Canticle – Postlude for Thanksgiving Monday

Gregorian chant, choral, group of voices, recto-tono, a capella, ‑Opera, ‑tremolo, ‑vibrato, ‑bel canto, ‑agressive, ‑shouting, ‑violent, ‑pathetic, ‑sarcastic, ‑theatrical, ‑modern

In the Catholic Mass dedicated to Thanksgiving,
the Gospel according to Saint Luke,
the physician who sought to heal the soul of his generation,
begins with these words of Jesus:

“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given to it
except the sign of Jonah.
For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.”

The meaning of these words reaches us with greater clarity
through the Gospel of Matthew,
the former tax collector,
who wished that each one render what is due on the spiritual level,
and who clothed the words of Christ
with an explanation essential
to the full understanding of His mission:

“An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign,
but no sign will be given to it
except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was three days and three nights
in the belly of the great sea creature,
so the Son of Man
will be in the heart of the earth.”

In pagan Rome,
the research of André Grabar teaches us
that when a young soldier or a young man died,
his sarcophagus was often adorned
with the image of Endymion asleep.

That image came from the myth of Endymion,
a young man whose beauty inspired in Selene,
the goddess of the Moon,
a love so intense
that she asked Zeus to let him sleep forever,
so that his beauty and youth
would remain untouched for all eternity.

The first Christians kept this image of the sleeping Endymion
to decorate the sarcophagi of their own young men.
They no longer saw in it the pagan sleep of Endymion,
but the rest of Jonah,
weary from his time in the belly of the great fish,
lying upon the shore —
the image of rest before resurrection.

Thus the pagan image became a Christian one:
the soul of the young departed,
asleep in death,
was now seen as promised —
like Christ, after His three days in the tomb —
to resurrection.

On this Thanksgiving Monday,
let us give thanks to God
for the presence of our children, alive among us.
It is a grace not granted to all,
for in many countries of the world
armed conflicts still rage.

Let us pray to console the parents
broken by the loss of an Endymion,
a Jonah worn out by military battles,
who, for us Catholics,
will rise again at the return of Christ,
on the Day of Judgment.

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In the Catholic Mass dedicated to Thanksgiving, the Gospel according to Saint Luke, the physician who sought to heal the soul of his generation, begins with these words of Jesus: “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.” The meaning of these words reaches us with greater clarity through the Gospel of Matthew, the former tax collector, who wished that each one render what is due on the spiritual level, and who clothed the words of Christ with an explanation essential to the full understanding of His mission: “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great sea creature, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.” In pagan Rome, the research of André Grabar teaches us that when a young soldier or a young man died, his sarcophagus was often adorned with the image of Endymion asleep. That image came from the myth of Endymion, a young man whose beauty inspired in Selene, the goddess of the Moon, a love so intense that she asked Zeus to let him sleep forever, so that his beauty and youth would remain untouched for all eternity. The first Christians kept this image of the sleeping Endymion to decorate the sarcophagi of their own young men. They no longer saw in it the pagan sleep of Endymion, but the rest of Jonah, weary from his time in the belly of the great fish, lying upon the shore — the image of rest before resurrection. Thus the pagan image became a Christian one: the soul of the young departed, asleep in death, was now seen as promised — like Christ, after His three days in the tomb — to resurrection. On this Thanksgiving Monday, let us give thanks to God for the presence of our children, alive among us. It is a grace not granted to all, for in many countries of the world armed conflicts still rage. Let us pray to console the parents broken by the loss of an Endymion, a Jonah worn out by military battles, who, for us Catholics, will rise again at the return of Christ, on the Day of Judgment.

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