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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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