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Following
the King for the Holidays
Fr.
George Smiga
21
November 2004
Luke
23:35-43
The
holiday season begins this week with the feast of Thanksgiving.
And today's feast, the feast of Christ the King, comes to
us just in time. Because what we celebrate in this feast is
our belief that Jesus is the Lord of all things, the King
of the universe. We who follow Christ intend to live our lives
according to the principles of Christ's kingdom. What is this
kingdom about? Today's second reading states it clearly. God
is reconciling all things to God's self through the blood
of Jesus' cross. The kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of reconciliation,
of pulling us together. Therefore as we approach these upcoming
holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas we should live them
through the viewpoint of the kingdom. We try to live them
as followers of Christ the King.
But
how do we do this? In what way is approaching the holidays
different for those who follow the king of the universe? I
want to address this question differently in my homily today.
I would like to talk directly to young people. By “young people”
I mean everybody from kindergarten through college, anyone
who has not yet set up their own household, whose celebration
if Christmas is still directly connected to their parents'
celebration. Although I'm going to be talking to the young
people, I would encourage everyone else to listen. Because
my hope is that what I say will relate to you as well.
Here's
what I would say to young people. In the next few weeks you
are going to be celebrating a number of special meals, long
meals, meals at which you will be asked to sit at table for
maybe upwards to an hour. Some of you will have to travel
to reach those meals. Many of you will share those meals with
people you do not see that often: perhaps your grandparents
who come in from out of town, or an uncle or an aunt or a
friend of your parents. Some of these people that you don't
see that often might be a little strange. Some of them might
be loud and asserting, others quiet and difficult to talk
to. Some of them might keep saying to you, “Oh, how much you've
grown.” Perhaps others there will pretend that they know you
very well although they really do not know you much at all.
Here
is where being a follower of Christ the King is important,
because we believe that all the people in our lives are a
part of God's plan. This makes a difference. In this perspective
we should attempt to approach the people we will meet with
respect and a desire to understand them. We believe that all
the people in our life, all the people who gather around your
Thanksgiving and your Christmas table, have been put into
your life by Christ the King. Therefore, whoever those people
are, they should be treated with respect.
So
when your grandmother puts brussel sprouts on your plate which
you hate, instead of making a face or insulting her, you might
want to respect the work that she has done and find a pleasant
way of saying that you appreciate her, even if you don't eat
the vegetables. When Uncle Larry starts telling the story
about his baseball adventures as a youth, which you have heard
hundreds of times before, instead of embarrassing him, perhaps
you should show him the respect to listen and maybe look for
an opportunity to change the subject to a story you haven't
heard as yet. It might be a good thing to turn off your cell
phones, because taking calls from your friends during the
meal does not respect the people at the table. And if something
embarrassing were to happen, instead of looking the other
way or making fun, you might be the first to ask, “How can
I help?”
You
see, when we are followers of Christ the King, all the people
in our lives deserve respect, because none of them are there
by chance. It is also important for us to try to understand
who these people are. As you were growing up, it was easy
to take the people who showed up on holidays for granted.
They were just there. Perhaps this holiday, you might want
to ask members of your family who these people really are
and how they became a part of your family's life. You might
ask your dad or mom before Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner,
“Was Uncle Pete always so loud?” Or “Why is it that Aunt Sally
cries so easily?” And “When was it that we started to invite
Mr. Wilson over for Thanksgiving dinner?” You might even think
of people who you know are a part of your family but are not
with you that particular holiday. You might ask, “Why doesn't
Aunt Mary eat with us any more?” Or “What was Grandpa Sal
like, and do I have any of his qualities?”
I
would, of course, suggest to both parents and grandparents
to encourage these kinds of discussions. Rather than seeing
the holidays as something just to get through, we should see
them as opportunities to understand who the people are in
our lives and who they have made us to be. In doing that,
we will be acting as followers of Christ the King.
The
holidays are coming, and shortly we will be traveling over
the river and through the woods to grandmother's house or
Aunt Sally's house. I encourage all of us to go to these places
as followers of Christ the King, to see that the people we
meet there are treated with respect, and that we seize every
opportunity to understand who those people are. I promise
you that, if you approach these upcoming weeks with that attitude,
you will not only celebrate the holidays, but you will actually
appreciate the meaning of what we celebrate. You will understand
more deeply who Christ our King is, who both challenges us
and blesses us with the people in our lives.
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