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.

January 22, 2023 St William Church in Naples, FL

Isaiah 8: 23 to 9: 3 + Psalm 27 + I Corinthians1: 1: 10-13, 17 + Matthew 4: 12-23

As we pick up Matthew’s Gospel today, Jesus has just come from his desert time. We all have what I like to call “Desert Times.” Times of hardship, challenges when our faith, or motives, our obedience are put to the test. The experience of Jesus there was like a training exercise preparing him for what lies ahead, and the temptations he faced there were the same temptations the Israelites faced in the desert. They concerned food, trust that God would protect them, and the lure of idol worship. Israel nearly failed in the desert. Had it not been for Moses, they would have never come out into the Promised Land. Matthew’s new Moses, Jesus does not fail his Desert Time, and he emerges to lead us to the Promised Kingdom of God.

There are two things for us to take away from this celebration today, two things that God has to say to us as we begin this week that can carry us through the days ahead. The first is revealed in the behavior of Jesus as he begins his mission. He has no intention or any thought that he could or should carry out his mission alone. He not only shares his message, he shares his power as well. He comes out of that desert, and he begins to form the church through those Apostles; the church with which he shares his power to forgive, to heal, to comfort, and to feed the hungry. We can hardly miss what Matthew puts before us. To fulfill the Father’s will, to complete the restoration of paradise, the Kingdom of God, God needs us, and we need one another. There are a lot of people these days who don’t think they need anyone and some who do not think they need the church. Their lives are an endless desert of desperate loneliness and hunger for food that perishes. We come here into Communion because we know we can’t and should not try to go it alone.

The second thing we may take home today is that the creative Word of God meets us where we are. Peter, Andrew, James, John, met Jesus in their everyday lives. They were not in the Temple or the Synagogue. They were doing what they did every day. There is no doubt in my mind that their awareness or readiness for a Messiah made them curious or open to that stranger who walked by, and they got that way by having been in the Synagogue and Temple listening to the Prophets and the Wisdom of the Scriptures. However, unmerited and unexpected grace calls them, moves them, and frees them to change their lives forever. 

There is no doubt in my mind either that some of their family and friends would have tried to talk sense into them. Going along with this dreamer/preacher who came out of nowhere and was way too much like John the Baptist was risky and just plain dangerous. The price they paid required a big change from a way of life they knew before and the relationships they had as family. It was not so much that they had to disown or abandon their family, but that they had to open up their sense of who was a brother or a sister. It was not so much that they had to stop fishing for a living, but now they had to fish for something that would give them real life.

In a few moments, we shall bring our meager offerings so symbolic of our lives to this altar praying that they will be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father. Then we shall do what God asks of us: give praise and glory to his name. Jesus is still passing by and still looking at us. That may be all we need to know today, and all we need to hear because he still says the same thing to us that he said to Peter, Andrew, James, and John: “Come after me. Follow me.” 

January 15, 2023 at St William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Isaiah 49: 3-6 + Psalm 40 + I Corinthians1: 1-3 + John 1: 29-34

This Gospel passage today sets a trap for us that we must avoid if we are going to hear God speak to us today through the Gospel. That trap is one I have spoken of over and over not just here during Mass, but also in talks I gave here last year with Luke and are scheduled this year with Matthew. This is not history. If we listen to these verses thinking that the Evangelist is telling us about an event that occurred between John the Baptist and Jesus, we’re done for. This is theology. This is revelation. It is proclaimed here to lead us more deeply into the mystery of who Jesus Christ was and still is. Evidence that this is not a report of an historical event is there if you match up the accounts of the Baptism in each of the Gospels. Details do not match because this is not a news report. Each Gospel has something different to reveal through this story.

With that in mind, we take up this story that begins the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. This is a recognition scene a story told to reveal who Jesus is. It is not about his Baptism. John’s Gospel is a whole series of recognition scenes partial recognitions and failed attempts to recognize Jesus. Today the Evangelist wants us to recognize Jesus not tell us about a Baptism. In fact, if you paid attention, there is no mention of or description of a Baptism in these verses. 

With that clear, since it is not about a Baptism, the Baptist steps forward as the first in this series of recognitions. There will be others like Philip and Nathanael before this chapter ends. A very important word in the Scriptures is spoken here. John invites us to “Behold” who is in our midst. The Evangelist will have Pilate use the same word when he presents the King of the Jews. Pilate and others failed to recognize the identity of Jesus Christ.

The writer of this Gospel would have been very familiar with a technique in Greek drama that provided the spectators with information the characters did not have. This raised the expectations and interest of the spectators who could then watch the characters either come to recognize or fail to recognize what was known to the spectators. With the information the Baptist gives us in these verses, we will be able to anticipate and follow the characters in this Gospel both recognize and fail to recognize who is in their midst. It’s all about this recognition and those who do and those who do not. We can watch the characters of this Gospel from the Baptist, to Philip, Nathanael, Peter, all the way up to Pilate and a Centurion at the foot of the cross.

We are presented with an invitation today still at the beginning of a new year to “Behold” the one who has come into our midst. We can either be among those who recognize that divine presence or among those who fail to do so. For those who fail to recognize the one who is to come, nothing ever changes and there is nothing to live for and nothing to die for because there is no love. For those who do recognize what is revealed, everything changes. When we meet the Jesus of the Gospels we cannot see the world as before. After hearing Jesus in the Gospels, peace, justice, and forgiveness are possible in ways we could not imagine before. When we see the world through the eyes of Jesus we can step out of the shadows of hatred and revenge into the light of understanding with a chance to heal our brokenness and mend our relationships. We can become seekers of hope who reach out with compassion to the lost, lonely, sinful, and hurt.

My friends, we are now the ones who proclaim the “Lamb of God” through our own acts of generosity, justice, and forgiveness because the mercy of God has dawned on us. Now, others may “Behold” because of us as some did in the past because of the Baptist. Knowing, believing this truth changes our relationships with each other too. It draws us together and deeper into the mystery and wonder of who we are and why we are. What we can behold transforms our vision, our perspective, our expectations of this life and the life to come. We are both prophet and witness to the Lamb of God before whom we fall to our knees again and again.

January 8, 2023 at St William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

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

There is a bit of everything in these verses from Matthew’s Gospel today. It’s sort-of like a stew, which was the way my mother used to hide vegetables. We got a bit everything and it was nourishing. To get into the real message of these verses however, you have to put that song written by John Henry Hopkins for a Christmas Pageant out of your mind. If you think Matthew’s Gospel is more important than Hopkins’ hymn, forget about Three and delete Kings. Hopkin’s idea about there being three of them comes from the number of gifts. To make any kind of long journey in those days would have required a big caravan. If you have ever been on a camping trip, you know what I mean. The camping gear and the food takes up more space in the car than the people. Matthew never calls them “Kings”. The Greek word he chooses is “Magoi” which can refer to magicians or astrologers. More likely they were Zoroastrian priests since that religion was prominent to east of Palestine. What matters is that they were searching, and they were willing to get far from home in their search. 

Today we would call them pilgrims. They were willing, not only to leave home, but willing to look beyond the limits of their own knowledge. They were so hungry for more meaning in life that they were willing to go to a foreign land and consult the wisdom of an alien tradition. Without the Hebrew Scriptures to guide, they relied on their traditional ways of knowing God through nature and the stars. If we were wise, we ought to be able see a lot of ourselves in them unless we are just stuck and not really willing to risk anything to find greater meaning in life and the one who could reveal that meaning.

Then there is that guy named “Herod”. He is evil and terrifying. He is a murderer and a violent tyrant given to jealousy and fear. With this piece of the story we are reminded that powers of this world can be mighty and terrifying. Yet, we learn that God can get around all of that in unexpected, simple and non-violent ways. 

Mixed in with all of that, there are those chief priests and scribes. They know things, but they lack wisdom. Unwilling to seek the truth, they are content to play it safe, hang around Herold, and turn a blind eye to light. They know and they tell the Magi where to look, but they can’t be bothered to leave comfortable Jerusalem for a place like Bethlehem.

So, as Matthew’s story goes, the Magi with their rich gifts fit for a King leave nothing for King Herod and his royal court. They save what they have for a simple family. This wonderful and familiar story is unfinished. All we know is that those pilgrims went home avoiding that place of power and earthly glory.

We tell this story every year right after Christmas to be reminded that while our salvation began with the chosen people, the Gospel and the Incarnation it proclaims is for the entire world, for all nations, as Jesus said when commissioning the disciples. We would do well to put ourselves into this story and be stirred up enough to become pilgrims like these Magi willing to admit that we don’t know everything there is and if we really want to find the truth, we will have to consult the Scriptures. At the same time, we might take a good look at those religious people, those Scribes and Chief Priests. There is a warning in this story that those unwilling to seek the truth, to listen to the Scriptures, who want to play it safe and hang around people like Herod are going to stay in the darkness.

Just like those Magi, we can’t go it alone. We have to go together in order to brave the dangers of the journey and risk the unknown. We all have gifts fit for the King, and Matthew suggests that we need to seek that King and realize that this royal and divine child will be found in places like Bethlehem far from power, from wealth, and comfort. As Matthew reminds us, God can and always does get around the obstacles that might get in the way or threaten our journey. So, for those who believe and want to find meaning in life or find life itself we have to stay on the move, keep listening to the Scriptures, and stay together.

January 1, 2023 at St Peter the Apostle Churches in Naples, FL

Numbers 6: 22-27 + Psalm 67 + Galatians 4: 4-7 + Luke 2, 16-21

At some point early in my life as my birthday was coming up, I said something to my father about what gift I was hoping to receive on my birthday. He took that occasion to put me in the car and take me to a gift shop where I thought I would be invited to make my own choice. However, when we got inside, he handed me a five-dollar bill and told me to pick out a gift for my mother telling me with all seriousness that I would not be having a birthday were it not for her. From that day forward, my mother got a gift from me on my birthday.

Were it not for the woman we honor today, there would have been nothing to celebrate last Sunday, and the church says: “Don’t forget that.” To help us put that in some perspective, the church gives us the story of some shepherds, people of meager means lacking sophistication who are told to get over their fear and find a savior who, much like them, would be found in circumstances as humble as their own. When they did, what they found was an infant cared for my two migrants who made him a bed in a cattle crib. For those shepherds, that was enough to fill them with Joy and want to spread the message where ever people would listen. The Savior was just like them.

What those simple shepherds learned and what the clever could not see or comprehend was that God wanted to be discovered in the very circumstances of their lives, that God could be like them, poor, homeless, and dependent. Imagine, a God dependent! Yet, that is exactly what it is. God depended on that woman to begin restoring creation to its glory. She made herself available for God to do what God could not do without her. That is profound, and that is what we celebrate today; the truth that those who put themselves at the service of God, those obedient to the Will of God will always be giving birth to the Christ born among us, and that calls for every year to be a New Year.

Today, once again, it is revealed to us that God’s power depends upon people like us. Today with all the promise of a New Year, a people who long for peace, for justice, and for love we are reminded that God can do these things, but only through those are at the service of the Lord and make God’s will their own.