Isiah 55: 6-9 + Psalm 145 + Philemon 1:20-24, 27 + Matthew 20: 1-16

September 24, 2023 at St William and St Peter Catholic Churches in Naples, FL

This is really a cool parable to hear right now as the Auto Workers go out on strike. And since I firmly believe that the Gospel is for the present time and not some history book of old sayings. Jesus Christ just spoke this parable to us just as really as he did once before to his disciples, the “in group.” Perhaps more than any of the parables, this one shakes us up, and I can remember hearing it when I was a lot younger and thinking: “That’s not fair. Those guys who worked the longest should get the most.” When that thinking starts, you know there is something deeper going on here, and a message that just might rub us the wrong way.

If you move around in this scene and look at it from the perspective of each character, some interesting ideas emerge. What about that land owner? He needed to get the job done, and as the day went on, he realized that he didn’t have enough help, so he went looking for others. He promised a fare wage, and he kept his promise.

What about those workers hired in the morning? They were promised a fair wage. What are they complaining about, a generous land owner? Yet, equal pay for vastly unequal work does not seem right. But maybe this parable is not really focused on wages but on motives.

What about those workers who came on the job late in the day. It’s easy to think they just didn’t get up in the morning and were too lazy to get to work, but maybe they had been looking for work all day desperately going from one place to another until someone finally hired them. We don’t know why they were not working in the morning. What we do know is that all their needs are the same – feeding a hungry family.

When you move around inside the story, it seems to me that one thing comes clear. The owner of the vineyard was more interested in supplying their need than in measuring their contribution to his task. His judgement was not based on how hard or long someone worked, but rather on each one of those workers’ right to life and just wage to support that life.

This is not about capitalism and meritocracy nearly as much as it is about justice. That urge to say “Not fair” can overwhelm the many messages here and avoid the challenges. We all like to calculate our own worthiness. It’s comforting, but it does not always lead us toward a real just society. The growing wage disparity in this world should be troubling to us challenging us to call into question what’s really fair and what’s really just. How can those two things really be opposed by any disciple of Christ? The dignity of human work and the importance of a just wage is something too rarely considered these days until we can no longer ignore the multimillion-dollar bonuses and salaries collected by CEOs who sometime are more concerned about profit and keeping share- holders happy than the needs of those who make those profits.

In the end, this parable is really about generosity, leaving us to wonder what’s wrong with those complaining who got what they were promised. Resentment has no place in the heart of any disciple. Are they jealous of someone who seems to be more generous than they are?

This parable comes after the story of the rich young man and Peter’s claim to have given up everything wanting to know what he is going to get out of it. Like those parables, this is really about relationships, the owner and the workers or between the master and disciples. Ultimately it is about getting the mission accomplished not the rewards. We have work to do. We don’t need to be looking around at what anyone else is doing. There are too many empty pews in this church.

Sirach 27: 30-28:7 + Psalm 103 + Romans 14: 7-9 + Matthew 18: 21-35

September 17, 2023 at St Peter and St William Churches in Naples, Fl

Jesus speaks to us today about Mercy, which is much deeper and far more rich and healing than forgiveness. Peter, probably trying to look grand and magnanimous comes up with what, to him, must seem like a large number. Jesus will have none of his silly counting ideas and he proposes to us something greater than forgiveness. Forgiveness is a great gift, but there is something greater. Mercy goes further than forgiveness because it is underserved, and it comes without asking. It is a pure gift, an incredible gift that must be accepted. Through this parable Jesus teaches us that because God is merciful we must, in turn, be merciful to others. We have no right to ask for mercy if we are not prepared and willing to give it, and that is what we see in this parable. 

All of us face situations when we struggle to let go of bitterness, anger, or resentment. We sometimes feel that if we forgive someone who has harmed us in any way, they get “off the hook” with no consequences. So, we fool ourselves into thinking we will take the “high road” and let them suffer without our forgiveness.  Then too, we begin to think that if we just forgive again and again, people will just walk all over us. So, we offer ourselves more “realistic” advice. “I’ll forgive maybe once, but three times, and you’re out.” All the while we ignore what God has said through the Apostle, Paul in his Letter to the Romans: “Beloved, do not look for revenge. Leave room for my wrath.” 

Forgiveness comes from a humble person. The prideful can never forgive because it requires dying to self, our pride, our desire to be right, our thirst of revenge which is really our desire to play God. When we get trapped in this mood of righteousness refusing forgiveness, we need to pray for mercy like never before lest we condemn ourselves when we pray as Jesus taught us.

There is a great tragedy if we exempt ourselves from the law of Jesus, the law of love and forgiveness. If we establish for ourselves a new reality; if vengeance and retribution are what we embrace, then that’s what we are left with, a hardened heart. There is always the risk that a hard heart might become so hardened that even a kind and merciful God could not soften it.

Forgiveness is never a business deal. I’ll forgive you if you do such and such. This is when mercy enters experience. With mercy there is no “if”, no conditions. We give what we hope to receive. Perhaps if we look at it this way, we give mercy creating an empty space in our hearts. It is into that empty space that the Lord himself can refill what has been given away.

Forgiveness, and its motive, mercy is really a decision we make. It is a decision to be different from the offender, a decision to not let what has been done to me dictate how I act to that person or anyone else for that matter. It is mercy that takes the arithmetic out of Peter’s idea of forgiveness. A parable about the Kingdom of God tells us that mercy is for those who are merciful. Those without mercy shall live without the Kingdom of God.

Ezekiel 33: 7-9 + Psalm 95 + Romans 13: 8-10 + Matthew 18: 15-20

September 10, 2023 on the MS Zaandam at Sea

The verses of Matthew’s Gospel that the Church puts before us are complex, and as usual, Matthew has little gems buried in these verses that should get our attention. What we really have here is a peek into the working of the earliest church communities. Matthew is confirming the method by which his community is to maintain unity and harmony. One of those little gems is the note that shifts the responsibility for binding and loosing from Peter to the whole church. The first time this binding and loosing instruction is given Jesus speaks to Peter. This time it is to the church. In other words, the work of forgiveness and healing is not just responsibility of the authorities. We are all responsible for each other. 

Something about us makes us like that idea of binding, and we often find it a lot easier to do than loosening. We like to enforce the rules and punish the rule-breakers. It makes us feel good, and of course, it usually distracts from our own rule breaking. As long as we can keep people focused on someone else’s offences, our own may not show.

While it might be easier to reflect upon these verses as an instruction on discipline, it’s really not about that at all. These verses, this teaching of Jesus Christ to us reveals God’s desire that we take care of each other, that we help one another and together seek the what is best for us all as we make our way to the Father. This is the way to make sure that no one is lost. The debt of love that that we owe one another in Christ compels us to build up one another Lord. Without the love as our motive, we run the risk of speaking out of self-righteousness, judgmentalism, or feelings of superiority. All that does is insult, hurt, and shame. 

God created us to live in unity with Him and with each other. We can know that unity because God’s only Son removed everything that separated and divided us like leprosy and blindness, and even death. The gift of the Spirit provides everything we need to live in this unity.

Our Holy Father, Francis, has been trying to teach us exactly what this Gospel encourages, that the first step toward healing our brokenness, binding up what is broken and gathering in those who are lost or feel shoved aside is to listen. Four times that verb shows up in these five verses. If we can just listen to each other, we have every chance to make a friend and find a brother or sister. 

Jerimiah 20: 7-9 + Psalm 63 + Romans 12: 1-2 + Matthew 16: 21-27

September 3, 2023 on board the MS Zaandam departing Montréal

The one who fed the multitude, who calmed the water, drove out evil spirits, and broke down social barriers by healing the daughter of a Canaanite woman is now the one who will be put to death. It doesn’t make sense. It does not match our idea of what a Savior or Messiah should do any more than it did Peter who was obviously not the only person who has struggled to understand the mind of God. He had all that power at his disposal. Why would he not use it in his own defense?

That question is the key. His power is meant for the upbuilding of the Kingdom of God, not for his own comfort, safety or protection. The Gospel never says that Jesus gallantly steps forward and takes suffering upon himself. That would be a demonstration of his power. Instead, his fate will be a demonstration of his vulnerability. He will be taken forcibly and will suffer at the hands of others. He will do this willingly, but not as a volunteer. Jesus will be a victim.

It is in this behavior, in this obedience, and in this vulnerability that he teaches us about the use of power and privilege. Look at us here beginning this wonderful voyage today. We are gifted with so much, and with it comes such great responsibility and the expectation that we do not use all that we have for ourselves. 

Peter thinks that because Jesus is so favored by God and so powerful he should never experience what he is told will come to pass. Again, like Peter we sometimes think that because we keep the commandments, practice our faith, say our prayers, care for others something is wrong when we suffer disappointments, tragedies, and illness. We might think like Peter that this isn’t right and start to whine like the Prophet we just heard moaning and complaining to God.

When we get caught up in that, we are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do, and today’s Gospel teases us into a new way of thinking even about faith. Oftentimes we find faith to be like a warm comforting quilt into which we can crawl up and feel safe. But sometimes faith is a call to obedience, to suffering and sacrifice. It means being vulnerable, risking love and forgiveness when it may not be returned. Denying one’s self, as Jesus demands means that we are no longer the sole and only center of our attention, but rather that we have placed the Lord Jesus Christ at the center of our lives. When that begins to happen, the Kingdom of God will be near at hand.

Isaiah 22:19-23 + Psalm 138 + Romans 11: 33-36, 29-32 + Matthew 16:13-20

The Golden Jubilee Celebration for Father Jack Feehily

August 27, 2023 at Saint Andrew Parish in Moore Oklahoma

When Father Jack called me and invited me to stand here today, the first thing I did was look up the Gospel for the day, and I shuddered thinking, “I should have said I can’t make it.” Why couldn’t it have been a text where Jesus says, “Pick up your mat or your walker and come follow me.” But no, it has to be this one about keys for a man who no longer has any.

You have to wonder, and I suppose that’s the whole idea of the Gospel, to lead us to wonder over what in the world God is thinking. I mean after all, he seems to be building the foundation of his Church. You would think he would be looking for people with law degrees from Yale or Harvard, with business or economics degree from Stanford, or an engineer or architect from MIT. But no. He goes wandering around the seashore and calls a simple fisherman who was neither wealthy nor educated. He calls someone who over and over again puts his foot in his mouth, keeps thinking he’s in charge, is full of doubts, and not perfectly loyal nor obedient. This is the guy who gets out of the boat and sinks. This is the guy who impulsively wants to build three tents on the mountain of the Transfiguration, and then falls asleep after dinner when asked to stay awake and watch. He’s nowhere to be found during the crucifixion even after declaring that he would die for his friend.

When we see him in today’s Gospel, he is beginning to perceive the long expected and the decisive intervention and presence God in the world. That revelation he began to receive about Jesus also brought a revelation about himself, who he was and what place was to be his in a new world of the redeemed that is about to be established.

His first meeting with Jesus stirred something in him, and he wanted to know more about what Jesus had to offer, and when Jesus gave him the opportunity to do so, he acted upon it. I like to think that Jesus saw the best in him. So, we watch Peter throughout the Gospels struggle with himself, stumble, love his Lord and deny him, speak rashly and act impetuously. His life reminds us that our Lord did not come to save the virtuous and strong but to save the weak and the sinful. Simon, that simple fisherman was transformed by the Holy Spirit, becoming one of the first witnesses of the risen Lord and herald of the Gospel. He becomes aware of the need to open the Church to the Gentiles.

Peter’s story is about the extraordinary way in which God uses ordinary people to bring healing, forgiveness, hope, and joy to a lost and troubled world. God does not seem to care about how worthy we are, how adequate, or what skills we have. God seems to simply look into our hearts. When we are broken, feel ashamed and guilty, despair of ourselves and believe that we cannot possibly be loved by God, Peter reminds us that we always get a second chance.

We are here today with a man who has been broken, ashamed and guilty. We celebrate with a man who without a degree in economics or engineering has seen some debts paid off and buildings raised up probably to the surprise and relief of several contractors and architects. This is a man who has been a herald of the Gospel and been aware of the need to open the church to all of God’s children. 

Some of us, as old as he is, have watched him struggle with himself, stumble, speak rashly and act impetuously. I’ve seen him sink, but I’ve also seen him reach out his hand to the Lord and be pulled up out of the chaos, because his story is the story of God’s love, grace, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

This thing called priesthood is a great and powerful mystery full of surprises, twists and turn, ups and downs. Sometimes I think of it like rides at the State Fair when you get into a little car and ride around in the dark jerking, and being startled by things that ought to scare you, but instead leave you laughing. It is such a curious thing and such a wonder at what God can do with a piece of clay and little breath. Always leaving me to wonder what’s next and grateful for what has been.

