Deo Gratias – Thanks Be To God!

Have you ever found humor in the final response we give at Mass—”Thanks be to God!”? As a kid it often struck me as humorous, as if we’re expressing relief that Mass is over (perhaps after the pastor gave an Arisman-length homily).

Later on in life, with a smidge more maturity, I came to realize we in fact were responding with genuine gratitude and praise. As the hymn goes, “All praise and all thanksgiving to you Redeemer King,” so to is our joy at having been nourished by the bread of life, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, made present in the Eucharist.

You likely find times of comfort with the Lord. You also may find it difficult to offer thanks to God. Perhaps it is due to grief and hardship. Perhaps it is from the noise of our world. In the first reading today, 1 Kings 19, we heard about Elijah and God at Mt. Horeb. There was howling wind, the clashing of an earthquake and the roaring of a fire. The Lord was not in any of those. Then we learn that it was in a “tiny whispering sound,” that Elijah encountered God.

Are you able to hear the whisper? There is so much noise around us. Pope Saint John Paul II noted that, “only in silence does man succeed in hearing in the depth of his conscience the voice of God, which really makes him free.” Too often we clamor for noise. Today, almost everyone carries noise in their pocket with a so-called “smart” phone.

We fill out our schedules until we are riddled with anxiety but nonetheless preferring the noise and busy-body lifestyle to having to endure silence. Silence is difficult. It forces us to encounter God. It forces us to rest. It allows us to see ourselves more clearly and we may be uncomfortable with that. In the peace of silence, we begin to restore what Adam and Eve lost—communion with God, face to face, no fig leaves to hide behind.

God wants you! Adam and Eve feared being seen and known by God. Do you fear being seen by God? Do you fear Him knowing you?

We have nothing to fear yet we fear losing our perception of control. We militate against “letting go and letting God.”

Look at today’s Gospel—Matthew 14. Pope St. Peter walks on water! Then he lets himself become fearful and begins to sink. How often do we fail to trust? God still is there but we lose faith, we turn to the noise of the storm, lose sight of God, and we sink.

I often like to think I have a better plan for myself, as I’ve shared here before. Every time I surrender my desires,
my plans, my everything to God, He shows me something greater He had waiting for me to just accept His way.

The biggest for me was leaving my career behind and following Him to seminary. I’ve also already shared that story. Let me instead share a story of another hurdle to vocations that young men and women face when discerning priesthood or being a religious sister—grandkids.

Grandkids?! Yes, grandkids!

As Catholics we have two, generally mutually- exclusive, sacramental vocations: holy orders and matrimony. Marriage is natural. Most of us grow up witnessing the wedded life of parents and we see through our mom and dad the daily witness of this great sacrament. Conversely, we do not generally see priests and nuns daily, especially in our day and age.

This past May I had the privilege of attending ordinations in Bismarck, N.D. and staying with the parents of a priest. The dad was raised Byzantine Catholic and the mom raised Lutheran and now were the parents of a Roman Catholic priest. I asked the mother if she ever could imagine as a little Protestant girl that she would later convert, let alone be the mother of a priest. She then shared how her and her husband spent the first two years of their son’s time in seminary actively trying to dissuade him. Now, it is the greatest blessing they could imagine.

Would you surrender your dreams for your children if God is calling them to be totally His as a priest or nun? Would you encourage them to discern it? Or would you say, “someone else’s kid will do that Lord, you don’t need mine.”? What response will you give to the Lord? Will you say “Deo gratias,” that is, “thanks be to God”?

Tomorrow I return to Kenrick-Glennon Seminary to continue my formation. Please pray for me and my brother
seminarians. Should you like to stay in touch, my contact information is below. Know of my prayers for you and for the many young people at St. Francis Solanus I know God is calling to be totally His as a priest or nun.

St. Francis Solanus, pray for us!
St. Isidore the Farmer, pray for us!
St. Raymond Nonnatus, pray for us!

Thomas L. Marten
Kenrick-Glennon Seminary
5200 Glennon Dr.
St. Louis, Mo. 63119