We must admit, it’s been a nice stretch of weather this autumn. After a drought-like summer, where our custodian Paul Prunier was practically begging Jesus for water to fall from the sky (“Have you forgotten us up there?”), our autumn in these parts turned into spectacular weather for outdoor enthusiasts. Comfortable golf weather lasted well into the first third of November. Until last weekend, it remained in the 60’s and 70’s temperature-wise. I drove out to the Boston Book Fair a week ago Friday and I remember thinking when passing behind the Green Monster on Interstate 90, “Hmm, this is a really good evening for baseball. The temperature is in the low 70’s and there’s a hitter’s breeze blowing out towards the left field wall.” “Gotta love global warming,” as they say.

But so much for global warming as the weather has turned later fall/early winter-like. Like, normal. Cool weather for Thanksgiving Day high school football games, and weather to help us get into a better mood for a snow game in Foxboro, watching, of course, from the comfort of our warm TV rooms.

 Speaking of Thanksgiving Day, did you know it is this coming week? That crept up rather quickly. Which will happen around here when the weather stays warm long enough into November. Our brains are thinking and appreciating the things of summer rather than the holidays of late autumn when shorts and short-sleeved shirts are the dresswear. But no longer. Get ready for a big blast of Old Man Winter in New England. I don’t know about you, but I can feel a blizzard or two in my old, aching bones right about now. We can all use an indoor one or two day retreat due to Mother Nature, who, by the way, cannot be controlled by human beings. She’s much too powerful and erratic to think we can actually control her. Yet, some folks, for whatever the reasons may be, believe they can do such. I almost equate this with the folks who think they know the date and hour of our Lord’s Second Coming. As I said in last week’s homily, as many as have predicted the Savior’s return, just as many have been wrong.

And speaking of Jesus, we celebrate this Sunday his Kingship, as Lord and King of the Universe. Now there’s a title for the ages: Lord and King of the Universe! Do you think there’s a few in the category of fallen humanity who would love to possess that title? Besides the few who already believe they do? But, there’s only one King and Lord of the Universe, and his name is Emmanuel, for God-is-with-us. And for this, may we ever give thanks.

 I do pray we all give thanks for so many blessings this coming Thursday as we celebrate and chow down with loved ones on this beautiful, secular celebration with the strongest religious overtones. It was Abraham Lincoln who raised this day as an official holiday in the United States of America, a land he was hoping to preserve as one country in the midst of a Civil War that had torn this great nation in two. Mr. Lincoln possessed the wisdom to officially set aside this one day on the 4^th Thursday of November each year to give thanks to God, not only for the recent victory at Gettysburg, but to give thanks to the Almighty as a way of saying “Thanks for your abiding presence in the midst of this horrible human conflict.” Thanksgiving became a day of peace, a virtue most people would like to know to the nth degree.

I’ve been blessed to read a handful of Civil War soldier’s letters to their loved ones back home that mention Thanksgiving. They are always written in the light of missing their families and the strongest desire to be sitting with them, enjoying a meal together, rather than sitting on a camp stool or in their cold tent writing a letter to “My Dear Wife, Sister, Mother and/or Father, or Friend.” The sense of family in the 1860’s, and being with them at such a time as Thanksgiving, was no different than what we know today. Thousands of soldiers yearned to be with the people who were the most important to them. The ones they held closest in their hearts. Rather, they found themselves with comrades and strangers fighting a war in a strange land (Virginia was a million miles away to a soldier from Vermont), making the ultimate sacrifice if need be to preserve the Union as one.

And the word “one” fits perfectly into today’s celebration in God’s Church in the title of “Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe,” for he is the only One. There have been many Kings over the history of mankind, some great ones and some of the vilest ones. From the greatness of Kings David and Solomon, to the vileness of King Henry VIII and a few others of his ilk. Also, many people have been given the nickname “king,” given by family, friends, or teammates. This title would derive from something they did well, such as sports. I remember growing up, there was a guy who played Major League Baseball by the name of Dave Kingman. He was a power hitter, meaning, when he came up to bat, he either hit a home run or struck out. (Big Papi he was not). His nickname was “King Kong.” He didn’t look like the movie superstar known as King Kong, but he sure hit a baseball like him at times. I also have a brother who was nicknamed “The King” by a few people he knew in sports. And then there was the great fast-pitch softball team known as “The King and his Court.” Again, there are many earthly “kings” given this nickname for one feat or another, but there is only one King of the Universe. We may wish to remember this when the ego of another politico seeks to be worshipped because of the position they’ve been fairly or unfairly elected to. There’s a few to choose from on both sides of the aisle.

