by Father James Rodriguez

In just under two weeks, our country will celebrate the joy of Thanksgiving Day. It is stressful, to be sure, especially for those who have to cook, but even this stress is worthwhile if the result is a delicious meal shared in good company. Families and friends come together, volunteers feed the homeless and hungry and together we begin to look ahead to Christmas.

One feeling I most readily associate with Thanksgiving is the sheer heat of the apartment where we grew up. It was small, and the oven where my mother toiled for hours generated so much heat that we often had to open the windows, even if it was cold outside.

Today’s first reading begins with precisely this image – the blazing oven. On the day of true thanksgiving, God promises to come to His people and burn away our impurity. For the ancient Israelites, this was the promised day on which the Lord would right all wrongs and save His chosen people. He would cast out the enemies of Israel and anyone else who took advantage of the poor and defenseless. That day was, and continues to be for faithful Jews, a much expected day: the day of salvation.

Today Is the Day

My fellow Christians, that day is today. Indeed, every time we gather at the altar of the Lord to eat the bread of angels, we celebrate the Eucharist – a word which itself means thanksgiving. At the altar, the day that is coming finally arrives, and the light and heat of the Most High, “the sun of justice with its healing rays” comes not only to free us but also to feed us as well.

The same Lord who becomes present for us at the altar “comes to rule the earth with justice,” as we sang in today’s Responsorial Psalm. The psalmist invites us to praise the Lord with full hearts and join in the hymn of all creation as it praises its Maker.

“Let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy.” Indeed all the world glorifies the Lord on this day that He has made, and we welcome Him to the altars of our churches and hearts, receiving Him not as a mere guest but as our very nourishment – the food He has chosen to be for us.

St. Paul makes mention of food in today’s second reading, where he admonished some of the Thessalonians against being “busybodies” who were losing focus of the true prize – that is Jesus Christ, Himself – and causing discord in their communities.

He reminds them (and us) that we are to be imitators of the saints, our intercessors and models in the life of faith, by working quietly and eating our own food – that is, the food from heaven. This is the food that sustains us – the food that we should work for through acts of charity and prayer and the food that we share as a family with Christ Jesus as our Head.

Discipleship’s Steep Price

St. Luke, a companion and student of St. Paul, recounts one of our Lord’s most challenging warnings as we come to the end of the Church year, which itself closely mirrors the Lord’s life and ministry. He makes it clear that discipleship has a steep price and that the day is coming when all of the sinfulness that we choose to hold onto will itself be our undoing.

The more we cling to sin, the less able we are to grasp His outstretched and regal, pierced hand. The more we choose against Him, the harder it is to say “Amen” when the minister of Holy Communion looks us in the eye and says the words that every faithful person in the Old Testament longed to hear: “The Body of Christ.” These words and the Savior they signify have the power to draw us into the very furnace of charity that is the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In His heart, we are embraced, loved and purified. In His heart, we are made strong and whole. In His heart, the Most Precious Blood that was shed to set us free pours outward onto every Catholic altar and runs through our veins for the salvation of the world.

As you prepare for Thanksgiving, make sure not to neglect the true thanksgiving that takes place every day on the altar. Thank God on the altar of your heart, so that you might be more aware of His presence in your life.

Thank Him also for your problems, because they, like blazing ovens, are painful but purifying. He knows you, and He knows your suffering so intimately that He took it onto Himself – long before you were even born. See your cross in His, and thank Him.[hr]

Readings for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Malachi 3: 19-20A

Psalm 98: 5-6, 7-8, 9

2 Thessalonians 3: 7-12

Luke 21: 5-19

Father James Rodriguez is the associate vocation director for the diocese and teaches at Cathedral Prep and Seminary, Elmhurst.