March 30, 2025 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples

Joshua 5: 9-12 + Psalm 23 + 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21 + Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

 The Great Journey to Jerusalem continues with one of the best loved and known parables of Jesus. It speaks to all of us who know jealous rivalry, conflict between children and parents or among the children themselves. It speaks to every community that has some members who just go their merry way taking and never giving, and others who work faithfully for the good of all. Today we get a shocking picture of how the path of reconciliation begins.

The first shock is the son’s request, which at the time of Jesus and in that culture really meant he wished his father was dead. The second shock is that the older son raises no objection to this. The third shock is that father goes along with it. Those who heard this parable from Jesus would have gasped at that father’s behavior. He should have thrown the kid out with nothing and changed the locks. Today we would call that kind of father an “enabler.” Even more shocking is the father’s behavior later in the story as he gives up his manly dignity and runs outside with a kiss, a ring, and a robe. I’ve always wondered where the mother was. I think she nagged him until he surrendered his macho ideas and asked her to set the table for the party.

Familiar as the story is to us, we have to be careful and thoughtful about who of the three in the story gets our attention and is worthy of our imitation. I have sat through more Penance Rites than any of you have ever attended listening to preachers talk about the younger son urging everyone to repentance. Hardly ever does anyone pay attention to the other one who is really much more like us. People who can identify with the younger son are not here. They are still out there somewhere living it up with their “eat, drink, and be merry” life-style. We are the ones who are always here. We are the ones who give, sacrifice, and do what God asks of us, and herein lies the danger.

At that time, his attitude is a mirror image of the Pharisees toward sinners. Remember, this story started because the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus and the Pharisees were plotting against him because he ate with them. An attitude of entitlement and privilege is the greatest problem emerging from this story then and now. It is a strong warning that God’s love is not earned. We are all God’s sons and daughters. We are not slaves. That sick and sinful attitude is dangerous to the whole human family of God.

This parable in an invitation to consider our discipleship and how it may deteriorate into joyless resentment toward those who seem to be benefiting undeservedly from all that God offers. At the same time, we might recognize the free offer of God to us all, a shocking generosity offered by the one is willing to pay the high humiliating cost to gather in all the children, none of whom have earned the right to this inheritance. The father is the humble one here, not that son.

Don’t think that the young one learned humility when he recognized how low he had sunk and decided to go home. His rehearsed speech was a job application. It had nothing to do with the family, with humility, or with repentance.  He was broke and he needed a job.  It’s the father who teaches us something here about God’s costly, humble love for us.  “All that I have is yours” he says to us. The cost of accepting that is to replicate such reconciling love in our own attitudes and actions.

March 23, 2025 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Exodus 3: 1-8 + Psalm 103 + 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6 + Luke 13: 1-9

The two events that Jesus refers to at the beginning of this Gospel passage could easily distract and lead us away from the point of the parable. These events could lead us to start the ongoing and never-ending question of why bad things happen to good people. Jesus never addresses that question. He raises those two situations about innocent people dying to remind us that the end can come for anyone unexpectedly whether you are good or not. Everyone sins and everyone dies. The issue here is what happens before the end comes. It’s about a fruitful life.

On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus is teaching and forming us all as he nears Jerusalem. Today, he challenges the smug assumption of those who enjoy good fortune when they look upon others with that ideology that too quickly says: “They got what they deserved.” No real disciple/follower of Jesus Christ could ever say that.

“Deserve” is a tricky word, and we use it way too often to assume that somehow God owes us or that somehow society owes us something. To this Jesus speaks through a parable here to suggest that our best hope, when it comes to whatever we deserve, is mercy.

The story of the fig tree reminds us that God is more merciful and more patient than we deserve. That fig tree had been there long enough to produce fruit. Yet, all it did was sap the soil of water and nutrients. It took and never gave.

There is an interesting comparison possible between the two men in this parable worth some thought. The owner who seems rather cold and greedy cares nothing for the tree. He is only interested in the product, figs. Chopping the tree down was an easy option. He didn’t have to do anything to help the tree. The gardener, on the other hand, is different. He took care of things and seems to be a lover of fruit trees. He cared about the tree, knew about the tree, and did not give up on it willing to put some of himself into it. He seems to know that things become precious to us not just because of what we get out them, but also because of what we put into them.

Too often we are like the owner in this story. His way seems sensible, but it is the way of the head over the heart. It is the way of power rather than love. Power is only interested in results, wanting them instantly. Power has little patience with the slow and no empathy with the weak. The gardener’s way is the way of love, patient and kind. Love does not give up easily, never forces, just coaxes, encourages, and waits.

We learn something about being a disciple of Jesus today, and we have choices to make over the head or the heart, force or coax, take or give. We may be reminded that all we can hope for in the end is mercy. There is a message here that God is patient with sinners. Yet the parable also makes it clear that there is such a thing as a last chance. For people who refuse chance after chance the day will come when they are shut out not because God shut them out, but because by their own choices they shut themselves out.

March 16, 2025 I am at Saint Gregory Abbey in Shawnee, OK

Genesis 15: 5-12 + Psalm 27 + Philippians 3: 17-4:1 + Luke 9: 28-36

We are so like Peter, James, and John in this ninth chapter of Luke’s Gospel. They want nothing to do with suffering, but they sure like the glory. Immediately before this mysterious event, Jesus has shared with his closest companions his sense of what lies ahead for him if he continues his mission fulfilling his Father’s will. He had to have been filled with a sense of dread and surely some fear. I suspect that he shared this with his companions hoping for a pledge of their support when he his finally attacked by the leaders of the people. As Luke tells it however, they say nothing as Jesus speaks about how following him would mean taking up a cross.

Perhaps to prepare them for what they would see on another hill outside Jerusalem, Jesus takes these three to another hill where he prays and they sleep. This is the same three who do the same thing in a garden after their Passover dinner. On this first hill they want to hold on to this great glory and declare that it is good to be there. Then on that other hill, they are nowhere to be found.

They are so like us. We want nothing to do with suffering, or for that matter others who are suffering. We don’t want to see it. So, we close our eyes as if sleeping would make it all go away, and we are quiet too often saying nothing about the injustices that cause so many to suffer. Yet when the glory time comes, most of us would be found at the head of the line like Peter who wants to share in that glory by building tents. Yet he wants nothing to do with anything or anyone when it comes to suffering.

For the second time in Luke’s Gospel there is a voice from heaven. At his Baptism Jesus heard a voice that said: “You are my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” No one else heard that voice there are the Jordan. It was spoken only to Jesus. Now the voice speaks for a second time, and now it speaks to those three disciples with an added directive: “Listen to him.”

Two powerful statements leap off the page of this weekend’s Gospel: “Listen to him” and “It is good for us to be here.” They had a hard time listening when he did not say things they wanted to hear. Yet, the command will not go away. Then for Peter to say that “It is good to be here” when Christ is revealed in his glory is troubling because when it would have been good to be on another hill, he was absent. We can leave this church today with those two statements ringing in our minds. We have come to listen, as he tells us to take up the cross and follow him. While it is good to be here today, it would be better if we were with the suffering, the lonely, the homeless, the sick, or the imprisoned. It will very good when we can say that and mean it as we accept and take up the crosses that do and will always come our way.

March 9, 2025 I am at Saint Gregory Abbey in Shawnee, OK

Deuteronomy 26: 4-10 + Psalm 91 + Romans 10: 8-13 + Luke 4: 1-13

The temptations of Jesus are the temptations of Christians in all ages, and the victory of Jesus over Satan was no once-and-for-all victory. He won the battle but not the war. There would be other times when he would confront evil, and it is the same with all of us. Some people think that they should reach a certain stage when they will be beyond temptation. Jesus never got there and neither did any of the saints. We would do well to get over that thinking. The spiritually mature know this, and they learn to manage temptation knowing that it will come again and again. And so, now and then a little time in the wilderness is a good thing.

A great problem for all of us is a failure to know ourselves, to recognize evil and deal with it within ourselves. We are born with conflicting impulses, so that doing good is always possible but never easy. In fact, the easy way is usually the wrong way. It’s always easier to lie than tell the truth when telling the truth brings consequences that may demand a change. It’s always easier to join a conversation that hurts someone than speak up in their defense and look different.

There is something really wrong with dismissing bad behavior by saying, “It’s just human nature.” We do believe that humanity, as created by God, is good. Sin does not belong to humanity. In fact, sin is really a failure to be human – to be as God made us – to be good.

Pay attention to the way Satan speaks to Jesus in these verses. Each time he says: “If you are the Son of God.” The real temptation is to get Jesus to doubt who he is as the Son of God so that in doubting he will try to prove his identity because he doubts it. Doubt is the temptation, and it is a temptation we all face. We doubt that we are really good, called by God, chosen, filled with the Spirit and children of God.

Once that doubt takes hold, we begin to live for material things like a full belly, a big home, a fancy car, and clothing that impresses others with our taste and our style. When that doubt takes hold, we seek our own glory rather than God’s glory, longing for recognition, affirmation, seeking love in the wrong places all because we have doubted how much God loves us just the way we are.

Just as with the three temptations Luke describes, doubting our place in the heart of God can lead us to abandon the worship of God for the worship of power as humility gives way to self-serving pursuits that lead us away from church, from prayer, and from the very relationships that should remind us of who we are as brothers and sisters, children of God.

We have begun this week our wilderness time. Forty days to meet our demons, our addictions, our lust, anger, and need for approval. This is a time to rediscover or reaffirm our humanity and its goodness. It seems to me that what Jesus faced was a temptation to dodge his humanity and be everything but human. After all, he could turn stone to bread. He could, by his command, grab all the empires of the world, and like Captain Marvel he could jump, fly, and run all over the place. But he didn’t because he knew who he was and that he was sent to restore humanity to its beauty and goodness and teach us who we are as children of God.

March 2, 2025 I am at Saint Gregory Abbey in Shawnee, OK

Sirach 27: 4-7 + Psalm 192 + 1 Corinthians 15: 54-58 + Luke 6: 39-45

 There is an old saying that came to mind as I was sitting with this Gospel passage: “When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear.” The truth of this old saying has become more and more obvious in the past ten years as our talk, conversations and public discourse has dissolved into name-calling, the spinning of false accusations, trashing the character of others with lie upon lie being broadcast with arrogance that defines the truth of obvious facts.

This Gospel urges us to reflect upon the care needed when we speak. It warns us that one who is blind to goodness in others, and who speaks evil of them reveals their own puny measure of openness to God’s goodness. A person of faith stands out by their refusal to speak ill of others. This Gospel suggests that a faithful disciple reaches a level of maturity when only good and kind speech wells up from within and passes through the lips.

That old saying suggests that it is easy to speak well of others when everything is going along just the way we like. But let a little trouble come, a little conflict, and what is within one’s heart begins to show. Those who can resist returning insult for insult when others speak harshly show what they are mad of and reveal what their heart is like when they speak or respond.

Today’s mass media and politicians are a source of many new words. I read an article somewhere no long ago on the topic of Honesty. The writer suggested that when we speak, tact is kind, diplomacy is useful, understatements can be harmless and sometimes entertaining, but there is something new that is dishonest and dangerous. He calls that “Doublespeak.” Jesus warns us about that. Doublespeak is when a “courtesy fence” is put up to keep out asylum seekers. The fence is not “electrified” but “energized” with 9,000 volts. It sounds a lot nicer, but it isn’t Doublespeak talks about “collateral damage” which really means women, children and innocent civilians are dead. We call “solitary confinement” a “management unit” when in fact, it’s torture.

Disciples of Jesus who get the message of this Gospel are on the alert and careful about what is said because it always reveals the deepest truth. Good comes from a good heart both with words and deeds. Words are every bit as powerful as deeds. One unkind word can destroy a relationship forever. A person’s words, once spoken become an image of that person. Some of us remember a time when you could “give someone your word” and it could establish a bond that was solid and true.

We would do well to regain something of the insight we heard in that first reading from Sirach. We cannot speak of others with disrespect using ugly gender, racial and social labels and claim Jesus Christ as our savior. There are some who can never stop talking about themselves, about how great they are and what they have accomplished, usually at someone else’s cost. There are some who have appointed themselves as critical judges, and no one want to be around them. Some are pessimistic and can spoil a party by their arrival. We can all learn a lot by listening to ourselves. Words reveal our heart.

February 23, 2025 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Samuel 26 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23 + Psalm 103 + 1 Corinthians 15: 45-49 + Luke 6: 27-38

The most important issue today is how to resist evil without doing further evil in the process. It is easy to think that we are doing what Jesus commands by not doing any harm to an enemy. That thinking is a long way from what Jesus says. Watering down what he says will not do. It’s not a wish or a recommendation. It is a command.

This world operates by different rules. This world says: “Do unto others before they can do unto you.” The system at work these days would like to convince us that the only way to get ahead is to get there first and grab all you can. That’s the way it works most of the time. So, we proclaim this Gospel in a world and in a nation that loves to play the victim, and the victim’s natural response is revenge, because victims are always blaming others.  The urge to get revenge has distorted our justice system to the point that we have confused justice with punishment. They are not the same thing. Justice means giving each person what is their due, and Jesus Christ teaches us that what all of us are due mercy, understanding, and forgiveness.

The victim mentality cannot accept the Gospel. It is quick to judge others lacking empathy for their problems, and sees no point in trying to change. The only way out is accountability, and that is what Jesus asks of us. Revenge and retaliation only add darkness to darkness. A vindictive attitude is poison. Revenge may satisfy one’s rage, but it leaves the heart empty. When Jesus tells us to forgive our enemies, it is not for the sake of the enemy. It is for our own sake because love is more beautiful than hate. The only way violence and hatred can be put out of this world is if we choose to do so.

None of us can see into the mind and heart of another. We may see the deed, but cannot see the motive behind the deed. As much as we might fool ourselves, we never really know all the facts, and the humble, knowing that truth are never quick to judge. All of this judgement and victim behavior comes about because we keep comparing ourselves to others. It is God with whom we must compare ourselves. God’s selfless love must be our motivation for loving others even though we will never quite match the depth and the breadth of that love. Our life as a disciple of Jesus Christ is about practice, not theory. It is about doing, not saying. It is a way of walking not a way of talking. It is about mercy and hope, forgiveness and peace.

February 16, 2025 at St Agnes and St William Churches in Naples, FL

Jeremiah 17: 5-8 + Psalm 1 + 1 Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20 + Luke 6: 17, 20-26

This translation of Luke’s words here is unfortunate because it fails to tell us what he really means. I do not understand why we keep reading these verses this way: Blessed are the Poor, blessed are you who are hungry, blessed are you who are now weeping. Poverty, Hunger, and Sadness are not blessings. The Greek word that Luke chose here recognizes happiness. This is about happiness – how recognize happy people, and perhaps how to find happiness.

We can get a better idea of what St Luke is doing with the words of Jesus by comparing these verses with Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount.” What we have here is a down-to-earth ground rules for being included in the Kingdom of Heaven. These are much less spiritualized than Matthew’s and so they are much more concrete with social implications. In this Gospel, there is nothing about being poor in spirit. Luke is talking about the economically impoverished, people on the margins pushed there by a society that did not take seriously the responsibility we have for each other. If you are wondering what’s happy about being poor, you have forgotten who God is and how powerful God’s love is for the poor. The rich, on the other hand, have no need of God – and having made a god out of their stuff, they are in trouble. Luke’s audience is the rich. The poor don’t need to be told that they are poor.

To make sure that poverty is not romanticized, Jesus speaks of the hungry and the weeping. The early church, following the example of Jesus, fed the hungry. The measure of how faithful we are in following the example of Jesus and his command, “Feed them yourselves” can be seen in just how seriously and practically we do that today.

Discipleship is not easy, simple, nor is it ever popular. It comes at a high price of scorn, ridicule, sometimes hatred and exclusion. It shows itself when a neighborhood protests a group home for people with disabilities because they fear a drop in the value of their own homes. You stand up for Jesus and you’re going to get hurt and weep. Those of us who dream for the Kingdom of God have a higher vision than this world can imagine.

Woe to those of this world for their narrow-minded, narrow-hearted worldliness. Woe to those whose god is money and possessions. They are never really free, and they are never really happy. Woe to those whose belly is their god. They live in a spiritual famine. Woe to those who live it up with their “eat, drink, and be merry” worldliness. Grief comes to their empty souls when it runs out. Woe to those who get in your face with their hollow piety that ignores those around who are poor, hungry, and afraid.

If we set our hearts and focus our energy just for the things this world values, we will get them; and that’s all we will get. Some in this world may look at us and think that we are unhappy, but our happiness can never be destroyed by a hurricane, a change in the stock market, or by a doctor’s call with bad news.

Today, Jesus is offering a choice between two ways of life: happiness or sadness. A very wise Christian, G. K. Chesterton believed that Jesus promised his people three things: that they would be fearless, greatly happy, and in constant trouble. That last one might seem like a contradiction, unless you know that he also said: “I like getting in hot water. It keeps me clean.”

February 9, 2025 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Malachi 3: 1-4 + Psalm 24 + Hebrews 2: 14-18 + Luke 5: 1-11

To recognize a miracle, or even a person for that matter, you have to have an eye that really sees. Everyone saw apples fall from trees before Isaac Newton did. Yet, he saw an apple fall and came up with the law of gravity. Everyone can see a kettle of water boil, but when James Watt saw that he came up with the steam engine. It would seem that a lot of people everywhere including Peter were seeing what Jesus was doing, but not until that net filled up with fish did Peter stop calling Jesus “Master,” and call him “Lord.” It is always a matter of what you see and how you see.

Luke writes to us today about our calling, our encounter with the Lord. He writes about how and where it is likely to happen and what it will mean. These men are doing what they do all the time, every day. They are not in the Temple or the synagogue. They are not wandering around looking for Jesus Christ. He comes to them in the midst of their normal routine lives. There is nothing unusual or extraordinary. They have been working and they are tired.

We will never really know why they got back on the boat at his request. Your guess is as good as mine. They hardly knew him. They just knew about him. All we know is that they did get back on the boat. Even though they had just caught nothing after a long night, they gave it one more try, and one more try is all it takes. This time, tired from trying without success, they follow his instructions which make no sense at all. Did you notice that he sends them out to the deep water? No shallow stuff here. No easy short-cut. They have to go way out.

This is really not about a net full of fish. This is about what happens to any of us who might get discouraged and want to quit. This is about how Jesus Christ has come among us with an invitation to live in a new way, to do what we do every day with new purpose and hope. They kept on fishing, but soon they will fish in a different way and for a different reason. This is also about the kind of people Jesus chooses to carry on his mission, gathering us all into that boat that takes us to the Kingdom. It is simply ordinary people like fishermen that he looks for. He never looks for people with some kind of sophistication, privilege, or exceptional skills. It is just ordinary people, and it is going to be you and me.

If the Kingdom of God is going to come, if there is to be peace, mercy, and forgiveness, if there is to be joy and hope in this world it will be because we have been ready to do what he asks of us even if it makes no sense. It will be because we did not take the easy way, but were willing to go way out into the deep, and most of all, because we never gave up.

February 2, 2025 at St William and St Agnes & St Peter Churches in Naples, FL

Malachi 3: 1-4 + Psalm 24 + Hebrews 2: 14-18 + Luke 2: 22-40

Is this about Jesus or about Mary and Joseph? It could be about the Temple and keeping the rules. It might also be about the Holy Spirit. Scholars have focused on all of these options as Luke closes this introduction that we call, “The Infancy Narrative.” It may be a bias I have after moving well into my 80s, but I’m beginning to pay more attention to these two old-timers who appear at the end of this introduction, and as I look around in here, that might not be a bad idea for many of you too. At the same time, some of you who still enjoy some measure of youth might just take a closer look at these old-folks here and in this Gospel. It is not by chance that Luke began this story of Christ’s birth with two old-timers, Elizabeth and Zechariah and then closes it with two more: Simeon and an 84-year-old named, Anna.

Theirs is a story of patient hope, of promises fulfilled, and it all happens in the Temple. In this story we learn about how universal salvation is found in Jesus Christ. Every barrier gets abolished: ethnic, racial, social, political, economic and religious. In Simeon’s song, the light of revelation bursts upon all people, and it all starts because an old couple who seemed too old to bring life show what can happen when commitments are kept and there is obedience to God’s will. Even a little doubt or hesitation on the part of Zechariah at the start cannot stop the Good News Simeon and Anna proclaim.

Those of us, like those old ones before us, know that this Gospel story, is our story and it is not all sweetness and light. There is falling and rising, brokenness and healing, sorrow and joy. We know that none of this can keep us from the glory of Christ who lifts us from the waters of Baptism to feed us on his very Body and Blood. We come to this Temple again and again because we know that this is the place where we shall see our salvation.

Younger people, look at us. Listen to this Gospel, to Anna and Simeon. There are old people in this church whose lives bear witness to every terrible thing Simeon and Anna predict. Some have been abandoned by those they love, some have buried their children, some have faced hunger, war, and terrible sickness. Yet, they are here because they know something they want you to know. Just like that new young mother and Joseph found their way to the Temple, so must you if you want to see God’s promises fulfilled. Those two young new parents learned something from those two old people.

There are some who look and laugh at older folks who don’t seem to know how to find their way around the internet, take selfies, or answer a text. But they know something greater and much more lasting. We long for and hope for a day when young people will quit looking at the little screen on their phone expecting love and intimacy to be found there, and learn what we know, that this is the place and this is the people where forgiveness and mercy will always be found even without a Wi-Fi connection.

This is a day of rejoicing. It is a day to be moved once more by the Holy Spirit so often revealed in Luke’s Gospel. May that Spirit still alive in the hearts of God’s faithful inspire the lost and the lonely, the shy and the fearful, to grow and become strong, filled with wisdom because the favor of God rests upon us all.

January 26, 2025 at St William and St Agnes Churches in Naples, FL

Nehemiah 8: 2-4, 5-6, 8-10 + Psalm 19 + 1 Corinthians 12: 12-30 + Luke 1: 1-4, 4:14-21

At the risk of starting some domestic quarrel in your homes, I share with you a quote from Margret Thatcher that I think touches the heart of today’s Gospel. “If you want a speech written, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.” Now, you can argue the truth of that at home, but I would like you to consider it in terms of this Gospel and our mandate to assume the ministry of Jesus Christ.

We find Jesus in the synagogue reading a passage from a prophet who provided clues for the recognition of the Messiah and the beginning of a new age. Basically, that Messiah would be recognized by what he would do more than by what he had to say. After the reading, Luke tells us that Jesus sat down as any rabbi would to begin teaching. His homily that day is shorter than this one, and it is really summarized in one word, the first word, “Today.”  

Politicians begin their term of office with an inauguration speech. In every way, this is what we have from Jesus as he now reveals his mission to the world which is basically to make visible and tangible the inner heart of God, who desires healing, wholeness, and justice. With that, Luke tells us that the eyes of everyone were fixed on him surely because they thought it was all for them, for this place so privileged and gifted with this home-town wonder boy.

When they find out next week, what it really means, things change.

That first word of his instruction still rings out in this place, “Today.” Tomorrow will not do. Next week, when I have more time, or when I can get some help is not what he says.

Reciting the Creed, or a lot of memorized prayers, is just talk. If this world is ever to know that inner heart of a loving God, it will not be because we talked about it. Justice, healing forgiveness, and the unity that wholeness will provide will only come because of something done.

The acid test of deeds over words never changes. Actions do speak louder than words. Jesus was a doer. His actions matched his word, or to put it another way, his words always materialized into action. Listening to this Gospel TODAY ought to raise a much-ignored issue today whether our faith has anything to do with justice, economics, poverty or any other social/political issue.

If the work of Jesus Christ has begun today, then his words are real and we make our faith real when we allow it to enter into our real world. There is no issue facing this world that can escape the scrutiny of the faithful. When we oppose murder on death row or in a hospital delivery room we reveal the inner heart of God. You know, we have a right to punish, but we have no right to kill. People of faith examine economic policies for signs of service rather than self-serving greed.

The Kingdom of God and our share in that Kingdom begins on the day when we say, “Now.” No more waiting, no more stalling, no more excuses. Today is the day when everyone of us stops talking, dreaming or promising something and starts doing something about forgiveness, unity, wholeness, and justice.