Baruch 5, 1-9 – Psalm 126 – Philemon 1, 4-5, 8-11 – Luke 3, 1-6  at Saint Peter the Apostle Parish in Naples, FL.

The context in which we live our lives these days is one I like to call, “Hyper-Individualism. This individualism and the privatization that results from this kind of living and thinking boarders on idolatry. A concern for the common good, is always secondary to my needs and my wants, never mind what this might mean to anyone else. This has led to the collapse of neighborhood life, and it is the source of constant conflict in every kind of community from work to home. Even in churches and in the exercise of faith, the individualistic behavior wears away at community life, communal celebrations, and the unity and communion of the church Gospel life expects. It is a challenge courageously accepted here at St Peter with the bold efforts of our “Tri-Lingual” celebrations. Even though it may be sometimes inconvenient and difficult, there is a bold effort to stop thinking that it’s “my Mass” or “my language”, or “my customs.” The problem is the possessive pronoun that reveals individualistic possession. Not only is it possessive, it is “singular”, and therein lies the issue. I think a failure to understand this is why people leave early or come late. “What difference does it make to them?” is the thinking. If I want to leave, it’s my business. Again, the idolatry of the ego flares up.

In today’s Gospel, it is important to realize that John the Baptist is presenting a task for the People of God. It is a corporate demand that he makes, not an individual command. In the original language, he uses a verb in the second person plural. Southerners would get it right away if the translator was from the south because John would be saying: “Yuall!” So what he demands is not the work of someone chosen for a specific task, but a task for us all together, and by our response we, together as a church, can witness to the glory of God’s presence among us.

This is good news for those of us who do not feel particularly holy, perfect, or prophetic. It takes some of the pressure off of us individually, but also reminds us that only together, only in communion in a holy and prophetic church seeking to purify itself by repentance can we fulfill what is asked of us in preparation for a new world, a new order, a new and glorious way of living in God’s creation. We don’t have to do this alone, but we have to do it, and John suggests that we do it together. We are not saved so much from something as we are saved for something. With this understanding a different way of living and experiencing “church” comes into focus that shapes our identity and draws us into covenant as God’s People. This is why the Eucharist is the center of our lives: a Eucharist that is not my private communion experience, but my bonding and my fellowship with everyone around me. The communion we experience here is not just between me and Jesus, but a communion of saints as we profess in the creed with most of those saints all around us in here.

The truth and the reality of this covenant lived by us as church is what levels hills and fill in valleys. The biggest hill and deepest valley right now is the idolatry of the individual, and the ugly fact of racism. The truth of our communion through and with and in Christ is what we celebrate and become as a church, for in the unity of our lives together there is no longer a “them” and an “us”. There can no longer be “those people”. There are no “foreigners” in Christ or in his Church. We are, all of us, pilgrims, and without one another we will be lost.

The truth of this reality lived in unity as a church will have profound impact upon this world which seems more and more to separate and divide us to isolate and demonize people who only seem different. Those sorcerers of fear whose strident voices are amplified everywhere these days would have us divided and suspicious, walled up and distrustful of the goodness of human nature as God made us. The place where we first taste the Kingdom of God is here as church. The model of how we must live in the Kingdom of God is here in the unity we find in faith. The hope by which we live together is sustained by increasing our love for one another so that the good work God has begun in us will be completed on the day of Jesus Christ. Perhaps then Advent is not so much about the coming of Christ as it is about what we are becoming because of Christ.

Saint Peter the Apostle Parish in Naples, FL.    Jeremiah 33, 14-16 X Psalm 25 X 1 Thessalonians 3, 12-4, 2 X Luke 21, 25-28, 34-36

When we put aside all of the apocalyptic language and images in this text which can so distract us, we are left with three simple and direct statements from the mouth of Jesus that carries the message of Luke’s twenty-first chapter: “your redemption is at hand”, “be vigilant”, and “pray”.

There has never been a time in human history without danger and a cause for fear. In our own life-time we have lived through all sorts of threats and dangers. As a child I remember Oklahoma tornados. Some of you grew up with hurricanes, and some with earthquakes. Whatever it is, it makes you anxious and sometimes downright fearful. As a child I remember those metal rectangular signs with a circle divided by black and yellow triangles. Then it was the fear of an atomic bomb launched by the enemy we were taught was out to destroy and enslave us. Later I have discovered in aging that there are other things to fear: those little melanomas that dot so many of our faces, forgetfulness, the fear that bad cholesterol, our blood pressure and sugar levels all so carefully monitored mostly out of fear.  If it isn’t things we fear, its people, and that might be worse. We fear foreigners forgetting that our ancestors belonged to that category. We fear terrorists; and not knowing what they look like, we simply fear people who do not look like us, and as a result they fear us which only confounds and increases the level of fear.

This is the setting in which these words of Jesus are spoken: a time of fear and threat, danger and anxiety. The people to whom Luke wrote first were living in a time of great trial and tribulation under the persecution of Romans and the hatred of some Israelites. To them he says: “Your redemption is at hand”. “Be vigilant”. “Pray.” This living Gospel is as significant today as it was then.

The language surrounding this instruction is taken directly from the Old Testament language and images describing the day of salvation. A people who proclaim this Gospel are a people living not at the end of time, but at the dawn of salvation. These are a people who have wait and watch, who pray and rejoice in the presence of the Messiah whose presence is not in the future, but now. If we believe that Christ has come and risen from the dead, then there is nothing to fear because fear and faith are not compatible. If we are vigilant watching for the signs of that presence day in and day out, we shall become ourselves signs of that presence by the respect and love with which we live together in peace and in charity. If we are steadfast in prayer, that love and that faith transforms our lives into unmistakable signs of God’s glory because prayer of these people is not a panic stricken cry in fear for deliverance, but a song of glory, praise, and thanksgiving that gives to God without asking for anything in return. For in the end, what more could we ask for than our redemption?

The reading from St Paul that the church pairs with this Gospel today provides sound wisdom from Paul and the church of Thessalonica that was braving great trials. He proposes one way, the only way to live through and to live in a time of threat without fear. It is a wisdom still important today when the public rhetoric of leaders and future leaders would ramp up fear to justify their ideologies and persuade us that something other than Christ and the Gospel will bring peace.

The only thing, says Paul, that will strengthen our hearts is an increase of love that will lead us to conduct our lives in a way that is pleasing to God. The future is in God’s hands, and only God will bring it to fulfillment. What we do know is the outcome which we have already experienced in the resurrection of Christ who, having been obedient and pleasing to his Father, was victorious over hatred, violence and death. So it shall be with us and for us, because Christ has died, Christ is risen, and………Christ will come again. That is the best song and the best prayer for this Advent.

November 22, 2015 at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL

Daniel 7, 13-14 + Psalm 93 + Revelation 1, 5-8 + John 18, 33-37

There is something very political about this feast. The very establishment of this feast in history was a political statement. Yet there are some who rant and rave at courageous preachers saying that they are talking “politics” rather than “religion” from their pulpits, and that accusation always makes me wonder what those people are thinking on this feast that summarizes all we have heard from the Gospels for the last year. Calling Jesus a King is a political statement. Pilate certainly knew that, and if Jesus is a King, this is problematic not just for Pilate, but for us as well.

The culture in which live has trivialized the truth about this King who threatens Pilate so seriously. Now we have Elvis, the King of Rock and Roll, Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson, depending on your tastes. Some think Lebron James is the King of Basketball, and the American Music Awards think Justin Bieber is “King”. With this kind of silliness it is a bit difficult to see what Pilate’s problem was, and how it might be a problem for us as well, but it still is for those who take seriously the Gospel and the Resurrection. If you believe that Christ has risen from the dead, then there is a king your life, and this has real life political and social implications.

Attempts to dismiss this reality by misunderstanding or misinterpreting a response Jesus makes to Pilate is what trivializes the Kingship of Christ to begin with. If the Kingship of Christ is not of this world right now, there is no point in us being in here because it is by establishing his Kingdom here and now that we have that eternal kingdom. It has to start somewhere, and he came to start it here among us and with us. He never told us to wait. He taught how to live and what to do in order to become citizens of that Kingdom right now.

We are so removed from castles and crusades, kings and crowns however that we seem to have forgotten what it means for someone to be king. It is not about rock and roll, pop music, or basketball. It is about power and who rules your life. It is about authority. Maybe we should change the name of this feast and call it: President Sunday, or Commander in Chief Sunday, or Boss Sunday? Maybe Jesus my Coach Sunday because that is what it means – it is about who has authority and power in my life, and that is what makes this a political issues. Those who think that politics and religion don’t mix fail to get the point of John 18. Politics and Religion go together like turkey and dressing.

In the 20^th century, not long ago, during the times of racial segregation in South Africa, when the people with white skin ruled over those with dark skin, whole congregations were arrested, because they didn’t follow those rules. They claimed Christ as their king and not the government or the laws of segregation. And they were arrested. All 240 members, from  a church, babies to 90 year olds, were put in jail because they claimed Christ as their king, and insisted that Christ would not stand for segregation. It is dangerous to call Jesus king.

The Pilates of the world use their power and authority for selfish reasons with no concern for the community. Meanwhile Jesus gets on his hands and knees and washes his disciple’s feet. He sheds every last ounce of his blood caring for those whom he leads. He gives his life to bring life. The Pilates of the world bring terror, even when things are calm. Jesus brings peace, even in the midst of terror. The Pilates use violence to conquer and divide the world. Jesus tells his disciples to put away their swords. You can see why the Pilates of the world don’t like the Jesus’ of the world.

To claim Christ as your king is to give Jesus authority over your life and no one else. And the struggle is that King Jesus looks nothing like the kings we’ve come to know. He comes not as a boss but as a servant. He comes in power but in love. He comes not enhance his own life but to give it away. Jesus doesn’t waver like Pilate going back and forth from the crowd to Jesus trying to decide whether to cave in to popular ways or do what is right. Jesus has already made his choice. Jesus has decided to love this world and all the people in it. People like us. So the love of Jesus is yours. You have it. The question becomes whether that love has any impact on our life or not. Does it matter? Will we let Jesus be the light in our life guiding us? Will Jesus be our king? I think we are trying to say “yes”; but it can’t just be in here one Sunday of the year.

Sunday of the Renewal of the Church   Saint George Maronite Catholic Church in Uniontown, PA

November 8, 2015   John 10, 22-42

A man decided his wife was getting hard of hearing. So he called her doctor to make an appointment to have her hearing checked. The doctor said he could see her in two weeks, but meanwhile there was a simple, informal test the husband could do to give the doctor some idea of the dimensions of the problem.

“Here’s what you do,” he said. “Stand about 40 feet away from her, and speak in a normal conversational tone and see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response.”

That evening his wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he’s in the living room, and he says to himself, “I’m about 40 feet away, let’s see what happens.”

“Honey, what’s for supper?” No response.

So he moves to the other end of the room, about 30 feet away.

“Honey, what’s for supper?” No response.

So he moves into the dining room, about 20 feet away. “Honey, what’s for supper?” No response.

On to the kitchen door, only 10 feet away. “Honey, what’s for supper?” No response.

So he walks right up behind her. “Honey, what’s for supper?”

She turns around and says, “For the FIFTH time, CHICKEN!!!!”

We laugh because this is sometimes how it is in our lives. We are either deaf to what is really going on, or we think it is the other person’s problem when really it is our own. Sometimes, we have selective hearing, and we hear what we only want to hear. This text today is all about listening and hearing – following the voice of Jesus.

Sounds easy, but in this world today, we hear a lot of voices. There are voices out there telling us who we are, what we should want, what you should be. There are voices telling us to do this, don’t do that. You’re too fat. You’re too skinny. You’ll never amount to much. You’re a sinner. You don’t measure up. You are crazy. Take these drugs. You are wrong. There are voices telling us to believe this, buy this, drive that, wear this, go there, do your homework now (always follow that voice!). There are voices on Fox News and MSNBC? Which describes reality? Who is telling the truth: Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, James Brady, the NRA, John Boehner, or Nancy Pelosi? It is too much, and it is no surprise that we turn it all off.

The essential question of faith is “Whose voice are you listening to, what voice do you hear, and what voice do you trust?” The faith task is to hone in, lean towards to the source, the authentic Divine voice and listen intently and then to act on what you hear. Saint Benedict advises his monks to listen with the ears of the heart. A heart grounded in fear is going to shape your hearing and your living. A heart grounded in suspicion is going make you skeptical of what you hear and it will shape your outlook with the ugliness of cynicism. This is a great danger for us now when so many voices sound so angry and are filled with fear. The fear sews the seeds of doubt and distrust creating a nasty and polluted environment that is self-serving and protective. Without the voice of Jesus in the midst of this din, we will go deaf to the sound of his promise and his presence.

We are the church, a community with a common desire to listen and follow Christ. That is the most important thing. For us, no other voice takes precedence. What we hear in this holy place in the reading of the Word, the singing of the hymns, the holy silences that are so rich is one powerful and healing message. We are loved. You don’t have to know the one who speaking. Your heart must interpret the message. Hear the voice of love and move toward it. In a dog-eat-dog world of competition and anger, we move through the valley of shadow with the words of love in our ear and the banner of love around our shoulders.

Hear the voice of hospitality and know that you are welcome here. You do not have to have your theological stuff together. You are welcome now, and so is everyone else. We will get ourselves together in time as we decide to stay together.

Hear the voice of generosity. It is the voice of God who has given us so much and asked so little except that we imitate this divine giving with joy and laughter.

Hear the voice of justice and compassion. It is often the cry of the homeless and the hungry, of the immigrant, and those who flee violence and oppression.

This is the voice of creation: this voice of love, hospitality, generosity, justice and compassion. This is the voice that renews the Church this Sunday. It is the voice that will renew each of us in the Spirit of Saint Maron, Saint Rafca, Saint Sharbel, and all their companion in whose footsteps we walk today with laughter and with joy and in always in peace.

The 32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time   St Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, Fl

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

There are two points of focus in the text of today’s Gospel. We are easily drawn toward the widow either in admiration or out of our usual concern for the “underdog”, so to speak. She is the poor one who stirs us with both pity and admiration. It’s easy to preach about her, I can assure you. Her behavior is admirable, and we are naturally drawn toward the generosity she expresses so humbly. However, this text is not only about her. She just happens to pass by while Jesus is speaking to the Scribes. It is hard to tell which group, the Pharisees or the Scribes was more trouble for Jesus, but I suspect it was the Scribes. They were his most fierce opponents. The Scribes were among the most eminent in that society. They wore great and fine long robes. People were expected to stand respectfully when they passed by. They had a reserved, comfortable, and prominent seat in the synagogue directly in front of the sacred scrolls. They used their privileges to exploit others. They were forbidden to receive payment for teaching, so they depended upon private donations for their living. Subsidizing a scribe was considered a great act of piety. To cover up their unethical behavior, they would recite long prayers. The problem was not the prayer however, it was the fact that instead of being directed to God, their prayers were aimed at people for the sake of the show. The admiration of the people was the only merit they would receive, says Jesus.

The warning that comes from Jesus in this text does not suggest that holding someone in esteem is wrong, but that there is a spiritual danger here that must be acknowledged and remembered by those who are so blessed and so gifted. The danger is that “entitlement” will creep in causing someone to feel that they are owed something because of who they are or because of what they have done. This is the point of contrast Jesus makes for his disciples between the scribes and the widow.

When Jesus calls the disciples to himself in Mark’s gospel, it is a signal that something important is about to take place or that a very solemn declaration is to be given. God measures gifts given on a totally different set of calculations than we do. Which is more significant, her pennies or the big contributions that built the place? God looks to the motives. Her gift was a sacrifice. She did without something to drop in her coins. Others gave from their surplus – from what was left over after they had taken care of themselves and their comfortable needs. Her gift meant that she would rely on God now to provide her next meal. The others held back, just in case. For them there was always some doubt that God might not provide, so they should provide for themselves. I find it very remarkable that the words of praise Jesus speaks for the woman are the last words spoken by the Lord in the Temple. He overturns everything anyone might think about that place. Its greatest pillars, teachers, and leaders are not those privileged Scribes, but the little people who come there out of faith and trust in God.

When we place the present into this text, we are warned against feeling privileged and acting on that feeling. We are reminded that the church, like the temple, flourishes most and best when those overlooked, forgotten, ignored, and disregarded because of their state in life claim the place and find it to be home.

This calls to mind for me the tradition around St Lawrence the Deacon of Rome responsible for distributing the alms. In 258, by decree of the emperor, the pope and six deacons were beheaded, leaving Lawrence the ranking Church official in Rome. The city prefect called him and demanded that he hand over the treasure of the church. Lawrence responded that the church was indeed very rich, and asked for a little time to gather the treasure. He then went all over the city seeking out the poor and the infirm. On the third day, he gathered a great crowd of orphans, widows, the lame and all the sick inviting the prefect come and see the wonderful riches of God. The prefect was furious; in a rage he ordered Lawrence to be put to death on a gridiron over a slow fire leaving us to remember where richness is found and what is blessed in God’s sight.

Jesus has gathered us together and spoken very clearly about the danger of thinking we are special and the consequent behavior that follows. He has spoken again about what motivates our generosity, and about how our generosity reveals our trust in God and imitates the generosity of God who makes no distinctions about who deserves what when it comes to love and mercy.

The 31st Sunday of the year and The Feast of All Saints

St Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL

November 01, 2015

Revelation 7, 2-4, 9-14 + Psalm 24 + 1 John 3, 1-3 + Matthew 5, 1-12

Some years ago when I was pastor at a parish with a school, I dropped in one of the classrooms about this time of the year for a visit. They were all getting ready for the All Saints Day Mass when they paraded around dressed in costumes like the Saint they had chosen to study. So I asked the children what they thought someone had to do to become a saint. Before I had taken a breath after the question, little miss “knows all the answers” shot her hand up in the air lifting herself out of the desk announcing quite confidently that to be a saint you had to be dead. There was agreement all the way around. Another announced that you had to have a gold plate on your head. As I was writing all of this in my notebook hiding my face for fear they would think I was laughing at them, the discussion began to get very animated. Some thought you had to suffer a lot, others expressed the thought that you had to say your prayers all day long, then someone said you had obey your father and mother, clean your room, pick up your toys, and feed the dog. At which point, I closed the notebook and decided that there was work to do here. I gave them a homework assignment which was welcomed about as much as a bee sting, but nonetheless, they were assigned to ask their parents to tell them the story of their baptism: who was there, what it was like, how they felt, and where it happened. I went back the next day, and sat down to hear the stories. They were wonderfully shared the only way third graders can embellish details.

After it all ended, I suggested to them that on the day of their baptism they had already become saints, and that basically that was all it took from us; after that, God did the rest. In all their excited innocence those children revealed, as they so often do, a lot about us as adults. They thought, and sometimes we do too, that holiness is the consequence of something done. People who try to be “saints” or try to be holy usually end up being pious, and sometimes a little bit on the freaky side of pious. They are hard to be around. Conversations with them are rarely fun, and they don’t seem to smile and laugh much. They are too busy trying to be holy or look like those images on holy cards.

This day in the calendar of the Church’s celebrations gets easily sidetracked by thinking about others, or about imagining that this is a day to catch up on all the others who have no day to themselves in the list of saints on the calendar. I think not. I would propose to you that this is All Saints Day. All meaning all of us, all who are baptized into Christ, all upon whom is given the grace and gift of love, mercy, and forgiveness. I believe that the children in that third grade classroom were saints not because they were perfectly obedient, said all their prayers, cleaned their rooms, or fed the dog, but because they were third graders living and being just exactly what God made them to be at the moment.

Holiness is not something we do, it is something we are, and because of what we are, what we do agrees, confirms, and bears witness that we are as children of God. You can’t try to be holy. That’s weird. You can try to be who you are made to be, what you are made to become. The path to holiness is a one way street to sincerity, simplicity, and the truth: the truth about who we are. Mothers and Father find holiness and bear witness to that grace by simply being mom and dad. Brothers and Sisters are most holy when they live in the joyful bond of family life. Single people who live the freedom of their lives for the service and good others find their holiness in the right use of their gifts and the generosity of their lives. There is no pretense in these lives, there is no struggle to be anything other than what we were made and called to be in God’s sight. This is holiness, and this is also Happiness.

Contrary to what little miss “knows all the answers” thinks, Matthew suggests that the Blessed, the Happy, are not those who are dead, but those who are alive, fully alive, living in every moment of every day, good and bad times, able to laugh and to weep, work and play, peaceful and confident that the love of God will not fail. The truly holy, the real saints are not the sinless; but the saved who celebrate and live that salvation every day with Joy.

October 25, 2015 at St Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL

Jeremiah 31, 7-9 + Psalm 126 + Hebrews 5, 1-6 + Mark 10, 46-52

This is the last healing event in Mark’s Gospel. Jesus is almost to Jerusalem. He has just spoken for the third and last time of the suffering and death that awaits him in Jerusalem. It is amazing to me that these disciples who have been with Jesus so long want to silence this blind man. He may be blind, but he sees something they have failed to see, and he has faith that they have still not found. He knows where to go for what he needs. When Jesus asks him what he wants, I suspect that it was for the sake of the others who have been telling him to shut up.

Bartimaeus has come to Jesus. He expresses his faith and his need, and there comes the response: “Be on your way. Your faith has healed you.” The response of Jesus is very important. He confirms the faith of Bartimaeus. Does Jesus heal the man, or is it his faith? We should pay attention to this detail revealed by the command. What faith has done for Bartimaeus is bring him to Jesus. That is the experience of his healing, coming to Jesus. What the story unfolds for us then is what faith does: bring us to Jesus in whose presence we find healing.

The faith of this man would not be discouraged or diminished by a crowd who told him to shut up. He stands up to their insult and dismissal, because this is what people of faith do; they wait and they watch no matter what for the moment when they can come into the presence of Jesus, the Son of David. In that presence whatever is needed is found, whatever is lacking is provided. The final evidence of this faith is seen in the decision Bartimaeus makes. Jesus says: “Be on your way.” Bartimaeus says by his action: “My way is your way” and he follows Jesus down the road all the way to Jerusalem we can only suppose.

So we proclaim a story of faith today that is the story of mercy. The faith we share must lead us to Jesus. The faith we share must give us courage to stand up to those who might want us to be silent. The faith we share in the company of Jesus will satisfy all our needs and free us to set our feet on the road to Jerusalem with Christ Jesus. This is a story of the Church which has at its heart the mission of faith, the mission of bringing people to Jesus Christ. There are still people who cannot see. There are still people sitting by the side of the road. There are still people living on the margins of society and at the margins of the church itself, and sometimes we tell them to keep quiet, because like that crowd following Jesus, we have not yet seen what there is to see, and taken the courage of faith seriously enough to throw aside our cloaks, our old ways and our old habits.

Mercy is the mission of the church, and mercy is our mission. Having come to Jesus ourselves, and having found the sight to see as Jesus sees, we must gather up others who are left on the side of life’s road, the homeless, jobless, and hopeless, the broken and abandoned the abused, the fear filled refugees and all from the margins of society and darkness to come with us along the way all the way to Jerusalem where, having entered into the passion and death of Christ, we shall share in his victory and his glory. There is no other way. There is no other hope. There is no place for us to find what we need.

October 18, 2015

Isaiah 53, 10-11 + Psalm 33 + Hebrews 4, 14-16 + Mark 10, 35-45  Saint John Nepomuk Church in Yukon, OK

There is a seriously complicated issue in this text that does one of two things: drive people away from God or confuse the image of God Jesus has consistently revealed leading us to ignore the contradiction causing us to miss what is revealed. To misread and therefore misunderstand these words: “as a ransom for many” can lead us to think that God’s forgiveness is conditional upon the death of a victim or that there is some kind of contract between God and the victim that God requires before there is forgiveness. This kind of thinking is an insult to the mighty love of God. So we have to dig deeper with mature minds and informed faith. Suggesting that God actually demanded the death of someone in order to liberate everyone does not go down well for me, and I hope it does not for you either. What kind of a God is this?

At some practical level it might be fruitful to spend time critiquing the attitude that is evident in the conversation of the disciples. Their “What’s in it for me” attitude is hardly admirable, and there is a lesson for us there as well. Their desire to share the glory without sharing what it takes to get there brings a warning as well, because none of us will have share in the Glory of the risen Lord if we avoid passing through the passion and death. But there is more being revealed here than something about the apostles that can teach us about true discipleship. Something about God is being revealed here that takes a little digging and thinking to realize. It also means we have to push back the boundaries we sometimes drag into our thinking about God that are not helpful.

Imagining God and God’s behavior from our experience of human nature is not helpful. It is a consequence of making God in our own image instead of the way it really is intended. Thinking that God would demand a ransom, that there is some price to be paid to purchase God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness is making God in our image. It is the same error we heard last week with that man who thought he could do something to be saved. This business of a ransom, of making people pay up, or this kind of bargaining: that’s the stuff we do, it is not the God revealed by Jesus Christ. This tendency to imagine God or God’s behavior in terms of our behavior is the way myths develop, and it was quite common at the time of Christ and still hung on as the Gospels were being formed. Mythical elements and images of God are tough to break out of. This is what Jesus confronted again and again revealing a God who does not live by our rules, act like we do, (thank goodness!) and a God not bound by man-made rules. This is what made those Pharisees and Scribes so frustrated.

The wonder and mystery of the cross is a mystery of the love that is God’s very being. “God is Love.” Even at the moment of Jesus’ death, God is love. At the moment when we might think they are most separated, they are in fact united in a single love for the salvation of the world. Bloodshed and death are signs that express love. It is not the death that saves us, but the love it signifies. The death was needed to show that love might find expression and convince the world of love’s reality. This love is expressed in the very words of Jesus at his most desperate hour. “Father forgive them” he says. Not if they say they are sorry, not if they endure terrible punishment, not if they do penance for the rest of their lives. He simply offers forgiveness without conditions or payment. That is Love. That is God. There is no swap going on here where by God punishes God’s only Son rather than punish us. Jesus does not die so that we might not die. He dies to show us how to live, and to lead us into that fullness of life marked by and revealing Love. This is Mercy. It is, what I like to call, the Divine Surprise. We who like to measure out everything and want everything to be fair and equal, are surprised to find that it is not so with God. Like the father who gives both sons all they need no matter how they behave; like the master who pays people hired at the last hour more than they earned, and like every other example Jesus has put before us, there is always a measure of joyful surprise at the Mercy of God.

As Pope Francis proclaims a year of mercy, we have every reason to join in that celebration because the mercy is not just ours to receive, but ours to give. The Son has been sent into the world and dies in this world to show us Divine Love. He is obedient and surrenders not to death so much as to the power of mercy. In this death, he forgives us all, and in his resurrection he brings us all to victory with him, freeing us for eternal life. That is a revelation worth a celebration. Let’s get on with it, and make sure that we carry it with us into this world longing for mercy and to those needing forgiveness whether they ask for it or not.

Saint Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL

Wisdom 7, 7-11+ Psalm 90 + Hebrews 4, 12-13 + Mark 10, 17-30

The man thinks that by keeping the rules or the “commandments” he can save himself. He is mistaken, and so are all those who continue to buy into this error on two levels. First of all, he thinks he can earn his salvation. When Jesus points out what it might take, he and the apostles who are observing all of this realize that the effort is hopelessly impossible. It is more than any of us can accomplish. Jesus responds by affirming however that God can do all things. It is only God who saves. We do not save ourselves.

The second error is not just about giving away the riches he may have. There is nothing wrong with the riches. The error comes from relying on those riches for security and safety, thinking they will get him what he wants. The issue is not the riches, but the reliance on those riches. It is this misplaced trust that Jesus corrects, not the wealth. The giving away of that wealth however is the test that reveals wherein one has placed their trust. Jesus is confronting reliance upon anything other than God. Those with many riches are not lost, they are simply more challenged than anyone else because the temptation to rely or depend on those riches is very great. Those with many riches have greater temptations and greater responsibility for their use of those riches.

Yet, wealth is not the only thing that leads us away from trusting in God. Power is just as seductive especially when seen as military might. Having the biggest bombs, army, and power has not gotten us any closer to peace. The temptation to rely on those material things is, by the lesson of this gospel, foolish. It is fellowship with Christ and trust in God that will bring and preserve peace. Investing in and attention to the social conditions that lead to violence shifts our reliance onto God’s concerns. Motivated by one’s spirituality and a sense of justice rooted in the dignity of human life is relying upon God who is mercy and whose presence is peace.

Physical beauty is another substitute for trusting in God. People who rely on their looks and cultivate those looks to build relationships are trapped by the culture in which we live. They spend more time cultivating their outward appearance while neglecting the soul and the spiritual life that has God as the center.

It is the attachments that we rely upon that keep us from true discipleship. A kind of Gospel detachment sets us free and liberates us from concerns that in the end have no way to lead us home. Misplaced attachments cause worry, anxiety, and fear. These feelings have no place in the lives and hearts of disciples who are one with Christ. The measure of worry, anxiety, and fear in our lives tells us clearly how much we have come to trust in God and rely upon God’s grace.

The disciples are astonished with what is being revealed here. The power of God and the grace of God’s love is always astonishing to those who are surprised by God’s mercy and the power of love. Such surprise is only possible when we are free and open to gifts greater than the ones we imagine and believe are so important.

The amazing thing about this encounter between Jesus and the man of wealth is that it has no conclusion. We are simply told that he went away, and that his sadness was even shared by Jesus. We can hope that he came back to experience again that look of love having discovered that he could live without all of his stuff, and that the freedom he found without it is better than the worry of how to keep it and how to earn salvation which is only possible with God who wills it for us all.

St Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL

Genesis 2, 18-24 + Psalm 128 + Hebrews 2, 9-11 + Mark 10, 2-16

The Gospel today reminds us that ultimately the work of Jesus Christ was to restore us to the conditions of Paradise, to take us back home, back to that “Garden”, into that relationship with God once marked by obedience, fidelity, and love. The inspired writer of these verses from Genesis was interested only in asserting the equality of woman. In human terms, she is not a different kind of being from man, and is not inferior to him. She is his partner and equal. Being a “helpmate” does not imply that she is less. The union between them is so great and strong that there can be no question of breaking it without destroying their very identity. So this text is about equality between man and woman. That is what Adam is proclaiming when he says that she is “bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh”. It is a declaration of equality. They are equal. They are one.

On the basis of this understanding then Jesus says to those who would trap him that God’s plan matters more than a man-made plan, with this “arrangement” that permitted a man to divorce a woman for any frivolous reason while a woman had not right to divorce whatsoever. Jesus is turning the whole system upside down using the divorce example to confront injustice and the abuse of one person by another. While these verses may lead us off to wonderful reflections on marriage, they are really a headlong confrontation of Jesus with a cultural system that accommodates the power of one over another and tolerates the abuse of one by another. This is not God’s will.

Unity, and oneness is God’s will. So the healing of what is broken and the restoration of all the wonderful conditions of Paradise is the work of Jesus Christ. Recovering what was lost with leaving Paradise is what Jesus called, “The Reign of God.” Jesus has come to take us there, to take us home. He began that work at the very spot where the Father’s plan was interrupted by the choice of Adam and Eve to be disobedient and unfaithful. He began at a wedding in Cana. A wedding, a marriage, this magnificent union of man and woman is a sign of our hope and intention to live within the Reign of God.

This text is not a condemnation of people who have experienced the tragedy of divorce. It is an affirmation that it is not good to be alone. It is an affirmation that God has chosen man and woman to be equal partners united with God in the continuing work of creation. So to decide to build a life with another is to make an act of faith proclaiming publicly, the power of possibility. It is to declare faith in the future. When a man and woman stand before God and say, “I do,” they are really saying, “I do believe. I do believe that my tomorrows will be better because of this person I marry today. I do believe in starting a family. I do believe in continuing what began with that first man and woman.” In this way, countless men and women who enter into marriage affirm that mystery, and they proclaim that they will care for one another, no matter what. They proclaim that they believe that their future together will be brighter because this other person is a part of it. They are saying: we are part of a story stretching back to the beginnings of time. And they are saying something more: we want to continue the story, by becoming a family to one another, and welcoming children, and letting God continue his creative work. There is nothing more pro-life than that. Respecting life is about being open to life, every blessed second of it, in all its wonder and disappointments and challenges and setbacks and joys. It is saying yes to the ongoing miracle of creation, no matter how small or needy or imperfect it might be. The mystery and wonder of a woman and a man who say “yes” to God’s call to share in the ongoing creation of the world is the most visible and concrete testimony to faith we could ask for.

We will stand in a just a moment and recite the Creed to give witness to our faith and our unity while all around us in this place there are living witnesses to faith and unity in the marriages that give us all cause to rejoice. It is not good to be alone, and that is why it is so good to be here as church, as family, as faithful people who seek to know, obey, and find peace in doing the will of God and completing the work of Jesus Christ.