Some of us, I'm sure, remember the animated Christmas special entitled "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." If you know the storyline, perhaps you would agree with me that it should have rightly been entitled "How the Grinch TRIED to Steal Christmas" from the people in Whoville by sneaking into town one Christmas Eve and stealing all of the townspeople's material possessions including, of course, items connected with Christmas. As Christmas morning dawned the Grinch was shocked when he heard the church (or town's) bells ringing and the people of the town gathering and holding hands in a circle to welcome Christmas Day.
Given the coronavirus pandemic that has spiked once again with numbers of positive cases, hospitalizations and deaths rising, I dare say that not only Christmas but also Thanksgiving this year will not include townspeople or even family gathering together to hold hands in celebration and in prayer! Many families will wiselhy choose not to get together with extended family and friends this year. The question is, will the coronavirus and the threat it brings "steal" Thanksgiving and Christmas from us this year.
Hopefully the answer is a resounding "No" as many will find alternative ways to celebrate these holidays. Thankfully in this part of the country and world, we can in fact gather together on both of these special days without ever joining hands, but hopefully joining minds and heart to give thanks to God for all the blessings of the past, present and future (which are many) and at Christmas thank God for the most precious gift he gave to the world, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! St. Paul in his letter to the Romans (8:31b) asks and answers the question: "What will separate us from the love of Christ" by saying nothing can or will (including in our case the effects of a pandemic). That is something to always keep in mind, especially when we feel isolated or alone, and it is something we remind ourselves of at every Mass as Jesus comes to us in Word and in Sacrament (in the Eucharist).
This Thanksgiving Day, when our normal routine is thrown off to some or maybe a large extent, do what many do not routinely do on Thanksgiving Day, come to either the 9:00 a.m. Mass in Church or the 11:00 a.m. Mass in the parking lot and start a tradition that would be worth continuing long after the pandemic is over. Whether we ever go back to joing hands in church or not, our gathering together for the celebration of the Eucharist ALWAYS joins our hearts in love to the Lord AND to on another!!!
Given the coronavirus pandemic that has spiked once again with numbers of positive cases, hospitalizations and deaths rising, I dare say that not only Christmas but also Thanksgiving this year will not include townspeople or even family gathering together to hold hands in celebration and in prayer! Many families will wiselhy choose not to get together with extended family and friends this year. The question is, will the coronavirus and the threat it brings "steal" Thanksgiving and Christmas from us this year.
Hopefully the answer is a resounding "No" as many will find alternative ways to celebrate these holidays. Thankfully in this part of the country and world, we can in fact gather together on both of these special days without ever joining hands, but hopefully joining minds and heart to give thanks to God for all the blessings of the past, present and future (which are many) and at Christmas thank God for the most precious gift he gave to the world, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! St. Paul in his letter to the Romans (8:31b) asks and answers the question: "What will separate us from the love of Christ" by saying nothing can or will (including in our case the effects of a pandemic). That is something to always keep in mind, especially when we feel isolated or alone, and it is something we remind ourselves of at every Mass as Jesus comes to us in Word and in Sacrament (in the Eucharist).
This Thanksgiving Day, when our normal routine is thrown off to some or maybe a large extent, do what many do not routinely do on Thanksgiving Day, come to either the 9:00 a.m. Mass in Church or the 11:00 a.m. Mass in the parking lot and start a tradition that would be worth continuing long after the pandemic is over. Whether we ever go back to joing hands in church or not, our gathering together for the celebration of the Eucharist ALWAYS joins our hearts in love to the Lord AND to on another!!!