December 22, 2024 at Saint Peter Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Micah 5: 1-4 + Psalm 80 + Hebrews 10: 5-10 + Luke 1: 39-45

Often with the Gospels, the message comes to us through details rather than words which means we have to pay attention to place and people. That could hardly be obvious than with the story of the Visitation. Like the Annunciation to Mary, this event has captured the imagination of artists for ages. There are countless paintings of the Visitation, and that event is still inspiring artists to this day. Some of them that I have enjoyed and studied really get the point of what Luke is saying here without any words. Remember, the Gospel is not history. It is theology. You have to ask, “What does this mean? What is God saying to us?”

In one painting that sticks in my mind, Mary arrives at the rather elegant home of Zechariah. Elizabeth has come down the steps and embraces the obviously younger woman. At the left edge is Zechariah in the shadows holding open the door. Remember, he can’t talk because he got sassy with an angel. At the right edge also in deep shadows is Joseph who is loaded down with luggage. While there is some humor there for any man who has travelled some distance with a wife, sister, or mother, you get that artist’s idea. However, the point is that the men are in the shadows at the edge of the action. Those two women are what matters. Those two women hold the promise of God, a promise being fulfilled.

While some may choose to interpret this as feminist liberation, I don’t think that is exactly the message. It is about women, but it is about what women stand for and their place at that time. The fact is, they stand for nothing. Yet, in God’s way of turning things upside down in order to get things right side up, It is women who are chosen to get things going, the lowly, the servant handmaids. In Luke’s way of writing, just in case we don’t get the message of how salvation is going to work, Mary begins to sing her Magnificat announcing that the mighty will be pulled down and the lowly lifted up. So, here we are right in the middle of a revelation of how God works – two unlikely people, an old lady and a young girl coming together in joy because they know that God’s promise is fulfilled. Pay attention to where they are too. Luke says it is the hill country of Judea. It doesn’t even have a name. Mary has come from another no-place, Nazareth. Nothing is happening in Jerusalem, that place of power and mighty power brokers. God does not work there. That place and what it stands for is finished.

There is one other detail that speaks to us, and that message is captured by a different artist who contrasts the ages of the two women. Mary is clearly a very young woman, and Elizabeth looks every bit her age. She is ancient. There’s been no “Botox” on that face. The shared celebration between Elizabeth and Mary shows how one generation can enrich and inspire the other. History has shown us that how one generation relates to the next generation often dictates the prosperity or the demise of the whole.  A generation that clings to power and seeks to preserve its own well-being at the cost of the young creates a crisis for the future. The young who refuse to listen to those who have walked before them become isolated wanderers with no center point to their lives because of their distrust and rejection of traditions and institutions.

This is what the Visitation speaks of, and it is the Word of the Lord.

December 15, 2024 at Saint William and Saint Peter Churches in Naples, FL

Zephaniah 3: 14-18 + Psalm (Isaiah) 12: 2-6 + Philippians 4: 4-7 + Luke 3:  10-18

We call him John the Baptist, but I think we ought to call him, “John the Preacher.” It was his preaching that drew crowds. It was his preaching that stirred them and filled them with expectation exciting their hope. He was a rock-star at his time. That Baptism of John is nothing important. It fits within the common Jewish purification ritual system. It is what he said that was different, not what he did.

Those people were worn out from the Roman occupation, taxation, and oppression. They longed for a leader who would set them free, someone who make Israel a great nation again, and suddenly there he was. Maybe – Maybe not. They never asked him. Luke says that they just wondered among themselves. But, he knew what they are thinking.

It had to be flattering for John, a big temptation to enjoy the glory that the crowd offered. Yet, he resisted, and with extraordinary humility, he pointed to Jesus. To get that adoring crowd to shift their hopes, he points to this Baptism of the Holy Spirit. His was a baptism of repentance. The baptism to come would bring not just forgiveness of sins, but also a new kind of re-set for creation and entry into the community of believers.

There is political turmoil everywhere in the world these days with people looking for someone to fix the economy, restore justice, and bring us all back together, and there is always someone who thinks they can do it ignoring the message of this Gospel. There is only one person who can restore us to goodness, who can bring real justice and peace. He comes into our lives as a helpless baby and then rides into the great and powerful Jerusalem on a beast of burden. He washes feet. He shares meals with people the powerful despise. He knows what it is like to flee his home under the threat of a violent tyrant. He knows what it is like to be blamed, accused, and judged for things he never did.

If we listen in depth with our hearts to this story, we too will ask the question, “What shall we do?” Three times that question is asked in this Gospel, and John answers the question. It is so simple it almost seems like there must be more, but there isn’t. “Repent,” he says. Repentance has nothing to do with feeling guilty, sorry, or ashamed. It means change. It means: Do the right thing, all the time. Take care of one another. Don’t judge someone one unless you know the truth of their story, and if you want to be forgiven, you better know how it’s done. That’s how repentance works. It bears fruit.

My friends, we have all been Baptized by the Holy Spirit just as John foretold. Our church has a mission to inspire. If we do not, we shall surely expire. As God’s people, our lives, our hopes, our behavior must challenge anything and anyone who puts profit ahead of people. As people of God, the gospel gives us eyes to see and ears to hear the suffering cries of those exploited by the powerful. Our repentance and then our presence, points to the only real power that can restore us to the perfection with which we were made. It might just be time to give up thinking that politicians can come up with a plan for justice and peace and pay attention to the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

December 9, 2024 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FLS

Genesis 3: 9-15 + Psalm + Ephesians 1: 3-6, 11-12 + Luke 1: 26-38

Those of us who have gathered in this church tonight come out of duty and respect for God’s Word. It is our privilege to hear this Gospel, to hear the Word of God begin once more this creation spoiled by sin. At the beginning, as told in the Book of Genesis God’s Word brought life from nothing. Now, once more, God’s Word brings life where there is nothing – out of virgin’s empty womb.

In the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we are given two Annunciation stories.

First comes Zechariah’s experience with that angel, Gabriel. Luke tells us that he sees the angel, and then he resists the message claiming old age not quite sure that anything is possible with God. 

In the second Annunciation, Gabriel comes to that young girl in Nazareth. Unlike Zechariah, and contrary to what many artists would have us think, Luke never tells us that she saw Gabriel. She heard and she listened. She did not see no matter how countless artists have imagined the scene. They missed something. My favorite painting the Annunciation has a young Palestinian girl sitting with a look of puzzlement on her face. At the side of the canvas there is simply a great shaft of light illuminating the whole scene. That artist, named Tanner, got it right. There no feathers, regal cushions, elegant robes, or kneelers. She heard what God asked of her without seeing anything. Her response springs out of sense of duty because she knows she is a handmaid, a servant of the Lord. She is ready to serve. That is her duty.

Here we are tonight. Like her, we see nothing, but we can hear and we have listened to the Word of God. The promise of salvation, healing forgiveness and everlasting life is renewed in every one of us who never forget that we are servants of the Lord, who never forget that the Holy Spirit has come upon us too. There can be no excuses. We can only hope that the same sense of duty that brought us here tonight will lead us to accept our own call to give flesh to Word of God, to make real the hope of God’s joyful and peaceful Kingdom, and believe with all our heart and soul that no matter what as long as we are truly servants of the Lord, this new creation begun in Nazareth will find fulfillment here among us.  

December 8, 2024 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Baruch 5: 1-9 + Psalm 126 + Philippians 1: 4-6, 8-11 + Luke 3: 1-6

This is chapter three of Luke’s Gospel, and most scholars believe it to be the original beginning. The Annunciation to Zechariah and to Mary as well as the birth stories of John and Jesus were added later. So, we should not miss the point that every one of these men named right at the start of it all are all involved in violence and death.  It all begins in the “wilderness.” With leaders like those men, you are in a wilderness of self-serving, self-protecting violence. For Luke, it is the political landscape that will be smoothed out and straightened with the coming of the Lord. 

In this world events are often numbered by the reign of rulers. In God’s eyes, events are numbered by the voices of prophets. Rulers come and go, but the Word of God lasts forever following a different and straight path. 

