In an English class in high school, our teacher was asking us to explain the meaning of common English expressions taken from Latin. One of them was, “He gives twice who gives quickly.” I raised my hand and said, “When you give right away, people will forget that you  already gave and ask you to give again.” My teacher was not impressed with my teenaged cynicism. She said, “It means that you and the recipient receive great satisfaction from the gesture and that you are an encouragement to others to give too.” Well, maybe I gave the wrong answer in class 55 years ago, but the other day I was partly vindicated by the head of a retail merchants association, who was being interviewed on the radio. He was asked about “holiday creep”:  Why do Halloween displays now appear in August and Christmas displays in September? He said, “Because people who buy Halloween candy in August may forget they already have it and buy again right before Halloween; people who buy Christmas gifts and Christmas decorations early will likely spend more on Christmas later on.”

Forgetting is not just a malady of old age; it happens to everyone when our life moves in a different direction. What was on our mind is August gets buried under what is happening today. Forgetfulness may be an effective marketing strategy in retail, but it is not always good for us. So, I sat down early Monday morning and made a list of things that are important to remember right now, things that might get buried under the weight of daily life. You might want to add to this list.

First of all, we have a new president. As they campaigned, neither Donald Trump nor Camala Harrs were in alignment with Catholic teaching in some significant areas; and now that Donald Trump is President, we need to remember that. For over three decades, the Catholic Church has advocated for immigration reform. The Church does not support open borders or blanket amnesty. But the church does support a path toward citizenship for those already here. Massive deportations would not only rip apart families but damage our economy. People who are employed and contributing to the community would be deported—perhaps to an environment far more dangerous than Chicago. We also have to remember that acting to protect our environment now is not just the domain of “tree huggers”. We are feeling the effects of climate change in floods, hurricanes, and fires. Everything is becoming more extreme. Pope Francis’ prophetic words ten years ago about our suffering planet are even more pressing today. “Drill, baby, drill” cannot be our only answer to our energy needs.

There are other important things about our Catholic faith that we might forget—things that have nothing to do with who lives in the White Hours. For example, do we sometimes forget what a great gift we have in the Eucharist? Every time we come to Mass we have an encounter with the Risen Lord. Christ remains present in the Tabernacle after Mass ends. Only a small number of people attend the Monday evening Eucharistic Adoration. During this year of the Eucharistic Revival, we might attempt our own Eucharistic revival. We could make a greater effort to stay focused on what is going on during Mass. We could also find out why so many Catholics through the centuries have found so many benefits from spending a quiet hour with Christ present on the altar during Adoration. I suspect that many of us have forgotten about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus is present here too; because Jesus is always about healing, reconciling us to God and one another. In Twelve Step spirituality there is a phrase, “You can always start your day over.” Just because we got off on the wrong foot does not mean that the whole day has to be a waste. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, not only can we start our day over, we can start our life over.

Time magazine recently had a cover story, “Why is everyone so rude right now?” Surely it does not have to be everyone. During times when people are tense, impatient, and short-tempered, we need to remember that God gave us two ears and one mouth. God apparently wants us to listen twice as much as we talk. Trying to do just that each day might lower the temperature of the conversation around us. And how about remembering to say “thank you” more often. If more people remembered to say “thank you” more often to teachers and police officers and public officials and social workers, we would surely not have so many good and dedicated people leaving these professions. Nobody is inspired to do their best job if all they hear are complaints (and rude complaints at that). Thanksgiving is too big a part of our faith-life to be confined to one family meal a year. And, maybe within the family, we could do a better job of saying “thank you” too.

                                                                       Fr. Joe