Paraphrased and adapted from a commencement speech at a college many years ago that is relevant to our feast of Christ the King: Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. Everybody adores something or someone. The question is: what do I worship? I get to make that choice: I get to decide which or whom I worship. But I cannot not worship. And the only compelling reason for me choosing to worship Jesus Christ is that He is the only true God and that pretty much anything else I worship will eat me alive.

Jesus is giving us a discourse on the Mount of Olives; in it He spoke about the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and the Second Coming. During this season in which the leaves are falling, the weather is changing, winter is on the horizon, and we are apporaching the end of the year, the Church invites us to think about the end of our lives.

The story of the prophet Elijah and the widow in the First Book of Kings we heard last Sunday is truly a most wonderful gem among the Old Testament's. Often, this particular story is used to speak about trust in God. In fact, that is why it was chosen to be the story before the story in the Gospel. But deep down, there is another theme at work here we don’t think of often enough, because it seems too commonplace and lame: kindness.

The election results are in. I thank God for having given me the desire and the motivation to participate in the democratic process. I am grateful to God for the blessing of being a citizen of this great nation. I fled communism 44 years ago on a boat, and here I am today as a proud citizen of this most blessed nation.