Jeremiah 1, 4-5, 17-19 + Psalm 71 + 1 Corinthians 12, 31-13,13 + Luke 4, 21-30

3 February 2019 at St. Peter & St. William Churches in Naples, Fl

This episode in Luke’s Gospel is tragic and sad leaving us to ponder what went wrong, and how we keep that from happening to us. Think of it, and think what it means for those people in that synagogue and town. “Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.” Luke is not proposing some disappearing act, he leaving us with the impression that God abandoned those people. They were left without Jesus. Now, I don’t know how that strikes you, but for me life without Jesus would be a terrible and sad way of life.

What led the people in that synagogue into conflict was the message of Jesus that suggested to them that they were a failure when it came to caring for one another, especially for the needy. Then came the challenging suggestion that God’s first concern was not them, but rather those they had left behind. This “son of Joseph” was suggesting that they, the Israelites, were not the real chosen people, but rather it was the poor made poor and left in poverty by the Israelites who thought that they were so special. That made them angry. Instead of being open to the message and accepting that challenge as a reason for repentance and change, they rose up, and Jesus left them.

At the heart of this conflict is the truth Jesus is revealing: God never called the chosen people for their own sake. God called them to be a sign to all the nations of what it means to live God’s plan for the world. Suddenly those people in that synagogue were face to face with the question of “Why?” Why were they chosen? Why did God protect, forgive, restore, and favor them? What were they supposed to do with all this favor? They thought it was all for themselves, that they were special, blessed, and privileged without asking why and what for. When they did, because of the comments of Jesus that day, the answer did not sit well. It meant that they were failing to live up to and become what God expected of them.

With the words of this living Gospel still fresh in our minds, its message is just as real and just as timely as ever before. We have to wonder why we call ourselves Christian and what it means. It certainly is not for our benefit or a reason to feel special, privileged, or somehow honored that God has given us the gift of faith. If we are called to be the presence of God or called to reflect the God who created us all in the divine image, we will be restless and more motived than ever to care for those no one else cares for, to protect those who are defenseless, to feed those who are hungry, and clothe those who are naked. There is no other way for us, and no excuse for delay. Thinking for one minute that somehow, we are the center of God’s focus and God’s favored ones runs the risk of Jesus passing through and leaving us. Our lives, our faith, our gifts are all given and entrusted to us for one thing, to accomplish the work in God serving the needs of others. When they said “no” that message in that synagogue, Jesus left. We can’t make that mistake.

The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

27 January 2019 at St. Peter & St. William Churches in Naples, Fl

Nehemiah 8, 2-10 + Psalm 19 + 1 Corinthians 12, 12-30 + Luke, 1, 1-4; 4, 14-21

I just love the dramatic way the church stops this reading right here. Next week we pick up with the following verse, and we know what happens when the people start grumbling about what he says, and Luke will tell us that they are “filled with fury”, but we don’t go there yet lest we shift our focus onto them, onto someone else. We must take just these verses and deeply and personally wonder what God is saying to us, because these verses are aimed straight at us, the church, and these words are not proclaimed as comfort from the past, but as a program for today.

The scriptures are fulfilled in us. We are the body of Christ, and we cannot either proclaim or listen to this Word of God without be shaken into action. The plan and program for the life of Jesus Christ is the plan and program for anyone who dares to call themselves by his name as Christian and presumes to consume his Body and Blood. These are not options. What he proclaims as the program of his life and for our lives, if we choose to be his disciples, is specific and measurable. If the poor see us coming, it must be good news for them, not fear that we might take more from them or drive them away. If the poor see us coming, they should have hope because when they see Christ or Christians, they know that help is on the way. What are the oppressed to expect when they see us coming? Will it simply be polite indifference that suggests they should get lost? Luke leaves us to wonder just what is acceptable to the Lord by these words of Jesus, and by that wondering we might evaluate our values and our behavior because all that is left now is you and me. We are all the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed have left to hope for.

