Fr Ed Homily 11-11-20

Giving Thanks

Today is the feast day for St Martin of Tours. St Martin met a poor man on the road who was shivering from the winter cold. St Martin took his cloak and cut it in two pieces, giving one of the pieces to the poor man. When St Martin left, he looked back, but the poor man was gone. Later that night Jesus came to St Martin in a dream wearing the piece of cloak that St Martin gave him. This is when St Martin decided to give his life to Christ. St Martin thanked Jesus by giving his life to serve Jesus.

Today is also Veterans Day. A day we remember the men and women who fight in the wars to protect our freedom. We owe them many thank you’s. Some of these men and women died fighting to protect our freedom. They certainly are special people.

There are ten men who have the disease of leprosy. This disease causes your skin to turn white and fall off. It is a horrible disease. These ten men had to do the social distancing. They could not come close to Jesus, so they had to yell. Jesus told them to go to the priests; to show the priests that they were cured. Only one returned to thank Jesus.

In a couple of weeks, we will all be celebrating Thanksgiving. Because of social distancing and masks, it is going to be different this year. But we always need to thank God for all He has given us. I know that somehow God will make something good come out of this virus. When I was growing up, my grandparents would always come to Thanksgiving Dinner. They were great people but there was always one thing I dreaded. My grandmother always thought we should go around the whole table and everyone would have to say one thing they were thankful for. Did you ever do that in your family? I was not particularly good at thinking of what to be thankful for. And since I was the oldest, I always had to go first. One time I said I was thankful there was no school. Guess what. That was not a good thing to say. And my sister would always say something special like thank you God for this special meal. That always worked for her. But then my next brother would say thank you for the pumpkin pie. Then everyone would giggle, and grandma would look at us as if we were so naughty.

As I practiced saying my prayers, I have gotten better at thanking God for many things because I know God gives us everything. So just like St Martin and our veterans who gave themselves to God in thanksgiving, let us be sure to be thankful this year for the many things God has given us.

May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen