March 12, 2023 at St. Peter, St. William, & St. Agnes Churches in Naples, FL

Exodus 17, 3-7 + Psalm 95 + Romans 5, 1-2, 5-8 + John 4, 5-42

Many who study and pay attention to social and political things believe that the next big war will not be over oil, but over water. The growing concern everywhere and even here in Florida where you can see water nearly everywhere is over fresh clean water. Those of us who have been there can easily see that the great tension and struggle between Israel and the Palestinians is really over who controls the water coming out of the Golan Heights. One of the great challenges that keeps Africa from prosperity is the lack of clean water. We know what happens to the human body when dehydration sets in, and it’s nearly the same thing with human societies and communities.

The conversation in this Gospel between Jesus and a Samaritan woman is about their shared human need, thirst. Coming to recognize that they share the same need, begins to break down the enmity between the two of them. Step by step, the two begin to reveal themselves to each other because they both have the same need as the they speak of their deepest thirst which is not really water, but for worship, salvation, and the search for truth.

They listen to each other, and as they do, their perceptions of each other begin to soften and shift. Jesus never calls her a sinner even though he’s heard she had five husbands. There is no judgment at all in his conversation. He just listens and shares his own need. She listens, and she moves from calling him a “Jew” to wonder if he might be greater than Jacob as she begins to recognize him as a prophet. Then, she comes to realize that he is the Messiah running to tell others. It all happens because of a simple conversation and the willingness of two people who could not be more distant and more opposite to discover their common need and listen to each other.

This Gospel has a lot of theology in it with references to water that are so important to us nearing Easter’s vigil. There is some wonderful theology here in this contrast between a woman who comes at noon in the daytime to a man in the previous story who comes to Jesus at night. All so important to us nearing Easter’s vigil when we gather in the night drawn into the light and take people to the water of everlasting life. Lots of sermons have been preached about that and should be again.

Yet, there is something more here than these theological themes that reveal so many important things to us as we near Easter. There also is a simple lesson about the power of a conversation that explores shared human need. It reminds us of what good listening can do, listening without judgement, listening with respect for the honest expression of a deep longing and human need that is probably shared. 

In sitting with this beautiful story, I am struck by the fact that she leaves her bucket empty, and Jesus seems to never get a drink from that well. Maybe it wasn’t about water all, but rather a mutually shared desire and need for respect, for peace, for someone to listen, and someone to just understand. I think that our faith will be more easily embraced and joyfully lived if we can simply see that in spite of whatever divides us, we all need the same thing, some good love and respect. When we start to listen instead of argue and make pronouncements, call names, and point the finger of blame at people we might get what we really need and so will everyone else. That will give us a taste of the Kingdom of God to which Jesus came to lead.

March 26, 2023 at Saint Eugene Church in Oklahoma City, OK

Ezekiel 37, 12-14 + Psalm 130 + Romans 8, 8-11 + John 11, 1-45

My name is Thomas. When my parents chose that name for me, I am sure that they did not realize what a gift they were giving me. While there are several great men with that name: Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Beckett, Thomas More, I feel sure that they knew nothing of those men, and I have always believed that the Apostle Thomas was their intent. Over the 81 years I have carried that name, that man called: “The Twin” and I have grown closer. The oral tradition that shaped the written Gospels only recalled three occasions when he spoke, and it’s not hard to understand why they would have remembered and passed on his words. The three things he says reveal a movement in faith for anyone who would be a follower of Jesus Christ. First some bewilderment: “We do not know where you are going”. Then the first and shortest of all creeds, “My Lord and My God”. Finally, the courage and boldness that any believer must have when he says, “Let us go to die with him.”

With the words we hear today, Thomas challenges the fear in his companions as they near Jerusalem knowing that there is trouble ahead, and the enemies of Jesus are waiting for him. His timid, frightened companions remind Jesus that there had just been an attempt on his life. They don’t want to go, and they don’t want him to go. Thomas speaks up. What he suggests is that anyone living in fear is already dead. Fear drains the life out of us.  It leaves us paralyzed and unable to fulfill God’s plan for us. Jesus knows what God wants, not just from him but from us all, and so, fearless, he goes.

There is much more to this episode in John’s Gospel than a story about a dead man being called from a tomb. This occasion in Bethany is not the first time Jesus as called someone to life.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke have Transfiguration scenes, but not John. There is no Transfiguration scene. The whole of John’s Gospel episode by episode, reveals the glory of Jesus. The whole Gospel is an unfolding of glory revealed in Jesus Christ from the joy of a wedding feast without wine to the sadness of a grave in Bethany. The glory of God is slowly being revealed through Jesus Christ, who constantly shows us the essence of God’s being and glory. We are invited to enter into the dynamic of that love and in response, give glory to God.

Come Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is poured out and poured into the lives of those cautious, timid, and sometimes fearful disciples, the glory of God breaks into this world.

My friends, if the mission of Jesus Christ was ultimately to give glory to God and restore that glory in the lives of human kind, then we suddenly know what our lives are about and why we are here. The glory of God is the reason we have the gifts given to us using them for the glory of God affirms that we know who we are and why.

For three nights this week, I will refresh your memories about what we do here in this sacred space and remind you of why we do it. An example: I will soon say to you: “Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.” And you say? “For the glory of his name!” There it is! There is your reason for being here. Giving glory to God is what you came here for not to get something. Yet, how often we hear some say: “I don’t get anything out of it.” Maybe they only do things to get something in return.  I’m also going to talk about what God is doing here. Sometimes we miss that because we’re too busy thinking about ourselves. Join me three times this week. It might just be refreshing and change the way you experience this Holy and precious time we spend in this place.

March 5, 2023 

This homily will not be given during the Liturgy as this is the opening day of a Lenten Mission at St Sebastian in Ft Lauderdale, FL

Genesis 12, 1-4 + Psalm 33 + 2 Timothy 1, 8-10 + Matthew 17, 1-9

“Six days later” is the way Matthew begins today’s Gospel. So, it is the seventh day – a “replay” of creation and the day of completion. He takes Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. Soon he will climb the mountain of his death alone. The characters, three disciples, experience this moment of glory. They are the same three who will experience the Agony in the Garden. For Jesus this is one more affirmation of what was said about him in the Jordan river. At that time, he was the only one who saw the dove and heard the voice, but not this time. A few verses earlier, Peter answered the question: “Who do you say that I am”? That scene ends with Jesus once more describing his passion, but to lead them through that, they are given a brief glimpse of the future.

The question is still out there for us all. “Who do you say that I am?” Most of us are like those apostles who wanted that glory, power, and all that fame and prestige, but that is not the savior and messiah God has given us. We get the savior and messiah who falls to the ground, who is innocent yet hung on a cross between two thieves. When Jesus tells Peter and the apostles that following him means taking up a cross of self-denial he speaks to us as well. 

The God Jesus reveals to us is a God of mercy and compassion, a God who knows suffering and has already shared it with us. This is a God who suffers with us because his only Son has suffered for us. I find it thought provoking that the Greek word Matthew uses for “Transfiguration” comes into English as a metamorphosis, which is what happened when the Greek gods took on human form. 

With that in mind, we can sit with this image of the Transfiguration as a hopeful and comforting glimpse of what future is instore for those willing to take up the cross, willing to deny one’s own will in favor of God’s will. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem now in chapter seventeen. It does not take any divine knowledge to know that there is trouble ahead, that his preaching and teaching have threatened the very life and security of those in power from Herod and the Chief Priests to the simplest Scribes and Pharisees. The new creation has on that mountain, and the old world is passing away.

Lest we think that this experience was only something the disciples experienced, we might well wonder about what it meant to Jesus to hear once more the affirmation of his relationship with the Father. There is a dark night of hopelessness lurking around this scene, but the light of God suddenly breaks through that darkness with the promise of victory for those willing to die.

February 26, 2023 at St Agnes Church in Naples, FL Also see Maronite Rite Homily

Genesis 2, 7-9 & 3, 1-7 + Psalm 51 + Romans 5, 12-19 + Matthew 4, 1-11

In case you failed to notice, the readings that open this Great Season of Lent put sin right in front of us. It could and probably should make us uncomfortable. I’ve often said, and I believe it to be true, that the age in which we live is an age of denial. We don’t have sinners anymore. Therefore, we don’t really need the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. There are no sinners because no one has sins. We just have “issues.” Denial!

Sin is a reality, and today’s readings should make it clear that sin is there from the beginning and no one can escape confronting it. From “the man” and “the woman” in Genesis right up to Jesus Christ himself there is sin, and there is the option in the face of it to say “yes” or “no.” In the first reading, they said “yes” and they ate. In the Gospel, someone says “no”, and with that, a whole new way of confronting the reality of sin is set before us. It’s a lot better and more effective than denial. The difference really, is simple. The difference comes with recognition and acknowledgement. It’s sin. It’s wrong. 

This Gospel has three explicit refusals. Jesus refuses and gives us an example of how to face sin. When we know something wrong, refuse to do it. That sounds very simplistic, but the Gospel reminds us that the way to begin resisting temptation is to recognize that sin really is sin. After that, the choice is there. Don’t sin.

Our observance of this Holy Season serves to strengthen our resolve in the face of sin. Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving are extraordinary tools the wise can use in the face of sin. Prayer and Almsgiving work in two directions much like the Commandments that work in two directions: to God (first three commandments) and to others (the last seven). Prayer points us to God and Almsgiving points us to others. The virtue of fasting is a kind of rehearsal or exercise that provides us with the courage to say “no” and mean “no.”

Jesus confronts sin the desert, and that same sin is still before us. Satan tempts Jesus to be something other than God intended, a child of God. The suggestion is made that he should use his gifts for himself: feed people so they will make you special, do spectacular things to call attention to yourself, and use power to get what you want. Choosing Satan’s plan would be contrary to what God expected of his Beloved Son which was that he be a humble suffering servant. In the end, all sin might be reduced to one thing: the choice to be something other than what God has created us to be.

The reality that we see all the time is that heroes falter and ordinary people compromise. Each is a step into sin making it easier than the step before. Lent invites us into the desert to know our need for grace, wisdom, and strength in crises with the insight and knowledge to know and recognize sin for what it is. Now is the time to look to God in whose image we are made. Now is the time to look to others to see the image in which they are made. Now is the time practice saying “no” to what we know is wrong without any compromise. Only when we say, “No” and mean it will our, “Yes” to God’s will be credible in God’s sight.

February 26, 2023 at Mary, Mother of Light Maronite Church in Tequesta, Florida

2 Kings 5: 1-3, 9-14 + Romans 6: 12-23 + Mark 1: 35-45

I doubt that most people hearing this Gospel could pick out the most important verse from these ten. One verse reveals what the mission of Jesus is at the time and still is today. We are only thirty-five verses into the first chapter when Mark reveals to us what that mission is.

This is not about Jesus at prayer. Although he does run off for some “down time” in prayer several times in Mark’s Gospel. But, Jesus did not come among us to pray. It is not about the disciples seeking him even though this reveals how little they understood what was going on. The fact is, that from the beginning they thought it was about them, their power and influence. They liked being the “gate-keepers”. Remember how they tried to keep little children from getting close to Jesus? This is not about that crowd either. They are running around looking for him for one reason. He is amazing and entertaining. There was no Cable Television nor Super Bowl back then. Jesus was the best show in town and no one wanted to miss the next episode. Those people failed to go deeper into what it all means. They have failed to ask the question that matters: “What is God doing here?” In fact, there is no evidence that they think God is involved at all. It’s all sensationalism. At the same time, this story is not about this miracle although the condition of this leper is what sets the scene for this revelation that tells us so much about the mission of Jesus which becomes our mission as well.

“Go and show yourself to the priest”. That is the most important verse in this passage. When we remember that people in the days of Jesus believed in a system of reward and punishment. It’s a nice system for those who think they are “blessed” because of good health, good looks, good jobs and lots of money. It’s not a good system for anyone sick, a foreigner, or someone depressed. Those people were expelled from the Temple and the Synagogue, which means from the very center of social life. People shunned them. They ran away from them.

When Jesus sends the man to the priest, he follows the custom of the day which allowed the priest to reinstate a person into the community. The priest could declare them “clean” restoring that person to their place in the community, restoring their dignity. This is the ministry of Jesus. It is a ministry of reconciliation. Every miracle recorded in the Gospel has the consequence of healing a relationship. I think that is why Mark takes such pains to present to us every possible kind of illness so that eventually we might ask: “What’s really going on here?” If it’s the sick child of a Roman Centurion, that family is restored to wholeness. If it’s the raising of widow’s only son, it is the restoration of that relationship. It’s always about reconciliation. That is the healing miracle that happens again and again as sign that the Kingdom of God has come.

The Jesus of this story is a man of kindness, who respects an outcast. The Jesus of this story reveals the mercy, kindness, and compassion of God who desires his people to be healed where ever there is division and brokenness. It is not healing from a disease that we need. It is acceptance, compassion, and reconciliation that we need, not just with God, but with each other. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people began to run around and talk openly about how they had been treated by us Catholics: about the kindness, the compassion, and the respect with which we met them day after day? It’s amazing what people can do for others. We are expected to share in the mission of Jesus. We can rekindle hope, and bring back a joy for living. We can restore self-respect and pride in others because we are called to be a mirror of the infinite charity of God.

February 22, 2023 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Joel 2, 12-18 + Psalm 51 + Second Corinthians 5, 20 to 6, 2 + Matthew 6, 1-6 & 16-18

The three pillars of the spiritual life are set before us today as we step forward and into the Great Season of Lent. I am fairly sure that we all get it when we think of fasting. That’s not hard to understand even if it is a challenge in world of plenty with huge piles of food served up at restaurants all over town. Alms Giving too is not hard to understand. There’s a poor box at the entry of nearly every church, and our responsibility to fill it up does not go away just because walk past it every time. That empty poor box really means someone’s stomach is empty while we eat our way into diabetes and every other kind of illness that comes from eating too much. We don’t like to think about these things much less hear about them, but that’s what today is all about as the first reading indicates. It’s about calling an assembly and being reminded of who we are and why we are. 

We are about to begin forty days that must challenge the kind of conspicuous consumption that is all around us. God did not give us life and call us all by name so that we could eat and buy things. There is more to us than that which brings up that third pillar of the spiritual life, prayer. That one is not quite so obvious or easy to understand, and I’m not sure we all get it right because it is not about reciting formula prayers over and over again. This season is not just about making the Stations of the Cross. They hang there all year round. We didn’t just put them up. At the same time, it is not about kneeling in Adoration unless those two things lead us deeper into a profound relationship in which we discover a real intimacy with God. That is the purpose of prayer.

Every now and then, I hear someone complain about the noise in church, the sound of people greeting one another, the sound of music, or of a baby crying. That complaint reveals a confusion over the difference between prayer and worship. We need to do them both, and they don’t really happen at the same time or necessarily in the same place. Worship is noisy or it isn’t working. Prayer on the other hand is something personal, intimate, often quiet, and usually experienced alone. The Gospel writer knew that when he encourages those in prayer to go shut the door. Right now we are here to worship God and get ready to go pray.