It seems to me that there are five kinds of Christians after all this time. There are some who are Christian in name only. They pay no attention to the customs and beliefs of Christianity. There is no commitment. The second group are Christian by habit only. They are committed to the outward observances, but it has no affect upon their way of life. The third are clearly devoted to their faith and are engaged in good works, but they are without any of the qualities of mercy and kindness that made their Master so appealing. A fourth group are practical Christians. They have grasped the heart of mission of Jesus Christ, concerned about others and are never ashamed to be seen as Christians. The fifth group however are spiritual people. In meeting them, it is always as though we have met Christ himself not just someone doing good works because it makes them feel or look good.

By wondering what is acceptable to the Lord we shall be led into this fifth group. By our faith and the power Jesus Christ in our lives, we have a daunting task and a great privilege. The only way many people are ever going to come to know Jesus Christ is from our lives not from a Bible Study or some program in self-help. As Luke begins his Gospel with this story, he is revealing who Jesus Christ is. What our proclamation of this Gospel also reveals is just who we are and why.

21 January 2019 at St. Peter & St. William Churches in Naples, Fl

Isaiah 62, 1-5
+ Psalm 96 + 1 Corinthians 12, 4-11 + John 2, 1-11

Can’t you just imagine what Mary said to her son as they were leaving that wedding feast? I can, and have often enjoyed sitting with this episode wondering what it was like for the wine steward, the servers, the bride and the groom, their parents. We’ve all been to weddings big and small, and we know how many people it takes to satisfy the expectations of everyone. So, when we sit with this story, your imagination can lead to some wonderful insights which might well be revelations. So, on their way home, Mary says to Jesus: “Really?” Jesus says: “What?” She looks at him as only a mother can and says: “600 gallons of extra ordinary wine! Really? Was that necessary?” With that, I suspect that like every son, he rolled his eyes and shook his head wondering: “She told me to do something, and I did.”

As much as we might like it to be, this is not about marriage or families or weddings. The principal characters are not the bride and groom. This is really about wine and a wedding feast, and what we can see here is what God has planned by coming to be with us. The writer, John, calls this the first of the “signs”. He never uses the word “miracle.” In John’s Gospel, these are all signs of things to come. Now remember, those people didn’t drink water. They washed in it. They didn’t have coke, pepsi, or punch. They drank wine, and the wine of their life, we are told, has run out. In other words, they are lifeless. There is no joy. There is no excitement, no laughter, no anticipation of good things to come. A wedding without wine is an empty ritual without any passion. It is dead. Then comes God in the person of Jesus Christ, welcomed as a guest. Empty jars are like empty hearts and empty lives, so he says, fill them up, and the good news is that they obeyed, and best of all, they filled them to the brim! That’s the way to respond to what God asks. No half-hearted reluctance, no half-done response. Go all the way, and look what happens when they do.

It’s an experience that will be repeated more than once. Think about the loaves and fishes and what happens when those who are with him do what Jesus asks. These are signs of things to come. They are signs of what happens when with Jesus we use what little we have and discover that it is always more than enough. There is in our life time too much dryness, too little joy, too many empty jars, and too many liturgies that have too little spirit, and no passion. Too many have become accustomed to all this going through the motions without any expectation of what is to come. The real sadness is not the lack of wine, but the passivity of those who do nothing. Mary refused to do nothing and accept a joyless wedding feast. She was already convinced of how extravagant and bountiful life can be lived in the presence of God. She teaches us today how to make things different, how to take a dry, empty life, lived with no expectations about the future. This Gospel, and this Church proclaims again and again that God has come, that God is the guest who can change everything with lavish love when we turn Jesus and do what he asks.

13 January 2019 at St. Peter & St. William Churches in Naples, Fl

Isaiah 40, 1-5, 9-11 + Psalm 29 + Acts 10, 34-38 + Luke 3, 15-16; 21-22

A few weeks ago, I was sitting with the RCIA group, and it was time for some open questions. Someone in the group asked why Jesus had to be Baptized. It seemed strange to this man that Jesus would be baptized as though he needed to repent or be saved. I always love the questions that get asked at RCIA, because they so often touch on things that those of us who were Baptized as infants and raised in Catholicism never think to ask, but probably should. The paradox of the Christ’s Baptism is in every way another Epiphany or manifestation of who Jesus Christ is for us. It’s a good question, and the answer leads us deeper into the wonder of the Incarnation, the wonder and the profound mystery of God becoming one of us.

