+ At this Thanksgiving time of the year we have a different perspective on giving thanks from our readings for this last week in Ordinary Time. We have celebrated the Feast of Jesus Christ as King of the Universe last Sunday; and that is what he is: he is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lord whose Kingdom will come and will last forever: it will be indestructible, and we are all invited to be a part of it.
The readings today are about the fear that all earthly kings, rulers, presidents have about losing their kingdoms, territories, countries to other kings, rulers and presidents. Theirs is only a temporary reign at best anyway. And all authority they wield comes from God in the first place, and to him they will give an accounting one day – whether they know it or believe it or not!
But the reading from the prophet Daniel tells of a King who is to come whose Kingship will be above all the other kingships, and whose kingdom will be unshakable, unshatterable, unbreakable: the Kingdom of Jesus Christ the King of the Universe: who shall sit on the throne of King David, his Father!
The gospel passage tells that when the One Universal Kingdom breaks forth One Day: everything will be turned upside down, not a stone of the way things are now will be left standing the way they were. All will be new, all will be wonderful and JESUS CHRIST WILL BE KING OF IT ALL!
How all this ties in with giving thanks is this: we ought to thank God many times a day for arranging things to be this way: the way of his King and Kingdom. It ought to give us a great sense of security and comfort knowing that God himself truly is in charge and that everything that happens in our lives – day by day – will all work out for the very best one day – if we live like we believe that Jesus is our King and that his Kingdom will come with all its glory and that we want to be a part of it! The details of how and when that Kingdom arrives we ought to leave completely up to God and not worry about it at all. It will be a truly awesome and fearsome day for those who have wavered and denied him. But for us who want and choose him and his kingdom it will be a grand and glorious day!
The day of the arrival of God's Kingdom could be any day! That is why we are each invited to live each and every day like it were right around the corner – because it just might be!
Remain faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life!
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