This season we must continue our worship, the duty we have before God to give glory, praise, honor, and thanksgiving. This season, we must renew our efforts in the midst of busy lives, hectic demands, ringing cell phones, and text messages to shut the door and put some contemplative and active balance back into our lives. Before we can turn outward toward others, we need to turn inward to God who waits quietly for us to be quiet, come closer resting in God and rising to serve. As St Paul says so well: “Behold, now is the acceptable time and now is the day of our salvation.” Let us begin.

February 19, 2023 at Saint William Church in Naples, FL

Leviticus 19, 1-2 & 17-18 + Psalm 103 + First Corinthians 3, 16-23 + Matthew 5, 38-48

We are all big on that business of being “perfect”. Jesus didn’t have to tell us to do that. We like to be perfect which usually means being right in every argument. So, we like to have the last word. We get impatient with everyone else who is less perfect than we are wishing they could be as perfect as we are. Perfection is the game of the day in this world. So, when we sit with the Word of God today we might do well do wonder just how God is perfect and what it means and what that looks like.

Behind this is really a theme of holiness, because that’s really what God is, Holy. In fact, we just heard that as God spoke to Moses saying “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” That’s the perfection Jesus is speaking of to his disciples. It might come as a surprise to notice, and maybe you never have, that when speaking of holiness there is hardly any mention of prayer. Holiness always has something to do with relationships. I know a lot of people who don’t seem to spend a lot of time in prayer, but I always sense their holiness by the way they treat other people, and if you notice in the Gospels Jesus goes off to pray now and then, but that never attracts others or brings them to awe nearly as much as the way he treats people. It seems to me that this is the way to real holiness. Imitation of the way Jesus treats other is the perfect imitation of God.

That first reading from Leviticus describes holiness as a change of heart. It suggests that we encounter holiness in people who have learned to free themselves from attitudes that reject and judge others. Those are holy people. Those are people to imitate. I’ve always believed that we humans are natural mimics. It starts early in life. I have little four-year-old grandnephew who loves to put on his father’s shoes, and he walks around the house exactly the way his father does with his father’s gestures and looks. He gets into his father’s tool box and begins fixing things around the house. Teenagers watch and imitate the trend setters when it comes to dress, vocabulary and even behavior sometimes with disastrous results. I’ve also noticed that couples married for a long time slowly but obviously over the years begin to think, look, and act like each other. You might be shaking your head no, but I am here to tell you, I’ve heard some of you finishing one another’s sentences and stories. Good friends do the same thing.

My friends, we can hardly go wrong by deciding to mimic God. Our image of God will determine not only our concept of holiness, but also our sense of justice and of what it means to live a good life. The one concept of holiness Jesus reveals about God is mercy. The only way we can claim our full humanity and divine destiny is to live up to the image of God imprinted on our very being. Oppression and violence dehumanize those who abuse and humiliate others. They are the first victims of their own behavior because they will never know God. Loving enemies is the path to wholeness because hating diminishes our capacity to be our true selves and experience how full and wonderful our lives are meant to be. The commandment of love of God and neighbor is the very foundation of civilization and spiritual harmony. 

When whole societies seethe with distrust and fear, a winner-take-all spirit of class and racial hatred, blame, and exclusion, everyone is diminished.  Jesus’ command to “be holy as God is holy” is not an option it the only way to come out of darkness and chaos becoming the Beloved Community we were created to be. It is in the end the choice between life and death, and it is in our highest self-interest to choose life.

Leviticus 19, 1-2, 17-18 + Psalm 103 + 1^st Corinthians 3, 16-23 + Matthew 5, 38-48

February 12, 2023 at Saint Peter and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

We have an uneasy relationship with law, and we have to keep careful watch over the civil law and the moral law. While they ought not conflict, the truth is, sometimes they do, and we need to be very clear about which one we choose to obey. Law is a guide, not a goal, and that’s the conflict Jesus addresses in this part of the Sermon on the Mount. Those who take offense at him have chosen to see the law as a goal, and they think that just keeping the law makes them righteous. Jesus says otherwise. The law leads to righteousness. It is a guide, not the goal.

Jesus insists that he came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. If anyone thought that Jesus was abolishing the law, they have not listened to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew, Chapter 5. If the law was tough before, it gets tougher after Jesus. Now, it’s not just murder that will put someone on trial. It’s anger. No longer is adultery, but now it’s the lust that leads to it. 

To truly keep the law is to go beyond it, or maybe get behind it to explore why the law is there. In doing so Jesus speaks about the little things that can erode our relationships with God and with each other. Ignored or left unattended, they erode relationships with God and others escalating into major offenses. Fulfillment of the law then means going deeper, getting into very heart of what the law protects or points to. 

Ultimately, the preaching of Jesus was to invite us to profound freedom. Lifting the burden of the law was not abolishing the law, but an opportunity to address the issues that resulted in the law. Once addressed, the law would not be necessary. So, if anger goes, why need a law about murder. If Lust is silenced, why worry about adultery. If we address the injustice of this world and put a stop to the use of others for personal pleasure or profit, we are exploring the kind of freedom we would find in the Kingdom of God.

Perhaps in the end, it is really all about a profound respect for others. What is proclaimed here is an invitation to lay claim to the freedom to live in love. We cannot control others, but we can choose how to respond to them. My friends, perfect righteousness is the imitation of God. It is not found in the perfect observance of the law except in the perfect observance of the law of love. So, unless our righteousness, which is the perfect imitation of God, exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. I don’t know about each of you, but that clear and profound statement is a serious challenge in my life. Becoming the perfect imitation of God in whose image we are made makes me think: “Lord, have mercy”, and then continue by grace and by faith the steady and unending business of conversion.

February 5, 2023 at Saint Elizabeth Seton & Saint Peter the Apostle Churches in Naples, FL

Isaiah 58, 7-10 + Psalm 112 + First Corinthians 2, 1-5 + Matthew 5, 13-16

If you have ever wondered what you are doing here, and I don’t mean in this church, I mean what you are doing on this earth; or wondered why God created you, the answer is right here in this Sermon on the Mount. If you have not wondered about that question, you are part of the problem and part of the reason why the Kingdom of God is seems so far off and difficult to experience.

Having just described what it is like to be Blessed, Jesus sort of rolls up his sleeves and begins to talk about why we here, and what God expects of us. The images he uses are simple ones to people living at the time Jesus first spoke these words, and they are not complicated for us either. It’s about salt and light, images that say a lot to us about who and what we are in the mind of God. Jesus is not speaking to the crowds here. He is teaching his disciples, you and me. “You are” he says. There is nothing vague or generic here. It is specific. It’s about us. Those of us formed and living the Beatitudes are salt and light to this world. 

When tasting well-seasoned food, no one tastes the salt, but it’s there. It does not call attention to itself. If it does, it’s a bad taste. In this sermon, Jesus asks a question. “But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It seems like a trick question, but salt can be diluted. It’s always salty. In other words, the answer to the question is that it’s impossible. So, disciples cannot cease to be who they are seasoning the world with the good news. Like salt in good food, disciples of Jesus bring out some flavor, some pleasure, and some joy to this world quietly, steadily, and consistently never calling attention to themselves, but bringing out the best in others. It means that we compliment not criticize, that where ever we are there is joy and laughter, smiles and good cheer.

“We are the light of the world” says Jesus. No one looks at the sun, but without it we can’t see color, beauty, nor can we see where we are going. No one looks at light bulbs, but because they are there, we can read, we can see one another. Artists know how to use light to draw attention not to the light, but to the figure, to the beauty, or a person or creation itself. And just as salt cannot be anything but salty, light cannot be hidden and still be light.