For the earliest followers of Christ who were living side by side with the followers of John the Baptist, the very thought that their Lord had undergone baptism by John was embarrassing and troublesome. There was some competition between the two groups, and this issue pushed it further. They wondered, and we should too, how the Immaculate Lamb, the very Holy Jesus might have submitted to this act of purification. Could it possibly mean that he too was part of the unclean, guilty, and sinful humanity?

The Church’s best answer to the question is simply this feast itself, and its placement as the conclusion of the Christmas Season. This feast in a sense is a great AMEN to what we as a church have celebrated since Advent began. What we have here is a concrete example of God stooping down in loving kindness to us. What we have here is a deeper revelation of what it means for the Word to become Flesh. There is in a gesture, an act of humiliation on God’s part as an introduction to what is to come with the final humiliation and death on a cross.

When we look back at the Baptism of Jesus from the view point of his Crucifixion, it begins to make sense. What is revealed through Jesus, from his baptism to his death is the perfect love God for us. At his Baptism, the Savior chose to be one of us right where we are. He chose to enter into solidarity with us sinners though we are. The whole destiny of Jesus begins in the waters of the Jordan at the hands of John, and this feast and what it means can carry us on to Easter.

There is then cause for rejoicing here, because no matter where we are, who we are, and no matter what we have done, Christ has been there and done it with us. Ours is a God who enters the darkness again and again when we are in the darkness in order to lead us into the light.

Now we know what it really is we have celebrated since December 24^th. Now we see the plan of God revealed in the simplest of ways: a plan to be with us, to be within us, and to raise us up through the waters of death to the Light of the Kingdom. Think about it through this week, and think about what it means for God to be so humbled and so humiliated as to stand with sinners who need to be purified. The real purification will not be by water, but by his blood poured out for us.

6 January 2019 at St. Peter & St. William Churches in Naples, Fl

Isaiah 60, 1-6 + Psalm 72 + Ephesians 3, 2-3, 5-6 + Matthew 2, 1-12

There is often a real historical element to Gospel events that the writers use as a basis for bringing forth some revelation. This story is a perfect example. It makes the story complex and requires some time to sit with it turning over all the facets and elements that Matthew brings together. At the time Christ was born, the word “Magi” described powerful people from the Parthian empire just east of Judea. First readers of Matthew would know that Herod and Parthians were not friendly. The Parthians had invaded Judea just a few decades earlier. When they were eventually driven out, Herod took advantage of the chaos to size the throne. The Parthians never gave up a dream of coming back, and Herod knowing that as long as people saw him as a Roman puppet he would never be secure on the throne. So, when Parthians show up using the “K” word (King), Herod suspects someone is after his throne, and he goes wild; and the murder of infants is the result. What all this does in Matthew’s Gospel is put Jesus right in the middle of a political struggle that in the end, threatens and eventually costs him his life. Even though just a baby, in the first year of his life, huge forces rise up to threaten his mission. No matter what is going on between the Parthians and Herod, Jesus is at the center, and Herod’s actions begin to make the mission of Jesus, even as an infant, the center of attention, and a threat to those who have something to lose.

When the political situation begins to touch the religious situation, something more disturbing spins out of this story. Those religious leaders of the day had every reason to keep the peace – to not make waves so that they could continue running the Temple as they always had in spite of the occupation of the Romans. Their rituals gave them a living and did nothing to disturb the peace. It is both odd and disturbing that when these religious leaders are called upon to explain what the Scriptures foretold about a messiah, they could quote chapter and verse, confirming what was happening. Yet, they were complacent, unaffected, and not even curious. Have you not ever wondered why they didn’t throw everything aside and join up with these magi? They know that the prophecy was being fulfilled.  They missed the point entirely, and it set them up for what they continued to do with Jesus: block what God had begun.

