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As we approach our national day of Thanksgiving, there will be too many homes with too many empty chairs. There will be homes where someone is missing because they died from COVID19, God rest their souls.
The pandemic will also keep some people from traveling or cause others to avoid gathering in groups because it is just safer to stay at home. Sadly, some families will not invite those deemed disruptive or who might throw shade on the season to be jolly or rain on the holiday parade. Hopefully there will be future seasons of reunion and reconciliation.
Father Charles Lachowitzer
But in this month of November, when we remember and pray for the dead, the empty chairs during the approaching season of the two great feasts of Thanksgiving and Christmas are a reminder that the shadow of death knows not our seasons nor our celebrations.
For those who have recently or over the years experienced the death of a beloved family member or close friend, getting through the loss, especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas, is a matter of getting used to these empty chairs.
What do we do with these empty chairs? Mourn those who have died as if we have no hope that we will ever see them again? Grieve them as if these empty chairs are nothing but a sign of absolute helplessness over the power of death? Put them into storage as if out of sight could ever be out of mind?
The symbolism of the empty chair is an invitation to not let who is missing be the final word. In the presence of Jesus, the final word is life beyond death, love beyond sin and a light showing us the way through all darkness.
We invite Jesus into that empty chair, no matter how many empty chairs there are. For that one chair with Jesus fills them all. As Christ the King, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus brought him to his seat on the great throne of heaven. Yet God humbled omnipotence to become a human being in Jesus Christ. Jesus needs only a simple empty chair and an open heart.
In faith, hope and love, we move beyond every experience of death to find healing and wholeness in Jesus Christ. The same Holy Spirit who came upon the Blessed Virgin Mary so as to bring Jesus into our world, has come into our lives to bring us the person and real presence of Jesus Christ. Each and every time we have been to Mass, we have been at his table to be filled with the “bread of life and the chalice of our salvation.”
Let us celebrate with grateful hearts our national day of Thanksgiving. Let us light the candles on the Advent wreath with ritual and prayer. Another way to enter into the meaning of the Advent season is to actually set aside an empty chair to represent all who have died, yet with faithful expectation, know that Jesus will readily accept our invitation and take this seat.
Perhaps place a Bible on that chair — for Jesus is the Word Made Flesh. Perhaps place a crucifix on that chair — for in Jesus there has been no greater love.
At least metaphorically, set aside an empty chair for the one who is to come for us when we will leave behind an empty chair; a seat for the one who comes anew at Christmas to bring us grace, light and peace.
From Thanksgiving, to the Season of Advent, to the Great Feast of Christmas, to the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (New Year’s Day), to Epiphany and all the way to Jan. 10 and the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (the end of the Christmas season), let that chair be an ascent of our faith to echo the fiat of the Blessed Virgin Mary — our yes to God — our invitation to Jesus to take his seat at our table.
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