Jesus didn’t go around bragging about being a King. Or King Kong for that matter. Even when the Lord stood before Pilate, and the conversation came around to Jesus claiming to be a king which Pilate heard from a screaming crowd, his answer to Pilate’s query, ‘Are you a king?” was given the response, “You say I am a King.” A good way of saying “Yes” without having to say “Yes.” This led to Pilate further asking the Lord, “Who are you? Where are you from?” And Pilate was not referring to Bethlehem or Nazareth. He meant “Are you from above somehow?” even though Pilate’s one and only god was Caesar in Rome. There was something different about this man standing before the procurator, and the procurator sensed it. What Pilate sensed, and could not understand or put into words, was that the Man standing before him that day was/is the Son of Man. The Son of Man who came to save humanity from our fallen state. Which, of course, was accomplished shortly after the conversation between Pilate and Jesus ended.

This may be the best of reasons why all of us this week should give thanks to God. We certainly give thanks for family and friendships, I pray. Possibly for good health and safety too? The greatest Christians even give/gave thanks for their crosses carried. We can definitely give thanks to God for the tremendous gift of our faith in Jesus, his only-begotten Son. I cannot comprehend not possessing, living, and doing my best to practice my faith in Jesus Christ. I cannot imagine my life without this greatest of gifts, and frightful to think where I would be without an ounce of authentic faith. I pray the same for all the people of St. Anne’s, that your faith in Jesus overflows. What would our lives be like if we had zero faith in the Savior of the world? We would be living a life of hopelessness. Almost like all those years of being a diehard Red Sox fan, wondering if they were ever going to go to the big dance one day and actually win it. We now know the answer.

When we sit down this week to enjoy another Thanksgiving meal with whomever we will enjoy it with (don’t be afraid to welcome a stranger/newcomer), may we be thoughtful and wise enough to include into the list of gifts to be thankful for, that of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. He may or may not get bypassed each year if our families proclaim prior to the meal what it is we are thankful for. Our hearts and minds may center on the many physical gifts we are blessed to have along this path to heaven. But I believe we can all agree that with our faith in the one and only King of the Universe, this number one invisible gift, we have found the Source of all that is good in our lives. And, as Abraham Lincoln worked overtime to keep the United States of America one nation under God, with a supporting cast of thousands of soldiers and civilians, many of whom gave their life for the cause of liberty, freedom, and unity, may we do the same on a smaller scale in our families. That each family unit, I pray, may be kept as one “nation” under God. Happy Thanksgiving, and a safe week for those who travel.           
                                                                                                                           

PENANCE 
Cultural shifts in imaging and language necessitate reinterpretation. The underlying constant is that penance, as a dimension of conversion, is an ever present dynamic of the Christian life, not a one- time or occasional reality. A sense of individual and ecclesial responsibility for one's actions and for growth in likeness to Christ under the guidance of the Spirit leads Christians to take penance seriously.                

Spiritual growth thus requires sensitivity to sin - a consciousness both of our own sins ands of others’ sins and also of the evil present in society. When this is coupled with a realization of God's love and our relationships with others, it leads, not to shame, fear, and scrupulosity, but rather to a motivation for actively resisting sin and evil in our own lives and in society.                                               

Likewise, making amends for personal sin (or the sin of others) is not self-punishment or payment to God. It is rather the wholehearted acceptance of one's responsibilities and call to holiness, and the difficulties that come with the effort to fulfill these responsibilities and this vocation. It extends to include the willingness to share the responsibilities of others, an element that in the past was also often put in terms of expiation, e.g., through fasting and abstinence or other penitential works.                               

Spirituality thus retains the personal or individual element of penance that has been a part of Christian tradition but broadens it to include the relationship to neighbor as well as to God, and responsibility for one another as well as for oneself. Thus, where past spiritual writers dealt with atonement or expiation, writers today will be more inclined to speak of the responsibility to undo harm done to and by others. However, individualism may still be present, even though disguised by psychological terminology; for example, where past writers spoke of a struggle against evil inclinations in order to subject them to the will and thus to God, contemporary writers may speak, in an individualistic or even egotistic fashion, of the effort to achieve self-integration.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  From The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality