What Makes Us Different - St. Mary of Magdala, an Inclusive Catholic Community

Helen Weber-McReynolds, RCWP, Pastor
Maria Thornton McClain, RCWP, Retired Pastor

The Implications of Gratitude

11/24/2024

The Implications of Gratitude

November 24, 2024
Thanksgiving
Helen Weber-McReynolds, RWCP
Sirach 50: 22-24; Ps. 100; Phil 1:1-11; Luke 17: 11-19

           A few years ago, Tom Hanks starred in a movie named A Man Called Otto. It told the story of a depressed widower who was drawn out by the needs of his neighbors to become a generous teacher and benefactor. He learned to overcome his grief by giving his most precious possessions, and more and more of himself, to the people around him. Gratitude for the love he had had for his wife and their life together turned him from a grumpy loner to a treasured friend to many. His neighbors learned to be very thankful for him.

Gratitude is a complex idea. It is not only saying thank you. It is appreciating the value of the gift. It is endeavoring to learn to imitate the generosity of the giver, by passing that generosity on to others. It is protecting the gift, treasuring the gift, and working to grow to be worthy of the gift.

This is the collective truth our readings today tell us about gratitude. The passage from Sirach tells us how to give thanks to God for our blessings, holding up as examples both “the wondrous things of earth,” and growth itself. And then Sirach modeled how to show our gratitude by carrying on God’s work, saying, “May God’s goodness liberate us to be God’s goodness, in our days, for all days.”

           Then we read in our second reading how Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, offered another example of gratitude and appreciation. He showed the depth of his love for the people of Philippi, by praying for their comprehension and growth in wisdom in the faith, by saying: “May your love abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best. May you have clarity and singleness of heart. May you be ready on the day of the Christ. May you be filled with the fruit of justice that flowed through Jesus the Christ and flows on to us. May all this be done to the glory and praise of God. “

What I hear is Paul praying that his followers, and then their followers after that, may grow more and more in appreciation of God’s love, and in making it a reality to everyone around them.

           And in the Gospel, Jesus praises the gratitude of the healed person who came back to thank him, and to glorify God. Jesus said, “Your faith has made you well.” In other words, the depth of your gratitude for God’s love has made you well. Your strong belief in the power of God’s love has made you well. Your complete vulnerability to God’s will for you has made you well. Your demonstration of praise for God has made you well. Your desire to imitate God’s love in your life by being grateful has made you well.

           What profound examples of gratitude the people in these readings are for us. In the light of our present American political reality, the crisis of climate change, and our continuing struggle to understand and appreciate the beauty of our human diversity, gratitude is both essential and difficult. We need Sirach, Paul and the Philippians, and Jesus and the person who was cured to teach and inspire us. They each dealt with their own crises, but rose above them to be thankful. And they spoke words of gratitude that have been passed down to us. Let us pray that we may find ways to follow them in being grateful and to teach gratitude with our lives.

Commitment to Living in God's Love

11/3/2024

Commitment to Living in God's Love

November 3, 2024
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Hele Weber-McReynolds, RWCP
Deut 6:4-9; Ps. 18; 1 Cor 12: 31-13:13; Mark 12: 28-37

I recently read a story that I think ties in well with these readings about covenant and commitment. Apparently, a surgical oncologist was watching her son play in a Little League baseball game, when the umpire was struck in the neck by a wild pitch and experienced a cardiac arrest. The doctor sprang into action and started CPR, while another spectator ran to the church next door for an AED, and another called for the EMS. They managed to resuscitate the man, and he was rushed to the hospital and survived. No doubt they would have done the same for anyone in this situation, but they were especially grateful because this umpire was well known in the area for his kindness and commitment, and for how he encouraged the kids and helped make baseball fun even when it was stressful. They said he showed up at every single game to support the kids and engage them, to model respect, gratitude, and kindness. When expressing what this dramatic episode had meant to her, the doctor said, “I think our obligation as people is to live with intentionality.”

To me, this story illustrates how we never know where or when we will be called to live out Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves. We have to have the intention to walk in Jesus’ shoes at all times in order to be ready when someone in need of our help appears. And I know I need to back that intention up with regular prayer and reflection on scripture to keep myself from being distracted by all the constant stimuli around me. When we talk about living God’s covenant, we’re talking about commitment. Commitment to living in the love God has given to us, to not find differences in other people, but what we have in common. To help people like we would like to be helped. Commitment to making our little corner of the world better, for now, and for everybody’s kids and grandkids.

In our first reading, from Deuteronomy, Moses summarized the law of God in the Shema, the prayer/creed that encouraged God’s people to live always with the love of God in their hearts, so that they would be ready to act in God’s name in all times and circumstances. Then Jesus linked that creed to love of our neighbors as ourselves, to make clear once and for all that loving others is a way of loving God. Taking care of one another, Jesus and the scribe in the gospel passage agree, is worth more than all the ritual sacrifices Jesus’ contemporaries could offer.

I never get tired of hearing Paul’s description of love, in the passage we read from 1 Cor. It is a more concrete expression of how to love one another as ourselves. Paul said we follow God by acting with patience and kindness, humility and honesty, patience, mercy,` hope, trust, and zeal for justice. He said he believed we can only see vaguely what God is like during our life on earth, but that after we die, our understanding of God’s love will be crystal clear.

Our zeal for justice will tested in one way, I believe, by next week’s election. The simple act of voting for candidates who support fair treatment for everyone can be an act of justice itself. So can writing those who get elected and supporting legislation to feed more hungry people, provide decent health insurance for everyone, protect personal rights, and protect the environment. By staying engaged with what our civil leaders are doing, we can act to help protect the most vulnerable.

So let us recommit ourselves to live lives of love like God’s love, and to look out for our neighbors as we would like to have them look out for us. Let us, as it said in the first reading, write the law of God’s love on our hearts.