We join this man today in expressing his gratitude to God for the 50 years of jerking around and being startled by the unexpected. In those fifty years, he has become more wise than smart. The evidence that wisdom has taken hold is calmness and perseverance.

Father, my brother, if Father Francis has not taken away your keys, he should have. The only keys you now need are the keys you have had for a long time. You can open hearts with forgiveness. You can open minds with the truth of love, and you can open the kingdom of heaven by the gentleness of your words. As a much-loved Archbishop said to you fifty years ago, “May God complete the good work he has begun in you.” Congratulations.

August 20, 2023 at Mary Mother of Light Parish in Tequesta, FL

1 Corinthians 3: 1-11 + Luke 8: 1-15 

It is important to remember how parables work learning how to listen to them because parables are not our common way of teaching. In the verses of this Gospel proclaimed today, there are two parts. The first is a parable which very likely Jesus actually spoke to the crowds. The second part is likely an addition that Saint Luke needed to write and add for the Gentiles not accustomed to this way of teaching. We should pay more attention to the parable rather than to the allegorical interpretation that Luke has added.

The opening line makes the sower the focus of the parable because that’s what Jesus always wishes to do, reveal the Father. In our times, with tractors opening up the soil, and with machines carefully and orderly dropping seeds in perfect rows, this parable’s image of a sower takes some imagination. The whole idea of throwing seed around everywhere makes no sense at all. Then, the amount of the harvest is staggering, leaving us to be further amazed which is just exactly what a parable should do, surprise and amaze. Another part of parable telling is to get the listener to do some comparison or to contrast a thing or two. In the case of this parable, one part is obviously the Father. The other part is you and me. Forget about being the seed or whatever kind of soil you might want to think you should be. That’s a distraction. This is a call to compare ourselves to God, to check and see how well we do reflect the image and likeness of God in whose image we are made. Remember that?

As Jesus tells this parable to the crowds, he raises the question about how much we are like the Father. Sadly, for many of us, the comparison can be disturbing. We are not always quite as generous with our gifts, with our time, or attention as the Father is who throws that seed everywhere. We like to measure out just how much we can spare or how much someone might deserve. We like to consider whether or not there will be a return on our “investment”, and if there is a risk, we are not likely to take it. And so, the purpose of this parable’s comparison is to give us pause to think again not just about how much like the Father we have become, but also to be reminded that even a little bit, or just a part of what we sow can produce an amazing harvest. It reminds us too that even though there may be failures and disappointments over the failure of what we have done or given to beat fruit, we can be sure that some will produce, and that it will be greater than we could ever imagine. 

The parable then reveals something about God and calling for a comparison to check on how much the divine presence, got-like behavior, and expectations have made their way into our hearts, our thinking, and shaped our behavior. Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7 + Psalm 67 + Romans 11: 13-15, 29-32 + Matthew 15: 212-28

August 20, 2023 

This homily is not delivered during Liturgy as I am serving a Maronite Community this weekend

Concerns about who is in and who is out have been going on since the beginning of time. We organize ourselves in families, neighborhoods, parishes, and all sorts of groups that give us identity, responsibilities, and sometimes privileges. Those groups have boundaries too, and we are usually quick to know who belongs and who does not, usually guarding those privileges that come from belonging so that those who do not belong get no share.

It is a challenge to the pious to see Jesus in the first part of this episode. He is less than we are always expecting him to be. The disciples are too. They want to send that woman away which is exactly what they said about the hungry crowd. She’s not the right kind. Her skin color may have been different from theirs, who knows? Besides, she’s a woman in a man’s world. That first reaction of Jesus seems to satisfy the disciples and confirm that self-protecting attitude. He dismisses her with what was probably a common insult calling her a dog. She will have none of it, and fired up with a mother’s love, she turns his insult back on him with the suggestion that even dogs can become loved family pets.

To a community made up largely of Jewish Christians working hard to figure out how to accept, understand, and live with the presence of Gentiles among them, this Gospel reveals the will of the Father. Today, the message is no less challenging and still comes to reveal the will of the Father. To a Church broken into various religions, it is a call to look again at how and where unity is to be found. To a Church separated by cultures and languages it raises the same questions. To a Church not quite sure about how, when, and where the gifts of women are to be embraced this Gospel calls for some reflection. To a Church still too ready and willing to decide who is in and who is out when it comes to communion with those who are divorced, those whose sexuality does not quite fit old norms, or those whose political views are different, this Gospel rocks the boat, so to speak.

What happens in this Gospel episode raises questions about how we identify ourselves in relation to others. It calls into question how our membership in the Body of Christ shapes and conditions our relationships with others. Old Isaiah, the prophet spoke of the Chosen People wanting them to realize that their privilege was not for themselves but for the sake of the world. He spoke the Word of the Lord this way; “I come to gather nations of every language, they shall come to see my glory. They shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the Lord. (66:18) My friends, we have a great privilege because of the gift of our faith, and with it comes a great burden and serious responsibility; not to keep others out, but to draw them into the love of the Lord. 

 Kings 19:9-13 + Psalm 85 + Romans 9: 1-5 + Matthew 14: 22-33

August 13, 2023 This homily will not be delivered during a Liturgy as I am away from Naples

There is enough going on in these verses from the Fourteenth Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel to give anyone a headache! The fact that Jesus sends the disciples off in the boat without him is a curious detail. In the meantime, he goes off to some mountain to pray just like prophets before him went up mountains to pray. The fact that the crowd has been dismissed makes it clear that what happens in these verses is something reserved for those in the boat. The crowd is not there to see it. Details tell us that they are far into the lake’s deep waters, and it is the darkest hour of the night. The seas were already calmed six chapters earlier we should not confuse the two stories. There is no sleeping Jesus this time. He comes walking on the chaotic wind-driven sea. 

Matthew tells us the disciples are terrified, and there is more than one reason for their fear. The storm would be reason enough to afraid. Then, seeing someone come out of nowhere walking on stormy waters would be even more reason for terror. And yet, there is another reason that you and I would not notice since we are not Jews. That reason comes from what Jesus says to them. He speaks the name that no Jewish person would ever speak. He speaks the very name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. Jesus says: “I am.” In other words, suddenly, God is there. This is a profound moment and an important incident in Matthew’s gradual revelation of the identity of Jesus. They see Jesus, but now they are in the presence of God. To portray Jesus walking on the chaotic water like a conqueror is to cast him in the role of the creator-God who governs the waters. This all leads up to that final verse of today’s Gospel when the disciples do Jesus homage and declare him to truly be the Son of God. This Gospel episode is then, one more affirmation of the Divinity of Jesus for the sake of the disciples who, at this point, are of little faith. They are going to need more as the Gospel unfolds.

It is a story well told in our own times when there is so much chaos all around, when there is so much to frighten us, so much darkness, with so many sinking into the chaos. This is a story told to remind us that even though we may not recognize him, God is in our midst at the darkest of times. Yet, we are so used to depending upon ourselves, to wanting and sometimes having so much control over our lives and surroundings that when we lose it, as always happens, we sink even deeper into chaos.

We are always like Peter caught between faith and doubt, too easily frightened. Sometimes too, we are like Peter who wants to play God and walk on the water. He wants to do what only God can do. If he can walk on the water, he can abandon the boat and the people in it. That is not a good plan. So, Jesus comes and gets in the boat with them. They need to stay in the boat, which for Matthew is always a symbol of the church. If they stay in the boat through the storms, Jesus will get them to the other side. 

Disciples, you and me, are not invited to walk on water in the middle of a howling storm. We are invited to stay in the boat, and it is there that we shall and should do him homage. Trying to play God is not the role of disciples. We bear witness to the presence of God in our midst even to the God we may fail to recognize.

Isaiah 55: 1-3 + Psalm 145 + Romans 8: 35, 37-39 + Matthew 17:1-9

August 6, 2023 at Saint Peter the Apostle in Naples, Fl

We all have all had moments in our lives or experiences that we hoped would never end. I’ve had many of them, and I’m certain that you have too when just mention of it brings back those memories, those people, that place and time when we just hoped time would stop. I think this is exactly what Peter, James, and John felt that day Matthew has recorded for us in this Gospel.

As always, how that happened, when or where is less important than what it means for us. The Law and the Prophets were at the very heart of the Jewish religion, and there was their friend and teacher talking with the very representatives of the Law, Moses, and Prophet Elijah. There he is standing between them in conversation. Finally, that voice is heard affirming who it is there with Moses and Elijah, saying: “Listen to him.”

As we proclaim this Gospel here in this assembly, that voice still speaks telling us to listen. Peter, James, and John heard the command we have heard, and that moment became a turning point for them. For seventeen chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, they have been watching, but they have not done much listening. They watched the power of cure after cure, they loved those admiring crowds rushing and chasing around after Jesus, they experienced that feeding of thousands, but they were not listening. In the verses just before he takes them up that mountain he began to tell them that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering, and be killed. Instead of listening, Peter talks taking Jesus aside telling him it could never happen. Jesus spoke of self-denial, taking up a cross, and losing one’s life. They did not listen. They didn’t want any of that stuff. 

What actually happened to Jesus on that mountain is irrelevant. What happened to the disciples is not. They heard what God expected of them. “Listen to my Son.” Here we are, reminded once again, that listening to what Jesus Christ has to say is what is expected of us. There comes a time when Bible Study must become Bible Listening, because by listening we can begin to know what God is like. If we want to hear God’s voice in our own time, if we want to know the will of God, we have to listen.

The wonder of the Transfiguration was not a light show but an invitation. If we want to know what God really looks like, we will should gaze on those who love God. They come with curly hair and bald heads. They are old and young, Christian, Muslim, Jew and more. Not even Michelangelo could imagine all the variations in which God chooses to appear among us. When we stop to listen to one another, the world will be transfigured. 

Often missed in the telling or reading of this Gospel is that last gesture of Jesus. Remember, after they heard the voice, those three fell to the ground, but Jesus touched them. The power of this scene is not the vision of Jesus transfigured, but that healing touch offered to his beloved disciples. The disciples needed to be healed from their weakness of spirit, their lack of courage for what was to come.

It still works the same way today. We need the healing touch of Christ which is why we stretch out our hands, and once again let him touch us so that one day when we have fallen asleep in death he will say once again: Get up, and what we have feared will be no more and we will shine like the sun.

1 Kings 3: 5, 7-12 + Psalm 119 + Romans 8: 28-30 + Matthew 13: 44-52

July 30, 2023 at Saint William, St Agnes, & St Peter Churches in Naples, FL

This weekend we have come to the end Chapter 13 which is Matthew’s largest collection of parables. They have provided us with some curious surprises that never seems quite right, and some things to compare for the sake of our choices. We get two finders today. One of them gets something he does not deserve. It’s not his land, and therefore what he finds is not his. He sells everything even his morals to get what he finds. He’s an undeserving crook who gets his treasure even though it isn’t deserved. The other man, in contrast, has been searching, and finding what he wants, he simply pays the price even though he has to sell everything to get it, but he keeps his morals. They both get a treasure, and they both find joy.

I find it interesting that they do not become joyful until they have sold all that they have. It’s as though what they have is never enough to give them joy. So, they find something else, one by accident and another by a search. These parables leave us to wonder both what it is that they find and what it is that brings joy. Many in this world confuse joy with happiness. They are not at all the same. Happiness comes and goes, and it does not bring joy. It is the result of something that happens. Joy, on the other hand is the result of a choice we make. We are all in the pursuit of happiness. You’ve heard that said before. Yet, in the end, we have to choose joy. It is something we know. Happiness is something we feel. Today’s Gospel speaks to us about joy and about the choices we make and what we seek in life. 

There was a wonderful program series a year or two ago about a very wealthy family who suddenly lost everything and ended up living in a miserable little place in a run-down motel. The happiness of their selfish lives vanished suddenly, and they kept seeking ways to get it back. By the end of the series they found love for each other, and the joy they found in the relationships that evolved through the series not only left them with joy, but spread to many of us watching them.

The final parable today sums up much of chapter 13. That drag net which scoops up everything in its path is a reminder of how it goes with the Kingdom of God. The sorting, just like earlier with the weeds and the wheat is not ours to do. We are the ones gathered up by this net God has thrown wide. There will be crooks and scoundrels, holy men and women. 

Simply put, these little parables are ways of reflecting on the love life of a disciple. Jesus put it simply at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel with the Sermon on the Mount: “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all things will be given to you.” It is the seeking that matters. The Kingdom of God cannot be bought or owned even by good deeds. It is always an astonishing free gift available to all. It cannot be bought, yet it costs everything. We can only have it by a total self-surrender to irresistible joy. It’s an old story, not to be kept or locked in a storeroom, but meant to be told anew by those of us set free by joy.