Salt, you know, is necessary for life. When it is missing from our bodies, there is illness. Sodium Chloride is essential for the body to stabilize blood pressure and absorb nutrition and lots of other things. It comes from salt. Nothing can grow in the dark. Photosynthesis is very process in nature that brings life and growth. You leave a plant in the dark long enough, and it’s dead before you know it.

My friends, Jesus speaks to us today about the very real purpose of our existence as children of God. We’re not here to buy, or consume, or sustain the economy. We are not here to eat, drink, and be merry. Nothing we do should call attention to ourselves, but rather call attention to God, to God’s glory, God’s mercy, and God’s love. We are necessary for life, and not just physical life. Once heard, our call can never be revoked just as salt can never totally lose its flavor. But, if we abuse the call and ignore our real vocation, we are “no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out.” 

Living the values expressed in the Beatitudes will make us salt of the earth and beacons of hope for others and perhaps signal the dawn of a new day called the Kingdom of God.

January 29, 2023 at St William & St Peter the Apostle Churches in Naples, FL

Zephaniah 2: 3, 3:12-13 + Psalm 146 + I Corinthians1: 1: 26-31 + Matthew 5: 1-12

Years ago, when I was in the seminary, and I do mean years and years ago, I had a wise confessor who upset me more than once with challenges to my way of thinking, praying, and looking at myself and the world. I had just finished listing my sins after a careful examination of conscience. He let out a very audible sigh, turned toward me and said: “It’s about time to grow up and grow out of that.” I said nothing for the simple reason that I didn’t know what exactly he wanted me to grow out of. I waited for further instructions, and I did not have to wait long.

He proceeded to challenge my preparation and examination of conscience. Like many my age, I was taught that the root of sin and most evil was rooted in breaking the commandments. My confessions were consistently focused on failures to keep and observe the commandments. That night, old Father Rupert pulled out Matthew 5 and said: “If you want to be holy, pay attention to this. If you want to grow spiritually, pay attention to this. If you want to know what God cares about, it’s right here. If you think just keeping the commandments will make you pleasing in God’s sight, you’re fooling yourself and looking or an easy way out. Not breaking a commandment does not make you good, holy, or faithful. It just means you didn’t do anything, and that will be a problem when the judgement comes.

I’ve worked with that wisdom over the years, and as a confessor for 55 years, I never sit in judgement, but I do recognize people who are on the path to holiness and living in the Kingdom of God. I also recognize people who don’t do anything good or bad, and I always feel sorry for them struggling to find perfection or just be good by keeping the commandments. There is no character in that. There is nothing noble, profound, or blessed there. It’s just safe, and in some ways, it is way of living in denial of what Jesus Christ has proposed must mark those who are Blessed.

If any of us stand before the Lord at the end and want to claim a place among the Blessed, I don’t think we can claim that place by saying we didn’t steal, bear false witness, covet our neighbor’s wife or husband, mess around with sex or fail to attend Mass. We will have a claim on that place by a life of mercy and meekness. We will have a claim to the Kingdom when we have made peace, longed and worked for things to be right, lived simply, and put up with ridicule for our devotion and fidelity. These are things that will give Joy and make us glad. Jesus says it again here today: these are the things that will bring us the reward of heaven.

So, take it from an old confessor who is himself a penitent. Pay attention to Matthew 5. Avoiding the Sacrament of Reconciliation because you think you have not really broken any commandments is absolutely foolish. Avoiding the Sacrament of Reconciliation because you think you can tell God you’re sorry all by yourself in private is just as silly because God isn’t going to believe it until we have made peace with each other, and that’s why old Father Rupert was sitting there and every other confessor like him. We need each other to find peace, to mourn together, to make things right, and to satisfy those who hunger and thirst for justice.

As the Prophet said to us minutes ago: “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, seek justice and humility.”  When we do, we are going to find ourselves right smack in the middle of the Kingdom of God.