My friends, this story reminds us that Immanuel is still waiting to be discovered. We can either be threatened by the possibility of that happening or know that it is happening remaining unaffected and not even curious, or we can get into the search which might take us to places we never thought of and invite to look toward people we never considered worthy. Our best bet is that we join these “magi” who are curious and willing to wander, look, inquire, and seek. All around us there are contemporary magi: young people hungry for spiritual nourishment they have not found among us. There are women, who feel like unwelcome outsiders when they come to offer their gifts. There are gay women and men who are judged and treated as though they were contagious, and there are foreigners at every boarder whose children are taken or who are chased off at gun point, because they might ask something of us. Even more sadly, ten percent of the U.S. population identify as “former Catholics” not because they lack faith, but because they have been hurt or betrayed. All of these people are also sincere seekers like the magi who made a mistake and went to the wrong place, powerful Jerusalem rather than the humble place, Bethlehem.

The star of this story could be like the sun in the morning giving us a wake-up call inviting us to get up, to get curious, to wonder, to look and seek because the really wise came with treasures of earth in their hands and left with the treasure of Heaven in their hearts. My wish and hope for this New Year is that anything that leaves us complacent and unaffected by the Gospel will be gone leaving us excited, joyful, and expectant about the final coming of Christ.

1 January 2019 at St. Peter & St. William Churches in Naples, FL

Number 6, 22-27 + Psalm 67 + Galatians 4 407 + Luke 2, 16-21

When you say “Yes” to God, a lot of stuff happens that doesn’t always make sense, and just because you believe and trust in God there is no “free pass” when it comes to confusion, doubt, and even sometimes fear. This woman whose memory and whose name we honor today said “Yes”, and with that, her life began a spiral of surprises and unexpected events. There was that visit to Elizabeth whose child leapt at Mary’s arrival. There were these shepherds we hear about today. How could they have found her? There were those old people in the Temple, Simenon and Anna who said such strange things about her child. There were visitors from afar, and shortly thereafter there was a hurried, unexpected rush off to a foreign place to escape violence and death. Then there was her son himself who seemed so at home in the Temple and ran around with a wild man from the desert. Then he went off with those fishermen and began to keeping company with tax collectors and suspicious women. He got people upset with his behavior in synagogue, and some of the Pharisees were cautious around him while scribes were downright angry. With some other family members, she went to bring him home and talk some sense into him, but he started talking about other mothers, brothers and sisters. Don’t fool yourself with some misguided piety. She didn’t get it. She never understood.

There is no reason to believe that she understood any of this or that she understood what God was asking of her. Like anyone else who is a parent, like any of you, time after time you look at your children and wonder where they came from? Where did they get those ideas they brought home? Sometimes you may have even wondered where they found some of those friends they hung around with. They start out the door and you ask, “Where are you going?” The answer you get is: “Out.” “Who with?” you ask, and they say, “Friends”, and you are left to wonder why you even asked the question. “What will they be?” you wonder, and at that point you and this woman from Nazareth suddenly have something in common: wonder.

Wondering is the skill of a faithful parent who knows the difference between their will and God’s will. Think of it this way. Consider how this woman grew as she continued to ponder not just the stuff that was happening, but ponder and reflect on how that stuff that was happening could be God’s will and part of God’s plan which is always bigger than we are. When her son was twelve-year-old, she said: “How could you do this to us?” Years later at the foot of the cross, there is none of that reproach even though there was even greater pain. She does not stand before her tortured son and say: “How could you do this to us?” We all know that at any point, he could have gone silent and returned to the carpenter shop. Step by step, in a sense, he got himself into that mess. This time, I think she had grown enough in faith and wisdom to surrender to something she did not understand, and stand with hope and confidence in the one promise God had made to her at the very beginning. “Nothing is impossible with God.”

Wonder does not always lead to understanding, but it can lead to acceptance and surrender in the face of the unknown and unexpected. What we see here is the importance of reflection which is the active side of wonder. Only by reflection do we come to understand our experiences. From reflection comes insight. Sadly, some people learn nothing from experience. But there are others for whom experience is their real school. Wisdom is not simply accumulating fact and knowledge. No one become wise in a day. It takes years, and wisdom is the fruit of reflection.

Parents, Mary shows us, need a lot of wisdom. Mary got her wisdom from pondering, and I believe she passed that on to her son, who Saint Luke reminds us, grew in wisdom, grace, and favor before God. That Jesus was taught, nourished, and formed by a wise woman who loved God with all her heart. We honor her today, and we begin a new year led to wonder, ponder, and reflect upon the past year so that with wisdom me may be prepared for whatever is to come.

30 December 2018 at St. Peter & St. William Churches in Naples, Fl

Sirach 3, 2-6, 12-14 + Psalm 128 + Colossians 3, 12-21 + Luke 2, 41-52

There is some great wisdom behind our old tradition of reflecting upon family just after Christmas. After all, when God had finally decided it was time to enter into a real and lasting covenant with us, God seemed have decided that it should be through and within a real family. Taking a breather between Christmas and the celebration of a New Year offers us the chance to reflect and wonder about the mystery of family life. Of course, in our own times, what makes up or identifies a “family” is not quite as consistent as it might have been a generation or two ago. Regardless of who makes up a family these days when single-parent families seem to be growing in numbers, and extended families are more scattered, there is one element that doesn’t change. A family is bound, in one way or another, to consist of parents, and in that there lies some mystery.

This unique family who leads our reflections today may be unique in how it all got started by the message of some angels, but I don’t believe for a moment that after that birth there was anything terribly unique. Mary and Joseph were parents facing the frustrating and demanding challenges that St. Luke describes throughout the Gospel. Those two parents, just like any of you who have parented face the difficult discovery that your child is just not going to go along with you every step of the way. Their story with their son is the story of a real family living with conflicts, disappointments, frustrations, fear, and surprises. I think that this little family in Nazareth, or where ever they were, are symbolic of all kinds of relationships.

What those parents experienced is nothing different from what any of you have experienced. When they couldn’t find their son, you know what that fear is like. When they did find him and faced the fact that he was going to discover his own path in life, it had to have come as a jolt. He wasn’t going to be carpenter. He wasn’t going to inherit the shop. No matter what they might have hoped for him, he did not belong to them, and you know what it is like to come to that realization.

It might be fun to let your imagination run with that scene in the Temple when they finally found him. Isn’t it interesting that the Temple is where they went to look for him? Not in the market or a Mall, not in some night-spot that might attract adolescents, but in the Temple. As his first teachers, they taught him what every child needs to learn: something about God. So that is where they went, and that is where they found him. I love to imagine the real conversation not polished up by Saint Luke for his Gospel. My best bet is that he got grounded, and from the way the Gospel is put together, he was grounded for about twenty more years. I like to think that in response to his comment Mary really said: “Your time has not yet come. Get on the donkey.” It would be with a son’s knowing smile that some years later, he would repeat what she said at a wedding in Cana: “My time has not yet come”, and in quick response I think she said: “Oh yes it has, there is no wine. Do something to help.” Consistent with everything we have to go by in the scriptures, Joseph never says a word, but he is always there and he listens, and then he vanishes. The scriptures put very few words on Mary’s lips; but not much. Yet, every mother in this church could put words in her mouth, and they would probably be true. I can imagine her prayers now and then: “Dear God, that angel never warmed me about this!” “Will someone explain to me why he went off after that wild trouble maker named John.” “What in the world was he doing out there in the desert?”

What we are left to celebrate today is our relationships with those we love most deeply. What we may ponder in our prayer today is that the greatest gift we can give others is respect and the freedom to become all that God has created us to be. It is the secret of parenting I think. It is the key that unlocks the mystery of God’s plan for each one of us. Don’t be grieving because your children did not do what you wanted or live the way you expected. Rejoice in their freedom and trust in the one thing promised to Mary: “Nothing is impossible with God.”

If I had children, I would call them today and just tell them once more how much they are loved and give them a blessing.

