (from Revelation 18-19) and the Gospel today (from Luke 21) present essentially the same scenario: the evil committed by humanity will come to fruition in terrible catastrophes, the evil that the world perversely considered the greatest and most valuable will be utterly destroyed, and then the perfect kingdom of heaven will begin.
“But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.”
On Thanksgiving Day, it is not a bad thing to reflect briefly on the bad things that happen in the world, because although there is evil in the world, the fundamental lesson of today’s readings is that the plan of God is already set and that all evil ultimately will be overthrown and that there will then be rejoicing and gladness without limit or end.
We remember evils of the recent past, we fear threats in the future, and we endure sufferings in the present, yet we are thankful, because God is with us and the days of evil are numbered.
God is with us and will be with us and in his own perfect time he will bring us into a state of undiluted goodness, boundless joy, and infinitely wonderful love for a journey of gladness that will never end.
The plan of God is set. In faith, hope, and grace, our eternal happiness is assured.
Praised be our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God.
posted by Penitens | 1:15 PM
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