There is an invitation here to explore the wilderness that often finds us lost and confused, struggling over what to do next with our lives. That is what John was doing out there; figuring out what to do with his life. This is an invitation to consider venturing beyond the comfortable and safe routine we often treasure and stand in the unknown and unfamiliar. As John the Baptist discovered, in that wilderness the Word of God might well come to us.

It seems to me that most religious people are not inclined to listen to wilderness prophets. Too many prefer to listen to people like the ones on the list that began today’s Gospel. I think this is what accounts for the popularity of many political leaders and many celebrity preachers who pack in thousands of fans and personally profit by saying what people want to hear rather than what they need to hear. John the Baptist was a wilderness prophet, way out of the mainstream who would never make the “A” list of first century power players, all because he went to the wilderness.

These verses offer an invitation to all of us who sometimes feel as if we are lost and alone in a vast wilderness. It is a frightening experience. There is a suggestion of hope here that in the most difficult and darkest of times God may speak to us and reveal what we are to with our lives. What Luke tells us today is that the Word of God comes in the wilderness, if we can just calm our fears and embrace the possibility of something new, unexpected, and totally out of the ordinary. What could be more unconventional than a Virgin birth? For that young woman in Nazareth it was a wilderness of doubt and confusion as the ordinary routine of her life collapsed leaving her bewildered and what to do with the rest of her life. Yet, the Word of God came to her in that wilderness of doubt and confusion, and look what happened. In strange and unconventional ways there is always a God who saves, heals, and restores us.

The Word of God seems to thrive unthreatened by the dark powers of the urban landscape. Today it must be the Church that cries in the wilderness, and that does not mean an institution of Bishops or priests. It means all of us. Whatever in this world stands between us and God’s vision for the human community must go. Barriers of race, ideology, gender, education, and even religion must go if they keep us from the reconciliation promised in and by Christ.

By our baptism, we are a prophetic people. John’s prophetic voice was silenced by one of those men on that list, but our voices remain crying out for Justice and for Peace.

December 1, 2024 at St. William and St. Peter Churches in Naples. FL

Jeremiah 33: 14-16 + Psalm 25 + 1 Thessalonians 3: 12-4:2 + Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36

For those of you not here in Florida during hurricane season, you might not appreciate what happens when a storm is approaching. Plywood is the big item at hardware stores, and batteries are nowhere to be found. Sandbags are actually sold at Walgreens. The grocery store gets crowded. Bottled water is in short supply, non-perishable foods fly off the shelves, and for some reason that I fail to understand, toilet paper disappears. We are warned over and over again to be prepared, and the intensity of the warning gives someone who has not been here long fear that the final catastrophe is coming, and no one will survive who stays. The Gospels last week and today can easily give us the same fear. 

What I’ve begun to realize is that the more often these storms come with these dire warnings, the less I pay attention to them, and that may not be a very good plan. Because, it might carry over to these Gospel warnings as well. We hardly think about or anticipate the end of time and the return of Christ as though it might actually happen, at least in our time. So, we carry on as though it will never happen, at least in our time, and that’s not a very good plan. I think it might cause us to miss something.

The earliest Christian communities felt very certain that the end was near and that Christ was going to come quite soon. When it didn’t happen as they expected, there was disillusionment and doubt began to creep in spoiling their joyful and charitable lives. It is for that reason that the Gospel writers all address the return of Christ at the end with a great deal of intensity and urgency not to frighten people, but to encourage them with wonderful words like: “Stand erect and raise your heads. You are redeemed.” 

Now Luke actually says, “Your redemption is at hand.” So, we hear and interpret this message thinking in terms of time or “chronology.” We too often think that this means “soon” Or “tomorrow” or “next week.” Some translations will make that thinking more likely by using the word, “near.” I would like to suggest that there is another way of hearing and thinking about what “near” or “at hand” could mean.

I find it more helpful to think that “near” means vicinity, or location, not “soon.”  This is far closer to Luke’s message that “The Kingdom of God is among you. (Luke 17:21) 

When “near” or “at hand” becomes immediate locale, rather than tomorrow, then sure enough, the Kingdom of God is upon us. It is around us. It is near, even here, and when Luke says that this generation will not pass away until these things have taken place, he speaking to us. Understanding that “near” is locale rather than a tomorrow that never comes gives us more reason to take our preparation seriously because it is all around us, not yet to come.

We are living in the final and new age when the gates of heaven have been thrown open. Death has been overcome. Goodness and kindness have won a victory of evil and sin. Time is what passes away, not us. What the Gospel announces is simply the end of time which I think is why the sun shall be no more since the sun is our measure of time. It will not be needed. What has begun in Christ Jesus is the new creation. Death was not part of God’s plan with creation, so, it’s over with.  We shall not die, but change and move into Divine Life.  We need only to raise our heads, look around. See the signs of God’s goodness, love, and mercy. We already live in the Kingdom of God when we live we live like God’s children. Our redemption is at hand. It’s time to rejoice and live like it.

November 24, 2024 at Saint Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL

Daniel 7: 13-14 + Psalm 93 + Revelations 5: 1-8 + John 18: 33-37

At a shallow reading of just the words, it would be easy to think that it is Jesus who is on trial here. We are so familiar with the Passion from all four of the Gospel writers that the unique nuances of each one blend together, and that is unfortunate because we lose the important message each writer has to deliver. In John’s Gospel, it is not Jesus who is on trial.

The Jewish leaders are on trial. It is important to see a difference between the “Jewish leaders” and the Jewish people. The Jewish people have been following and listening to Jesus all along. They have been the grateful recipients of his healing power and compassionate presence. But these leaders do not have the welfare of their people at heart. They enjoy a measure of freedom and power given them by the Roman government. They benefit financially from their cooperation with that oppressive empire. They impose and collect taxes related to the temple, and who knows how much they kept for themselves.

Pilate is on trial here. The prisoner asks the questions. Pilate is unwilling to live according to the truth. As a Judge he is judged as a failure. Do not think for a minute that he hesitates and wants to save Jesus. He has one thing on his mind and that is himself. He has one job. Keep the peace. He cares nothing for the Jews. In fact, everything about him suggests that he despises them, mocks them, teases them, and threatens them. He manipulates them to make himself look good and keep his job. This talk of a king and a kingdom is something he can’t allow. There is only one king in his life, and it is Caesar.

Besides the Jewish leaders and Pilate though, we too are on trial here as John sees it. What brings us to trial is this matter of a King and his realm. “Are you a king” asks Pilate to which Jesus responds, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

History easily shows that followers of Jesus have been tempted again and again to desire a kingdom that is very much from and in this world. Christians have tried to fuse commitments of worship, faith, and justice with a certain political agenda. The thinking and the passion of some to turn this nation into a Christian nation denies two things: the very principal of a secular democracy that protects the right of every person to practice any every religion and the very words of Jesus: “My kingdom is not of this world.”

A disciple of Jesus is called to a difficult but important kind of detachment. For good reasons we become attached to the kingdoms of this world that provide security and identity. These attachments that could be called “patriotism” can be dangerous if left unquestioned. Without any critique, atrocities take place, genocides, holocausts are ignored with dire consequences for the human community. Power is seductive and a great temptation. It is this very ideal of a powerful King that Jesus calls into question. Instead of being served like a king in this world, King Jesus serves. Disciples of Jesus resist being attached to the Kingdoms of this world, because they seek first the kingdom of God knowing that in the midst of any anxiety, God will provide for all our needs and our best identity.

John gives us a Jesus who is a social prophet who criticized the economic, political, and religious elites of his time. Jesus had an alternate social vision. He is guilty of acts of compassion and justice, caring for people, and addressing the causes of their misery. Jesus points to a kingdom where everyone has what is needed to survive; where none are superior based on status and privilege. The world is waiting for our allegiance to the real king to finally make a difference.

November 17, 2024 at Saint Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL

Daniel 12: 1-3 + Psalm 16 + Hebrews 10: 11-14, 18 + Mark 13: 24-32

Time is a human invention. It is so basic to our way of life that we often forget that time is something we’ve made up. Some experts believe that the measurement of time began with agriculture since knowing when to plant required a calendar. We know from history that the first mechanical clocks were found in monasteries replacing the sun dial because they worked in the dark when monks kept their obligation to pray at fixed hours of the night. 

We have discovered that time is precious with so many activities and obligations crowded into our day. It is so precious that anxiety and sometimes fear of the future creeps into our lives so much so that many will hear the words of this Gospel and be convinced that the end of time is near and it will be terrifying. I’ve always found it amusing to hear self-appointed prophets announce the end of the world. Shakers thought it would be 1792, but John Wesley preferred 1794. With all the hymns he wrote, I’m amazed he did not write one about that. For Jehovah Witnesses it was 1915, then 1918 five times later they said it would 1994. I questioned one of their missionaries about that when they came to my door in 1996. He wandered off a bit confused.

Jesus talks about the end too using the language and images of his day taken from the Old Testament. I suspect that if he were to speak to us right now about the end of time, he would probably use scientific terms and images. We’re more used that than the Old Testament. He might describe the sun using up its energy and this blue rock we’re on would turn to an ice cube and fly off into the universe. He might talk about us destroying everything with a nuclear explosion or some asteroid crashing into this planet.

What we ought to do with this text though is not waste time trying to guess when the end will come, and it is just as useless to try and imagine how. What Mark is calling us to do is not look up into the sky or run around preparing for some cataclysm as though we were preparing for the next hurricane. Mark is urging us to transform our time to the time of God. Mark has no desire to frighten us, but to renew our hope during times of chaos and confusion. He writes to remind us that some of the things we treasure, like our careers, the IRA we depend upon, and even our health will one day be no more. Our separation from them may well be bitter and distressing, but if we are rooted with faith in God’s providence remembering that our precious time on earth could be used to draw us closer into the transforming presence of God, there is nothing to fear.

Mark’s Jesus does not picture the future in detail. No one knows the time of redemption, and he is not telling us what it will look like. All he needs us to know is that suffering will not be the last word — that the one who stands at the end of history is the same one who stood at its beginning. Holding to faith in Jesus Christ, using the Gospel as the compass of our lives will see us through. With every change in direction, with every wrinkle of age, with every changing world and passing stage, we shall always inherit the promise of the Resurrection. That is how Jesus Christ faced his own end in time, endured his own suffering, and that is why he came from a tomb where there was no time into the time of God.

November 10, 2024 This homily is for publication only as I am at St Gregory Abbey in Oklahoma

1 Kings 17: 10-16 + Psalm 146 + Hebrews 9: 24-28 + Mark 12: 38-44

More often than not, we are often tempted to read or hear the Gospel as an historical text that tells us about how things were a long time ago safely distancing ourselves from issues being confronted the Gospel writer and the words and behavior of Jesus. It is a spiritually dangerous practice that runs the risk of having us receive the greater condemnation Jesus speaks of this week.

There is no way to pretend that the focus of this Gospel and its message is for someone else or some other time. The issue Jesus confronts here has gone away with time. And while on the surface we might like to think that the issue is hypocrisy, we would be confusing a symptom for the disease. What gets the attention of Jesus is not really the pompous behavior of the scribes. It is the fact that under their watch the poor are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer. That is what was happening to the widows. They got poorer while those expected to oversee their care are getting rich off of them. It’s not a problem from the past, and Jesus still speaks clearly and forcefully about this matter finding it intolerable. An institution, a community, a church that is formed to be counter cultural must find in these verses a serious challenge and a call to action.

Most of us have no concept about the real disparity that exists all around us either because it bothers us and challenges our security and privilege or because we just don’t know what to do about it. It’s upsetting to be reminded that most people in this world struggle to keep food on the table, pay bills and taxes, keep homes from foreclosure or pay their rent much less have any health insurance. There are some who will say they don’t want to hear about this in church because they come expecting to feel good. We might wonder if their Bibles include Chapter 12 of Mark’s Gospel.