Christmas 25 December 2018

St. Peter & St. William Churches in Naples, Fl

Isaiah 9, 1-6 + Psalm 96 +Titus 2, 11-14 + Luke 2, 1-14

At the heart of this story there hangs a “no vacancy” sign that even today can trouble a sensitive conscience, and leave us wondering about what to do. Not too long ago a school Christmas pageant was being presented by a group of enthusiastic children all ready to play the parts. Among them was a boy named Billy who has “Downs”. The teacher, Billy’s parents, and members of his class at school worked hard to help Billy remember his lines: “There is no room in the Inn.” For weeks, they rehearsed the lines with Billy, “There’s no room in the Inn. There’s no room in the end.” Over and over they practiced with Billy. Then came the night of the show. Everything was just as planned and as rehearsed. Mary and Joseph walked up to a sagging door, knocked, and Billy opened the door and spoke his rehearsed lines: “There is no room in the Inn.” Everyone was relieved. Mary and Joseph looked sadly at each other and began to walk off at which point Billy shouted: “There is no room in the Inn, but you guys can stay at my house.” It is almost a casual remark, but yet it is a cry that leaves us wondering why we can’t see things the way an innocent child sees, and why we can’t think the way an innocent child can think. Billy was listening to that story he was part of, and he added his own tidings of great joy.

In his Gospel, Saint John takes up this chance comment about the lack of room when in his Gospel he talks about the Word became flesh. “He came to his own and his own received him not.” My friends, we have gathered here because Jesus Christ is still coming, and after all this time, too often there is still no room. This world is filled with time saving tools and devices, but we seem to have less and less time, and there is too little room for God. In a real and practical way, our attitude toward the homeless and refugees takes on a deeper dimension here when we think there is no room. Yet this season reminds us that God keeps knocking, and those who saw that Christmas pageant with Billy may make room and invite God into their hearts and home.

On the night and in the ancient Gospel story we have just proclaimed, there are two kinds of people who heard the cry that night. Shepherds who know they know nothing, and wise men who know that they do not know everything. They are the very simple and the very learned. In both cases with these two kinds of people, something happened because they listened and headed what they heard. They listened. In fact, every part of this Gospel is about listening; and every person whose story is woven into this Gospel are people who know how to listen. Old Zachariah, young Mary in Nazareth, and a man who never says a word in our scriptures named, Joseph listened. That’s all he did: listen and act. They all listened, and because of their willingness to listen, God was able to accomplish something great. When they came, these shepherds and these wise men whose story will soon be retold saw tiny hands that would one day hold a heavy cross and tiny feet that would walk on water. They saw eyes that could see the secrets of every human heart. They saw ears that could hear people in a distance crying out over the noise of a large crowd, “Son of David, Have Mercy on me.”

Some historians believe that western monasticism saved civilization in the dark ages, and I believe that the ancient wisdom of their Rule may once again save civilization as we know it. A man named Benedict wrote that Rule by which western monasticism has been guided to this day. For hundreds of generations those monastic men and women were inspired by the wisdom and common sense of that Rule to be generously hospitable to anyone searching for a place to stay, while the very first line of that Rule says: Listen, and the silence of those holy places is just what it takes to hear the cries of people in this world.

 Once in an interview, Stephen Spielberg was asked, “What would you hope God will say to you when you finally meet him. Spielberg responded, “I hope God would say to me: ‘Thank you for listening.’” What a great answer! It is true about the Christmas story. All have heard it, and some have listened. At the Annunciation Mary is listening. In today’s Gospel, those shepherds are listening. Two-thousands years later we confront this stunning message of comfort and joy, and look around and wonder if anyone is listening. God is with us. God wants a place in our lives, but not just in some back room or just when some crises arises, but in the very center of our lives and our homes. The great light that people in darkness must see is the light of our lives and our faith in the hands of people like us who have been baptized and handed a lighted candle to be kept burning brightly.

Those shepherds whose story we have just proclaimed did not only listen, they shared with others what they had heard and what they had seen becoming messengers of Joy. Their glad tidings touches human hearts and changes human lives, and it bears repeating more than once a year.  In those shepherds, we find our own identity and purpose: messengers of joy. Today we can say to them, thanks for listening and for sharing, and we can say to the Lord and to every holy family, “You can stay at my house.”

The Fourth Sunday of Advent on board the MS Nieu Statendam

23 December 2018 on board the MS Nieu Statendam

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

As we stand at the threshold of this year’s celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, we find ourselves being asked to reflect upon the unexpected ways in which God works. Here we are on a ship that a year ago was not even on the water. I knew it was planned, but on December 23, 2017 I never expected to be here. Yet here we are about to disembark, and many will head back home where it is entirely possible and even likely that the unexpected will again break into our lives. Because, that is how God works, unexpectedly. The three readings for this final Sunday of Advent all communicate some element of the unexpected. There had been a long tradition of sacrifice as the ultimate religious practice. In the second reading we find it replaced by something else. Who would then have ever thought that God would tire of sacrifices in a Temple. Then we discover that Jerusalem, long the place of honor and prestige, the city of power, is passed over and a little no-where place provides the savior. The major actors in this story are women, and it is a woman whose faith is the beginning of a new covenant. No one in that man’s world could ever have imagined such a thing. Then, story we are about to tell once again is a reminder that God approaches us through the seemingly insignificant in surprising ways.

The divine project that we are about to celebrate is revealed in actions as much as in words. Old Zachariah, one of the Old Testament’s priests is silenced. He and his wife Elizabeth are like Abraham and Sarah for their day, but their day has passed, because now Mary arrives, the mother of a new covenant. Her pregnancy has nothing to do with human plans, because God is doing something entirely new. This passing away of the old, and a recognition of something new and unimagined is a cause for joy. Unlike many these days who find change to be threatening and unwelcome, these people of faith believe that God can and does work in surprising and different ways never before dreamed of.

That God is not finished; not finished with creation, not finished with us, and not finished being revealed. Make your journey home in the morning a bit of an imitation of Mary’s journey to a loved one and family member. Carry with you the refreshment of these days. Celebrate the Joy of your reunion. Remember to look for and enjoy the surprise of little things and the little ways in which God can be found all around you, and especially in the little and least of gifts you may receive from those who, like God, love you very much. When you do remember, you will be among the Blessed who believe that what has been spoken to you by the Lord will be fulfilled.

The Third Sunday of Advent at Saint William Parish in Naples, FL

16 December 2018 at Saint William Church in Naples, Fl

Zephaniah 3,14-18 + Psalm Isaiah 12 + Philippians 4, 4-7 + Luke 3, 10-18

The prophet is the voice of God speaking in this assembly today. This prophet whose voice cries out to us is a man whose authenticity is beyond question because of his honesty and his passion for justice. Unafraid to speak truth those in power, he deserves the same respect and attention today that he earned ages ago. Here was a man who cared nothing for comfort, money, or fame. He could not be bought or manipulated by anything or anybody. For the people of his time and for all of us in this time, he still speaks for God with a message that is direct and simple.

There is no watering down what he proposes. There is no way to intellectualize or avoid his message. It is so urgent and clear that people asked, “What shall I do?” If we believe as they did that a Prophet is the voice of God, we should be asking the same question. “What shall I do?” This has nothing to do with “What shall I buy or give” or, “What will I get for Christmas?” The question has to do with, “How I shall make ready for the coming of Christ?” This message is not a seasonal one or something we just think about at Christmas. It is something that should nag at us all the time.

John does not ask tax collectors to stop collecting. He does not tell soldiers to desert. To the tax collectors he simply says, “Do not collect more than the amount owed to you.” To the soldiers he says, “Do not extort money from anyone or intimidate them with threats. Be satisfied with your wage.” There is nothing profound or complicated about this. It is simply the rule of integrity. The message is timeless, the Word of God is alive, and God speaks to us in this assembly. Do not cheat. Share what you have. Be honest. Never use or exploit others for your gain, comfort, or security. Being prepared for the coming of the Messiah requires no great heroics although sometime heroics might seem easier than living a humdrum daily life well. Let’s be clear about one thing: when we speak of and anticipate the coming of Christ, we are not in some nostalgic fantasy imagining Christmas in Bethlehem. We are thinking about and anticipating our death and the final coming of Christ at the end, which we may not really want to think about right now. Be that as it may, the whole divine plan beginning in Nazareth and Bethlehem was to save us and prepare us for that day when we shall stand before God face to face. When we are sincerely facing that reality, the question: “What shall I do?” is very real and very urgent. To that question the prophet speaks today. How do we get to ready to die and face the Christ? It’s not hard nor complicated. None of us here have to do anything really remarkable to be ready. What God expects of us that we simply live life with integrity and honesty, with a passion and desire for justice and truth. That may require some repentance, some changing of our ways, our thoughts, and our desires. The good news is, there is still a little time to do that, and John would suggest that we not waste this time.