Here's the transcript from Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863 on the institution of thanksgiving, a day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."
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As I was thinking on my last post, especially 1 Chronicles 16:39-40 where it says,
But the priest Zadok and his priestly brethren he left before the Dwelling of the LORD on the high place at Gibeon, to offer holocausts to the LORD on the altar of holocausts regularly, morning and evening, and to do all that is written in the law of the LORD which he has decreed for Israel.
How beautiful it is that we as catholics have our 24/7 adoration chapel all across the world. I can see it as a fulfillment/typology of this Old Testament reference. As Jen @ conversion diary puts it,
Christmas night at 3:00 in the morning? Someone has to set their alarm, get out of bed, and be there.
The Fourth of July at 2:00 in the afternoon? Someone is there.
The stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve? Someone is there.
Ah, so pretty.
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As I was walking back from volleyball, I thought of the "truth". As I was e-mailing back and forth on the topic of contraception and pro-life issues, this quote from Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand came to mind,
Fear of conversion
Christianity has done something which is totally revolutionary. Christ did not say “I have the truth”, he said “I am the truth”, Moses did not say so, Buddha did not say so, Mohammed did not say so. Christ alone claims that He is The Truth, capital T. Now, the very moment that you are confronted with the Truth, and you suddenly discover all the lies that are in us, there are two possibilities. Either you kneel down and adore and recognise Christ to be God, or you run away and say “depart from us, we can do without you”.
When Pontius Pilate asked a rhetorical question, "What is the truth?" It echoes back to what Jesus said earlier in the gospel, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
As we all start our new year in the liturgical calendar, I urge you (&myself as well), which truth that I repel from my life? The truth that there is such thing as an objective truth? The truth of our masculinity and femininity? The truth that we long for God and not for things of this world?
We all ache for God, and we wait…
The addict in the alley behind the Cathedral waits:
for a God who will come and remove all that enslaves him...
The single mother waits:
for a day when she no longer has to work 54 hours,
a night when she can sleep eight,
a life when she’ll finally know the kids will be ok.
The soldier in a ditch in Iraq waits:
for a morning when there are no more explosions of IEDs,
and every look is not feared as the precursor to an assault,
and you don’t have to bury your new best friends.
The old man in the nursing home waits:
for the day he will no longer be alone,
when pain will no longer be his most constant companion,
and when he can once again rest in the embrace of her whom he loved.
The prisoner on death row waits:
for a place where he will no longer be seen as evil,
for a life that makes sense,
for a time when love can be given and received,
for the coming of a God who will love him.
The investment banker waits:
for the day when he’s not gripped by the fear
that he’s about to lose everything,
for the day when he can count his value
in the quality of his love rather than the size of his profit.
The little child waits
within her mother’s womb:
for a world that will welcome her.
and parents that will love her,
and a country who will protect her.
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