Give Thanks in ALL Things

In ALL Things Give Thanks.

We come now to the end of another liturgical year, Christmas is past, Lent , Easter, and a long ordinary time are behind us. What has God done in your life, your soul during this past year?

In my older years, every day sees changes in my functioning, my body will not always comply with my demands, my mind is more forgetful but still cherishes memories created with loved ones, some of whom have passed. Recently I have had to change living situation, relinquishing belongings gathered over a lifetime because there is no room for them in a small apartment or studio. Daily I pray, “I surrender it all to You, Lord. You take care of it!” Thank you for this purification and purging from worldly attachments. I’ve lost my home; my neighbors and friends close at hand; all that was familiar and comforting. In some ways I’m as free as a twenty-year-old, free with a fresh beginning until my health says, slow down or I haven’t saved enough to have fun. Social Security doesn’t cover housing, utilities, food or medicine. It just doesn’t stretch that far.

Blessed are the poor in spirit and in reality! I thank you Lord for stripping me of material attachments, a home of my own, my freedom, my siblings and spouse. It is so painful to let go of the comfort of feeling loved. As time passes, I could allow myself to feel alone, a foreigner in my own land. Poverty strips one of dignity and pride; forcing you to go begging for assistance when you’ve been a caregiver, teacher and a doer all your life.

Touring one apartment site after another for the elderly in my price range revealed to me that developers and rental agencies seek only to pack as many people as possible int small spaces with no concern for the needs of a comfortable life. At one open house, no one was at the door to greet us. When someone finally appeared, it was all business. Do you have this document and that one? Ok, you qualify. I had to ask to see the rooms. The one bedroom was actually studio size with no separate bedroom, a sink in the living room and one coat closet! There was no sense of what people might need. Most rentals would take all of my Social Security check, leaving nothing to live on. Even at that there is nothing for utilities either.

For forty years I taught in Catholic Schools and a Catholic college at half the salary I could have had. I chose to do this because I could not teach freely in the public school. I wanted to be able to share the comfort of Faith when my students were hurting. I wanted to serve my Church. There is no pension for Catholic school teachers! I wasn’t stupid, I did invest a little of my small paycheck and lived simply. But, as you know, life has a way of knocking us off our feet from time to time, so here I am at 80 with small savings and no place to live!

Yet I can thank God for allowing me to experience “nowhere to lay my head”. I don’t object to the poverty because I trust that God will provide on his timetable, not mine. But I do object to seeing the poor treated disrespectfully and without compassion because they have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own. With the average SS check of $1600-$1800 and rents pushing $2000 where can a person find safe, clean housing?

America is no longer a country focused on the common good or champion of the hard-working underdog; it is a house of greed and self-centeredness. St. Paul said to give thanks in ALL things, and I do thank God that I can share in the shame and ignominy of the poor and offer it to the Father as a pleasing sacrifice of praise for the soul of my beloved country.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!