Cutbacks are always on the table for some politicians while the burden of those cutbacks are always born by the people who are hidden and voiceless. That is what Jesus is observing here. To prevent new taxes on the rich, the handicapped, the homeless, the addicts and the working poor suffer more, and who speaks for them? Jesus does, and it should be for all of us who follow him.

This old priest is becoming more and more aware of a trend that I find deeply distressing. Social Justice is something we hardly hear about anymore in the western world’s church. To fill the gap and the silence there is all kind of talk and programs about piety and holiness, holy hours, and pilgrimages. Meanwhile, nothing changes for the very people Jesus cares about the most. They suffer silently.

Most of the abuses they suffer are not done with evil intention. They are not personal. No one wants to hurt a poor widow or a hungry child. In fact, we easily get emotional about it, but rarely do we get rational about it. The scribes were not hateful. They were part of a system that was be perpetuated from generation to generation. They did not create it. It was a system that ran on its own. The only way to stop it was for there to be a desire to stop it.

We hardly notice that we are part of a similar system that takes advantage over the vast majority of people in this world. All the privileges we take for granted really come at someone else’s expense. We shop for the what is least expensive and pride ourselves on being thrifty. Meanwhile, people we never see or hear about are working in sweatshops, some are children doing that in unsafe conditions when they should be in school or just out playing. People are dying in wars that really being fought over gasoline. Exploitation is the issue, and blind greed, power, and privilege fuel it without question. 

This is a hard text to read, to hear, and explore humbly and honestly. We cannot be a humble and faithful follower of Jesus Christ without embracing his concern and his passion for justice. A religion without a mission for justice is phony and a sham. The holiest people I know were never particularly pious, but they were passionate for victims of exploitation, the poor, the forgotten. Many of them, in our life time have been real martyrs murdered because the powerful in positions of leadership have seen them as a threat to their privilege and wealth. What are we to make of this? What is it Jesus asks except for us to find and work with leaders who will fire up a desire to change, and help us be willing to pay the price.

November 3, 2024 This is homily if for this publication only as I am at St Gregory Abbey in Oklahoma

Deuteronomy 6: 2-6 + Psalm 18 + Hebrews 7: 23-28 + Mark 12: 28-34

The text we are given today is the simple straightforward essence of our faith. Our personal reflection on what can bring us close to the Kingdom of God is right there, Knowledge of God’s love. Yet, we ought to wonder if “close” good enough. Entering the Kingdom of God requires something more, and while it might be simple it is far from easy. If it were easy, there would be no need for a commandment.

Jesus insists that you cannot love God without loving others and upholding justice and dignity for all. When that justice and dignity for another person is denied or withheld, there is no love of God. At this point the cost of the Kingdom is right in front of us. There is a price to pay for following Jesus and for entering the Kingdom of God. Close is not good enough.

What is before us all through Mark’s Gospel is the mission of Jesus Christ to reconcile the world to God, to mend this world’s brokenness and restore the dream of God for a world where all are fed, where water is clean for all the thirsty, where young and old are cherished, where all of God’s children know respect and dignity no matter their race, gender or sexual orientation. 

It is not difficult to understand why no one dared to ask any more questions. Stunned by the enormity of the task and conscious of our frailty and our brief time on this earth, the majesty and mystery of God’s Kingdom can leave us heartbroken so out of reach it has become. Yet, when we choose to be with and for someone when another is suffering or in need, there is always a sign of hope that this world so desperately needs. A phone call to someone we have missed or forgotten, helping a neighbor before being asked, encouraging a young person with a smile or compliment while they look for their place in this world, taking dinner to a grieving family, all these simple things take us into the Kingdom of God. 

Easy as these may be however, there are more difficult things asked of us as well. Challenging the status quo is perhaps the supreme example of self-giving love that gives evidence that we are growing in grace and commitment. There are deeply rooted attitudes, behaviors, customs, and even some man-made laws that violate the basic dignity God’s children. The courage to speak up, and even act up is the kind of love we see in Jesus Christ.

No wonder there were no more questions, and why should there be? Since Jesus has come among us, there is no more need for questions or for talk. It’s time to act.