July 19, 2020

St. Peter the Apostle and St. William Parishes in Naples, FL

Wisdom 12, 13, 16-19 + Psalm 86 + Roman 8, 26-27 + Matthew 13, 24-43

We are still right where we left off last week. Jesus has come out of the house and gone down to the lake. We are on the shore of the lake. Jesus, on a boat is teaching. Last week he gave the “Parable of the Soil” that some people call the parable of the Sower, but it’s really more about us, the soil. Still thinking in terms of farming Jesus now comes up with these three parables today. The first is serious, the other two are silly. We get a little hint with them that Jesus could use humor to teach a lesson. Sowing mustard seeds is ridiculous! It’s a weed. What is that guy thinking, we ought to ask. Who sows crab grass or dandelions in their flower bed? The last parable is so exaggerated that Jesus must have had those people roaring with laughter. Every time I read it, I recall an “I Love Lucy” episode when she has gone to work at a bakery, and messed up the recipe. The oven door flies open, and dough starts oozing out. Three measures of flour is about 40 pounds in our system! Imagine what 40 pounds of flour would do with yeast in it.

All of these parables are about the Kingdom of Heaven. That’s how he started last week and today: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like….” So, these parables ought to awaken our imagination about the Kingdom of Heaven. That phrase (Kingdom of Heaven) is used 51 times in Matthew’s Gospel. If that doesn’t tell you to pay attention and think about it, nothing will. We have to be receptive to the Word of God we learned last week, like good soil. Once our minds, our hearts, our imaginations, our souls are open, we can begin, with the help of these parables, to imagine the Kingdom of Heaven.

If our imagination is inspired by these parables, we should get the point that the “Kingdom of Heaven” is not territorial or geographic; and while the other Gospels write about the “Kingdom of God” as some future event, Matthew’s “Kingdom of Heaven” begins with the Incarnation. It’s already begun. God is already with us in Jesus Christ. This “Kingdom of Heaven” embraces souls, not land possessions. God’s rule transcends the boundaries of time and space. The power and authority of God is not centered on domination, but in compassion and forgiveness. This is what Pilot could not grasp. This “King” Jesus was no threat to the Romans. He was not interested in land or power. This “King” Jesus was interested in souls, in love, and compassion.

So, the Kingdom these parables reveal is already here. It is now. We’re in it, and when you look around, you begin to get the point of this week’s parables. There are weeds here. It does not matter where they came from, but there are weeds. This world, this church, our lives are not perfect. What do we do about? Jesus says, don’t be upset or angry. You know, that was the problem that the Scribes and Pharisees had. They wanted everything perfect, and they thought they could make it so. They threw people out who were not perfect, and Jesus didn’t like that. He kept putting them back. In their eyes, even Jesus was imperfect. He kept on eating with sinners and tax collectors, touching lepers and the sick they had thrown out. He talked with respect and patience with people like that woman at the well. Everyone knew about her! My friends, we belong here, in this place, in the Kingdom of Heaven imperfect as we are. There is grace, there is a little time, there is a patient God revealed by Jesus who waits for us to listen to his Son and work hard at getting ourselves in shape, preparing for the harvest. It is then that the weeds and the wheat will be separated, not now. Perhaps most importantly of all, we need to realize that we are not the ones to do the separating. That’s not our job. We will have enough to do simply making sure that we are fruitful like the wheat.

July 12, 2020

At the Churches of St. Peter the Apostle and St. William in Naples, FL

Isaiah 55, 10-11 + Psalm 65 + Roman 8, 18-23 + Matthew 13, 1-23

All the parables are about God. Jesus uses them to reveal something about his Father. While that is true of this parable revealing a generous God, whose is not particularly fussy about how much and where “seeds” are sown, God is not really the focus in this parable. Comfortably sitting back gratefully over a God who is so generous isn’t going to help us or lead us anywhere. While it is sometimes called, “The parable of the Sower”, it really ought to be called, “The Parable of the soil.” What the farmer is doing is not remarkable at the time. First, they plowed the field, to loosen the top soil, and then the farmer would simply walk along a path and throw seed out along the way. There were no neat rows or machines to measure out just enough seed in just the right place to get a good cop.

As always with the Living Word of God, something new pops up every time we proclaim the Gospel. That’s just the way it is for people who continue to live and internalize the Word of God which is exactly what Isaiah is proclaiming in the first reading. So, for me, what I heard this week had not caught my attention before. There is a movement here. I hope you caught it. Jesus moves out of the house and sat down by the sea. He is no longer speaking “in the house” to the apostles. Now he speaks to crowds, and he concludes with a statement that makes clear the meaning and the purpose of this parable. Those who have ears, those who are open and listen to the Word of God are Blessed because they understand.

Jesus calls our attention to the privilege that is ours. We have been given the opportunity to see and hear (to understand) what those in the past and some still around us have longed to see and hear. In the second part of the parable, the word “Hear” is used five times, and when spoken in this parable it is not about an audio sensation, but about receptivity. This is what it takes. This is what God requires. This is what discipleship is about, Receptivity. We have to be open to the Word of God. We have to be loosened as was the dry top-soil in that arid climate. The rigid, the smug no-it-all who has made up their mind about everything is not receptive.

I believe what this “Parable of the Soil” asks of us today is to examine and reconsider our receptivity. We must ask and wonder how receptive we are to change, to growth, to conversion of heart. The receptive good soil allows faith to take root, and that faith to produce a harvest which Matthew calls: “The Kingdom of Heaven.” The work of the Holy Spirit in us makes a church that changes, a life that is full of wonder and curious about the unknown. A church and a people who are unafraid of something different or new, but able to see good in all things and all people because, God can’t make anything bad. We rejoice today in the promise that as long as we remain open and receptive to what the Gospel asks of us, we shall be among the Blessed.

At the 9:00am Mass in St William Church, this homily continues.

Among us today are several children whose parents are bringing them into the fullness of our faith. What we have to give these children today is not just Holy Communion in consecrated bread, but Communion among the Holy, a place among God’s people made holy by the sacrificed Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. My dear parents: on the day you brought these children to the Church and to Jesus Christ, you traced the sign of the cross on their forehead, and you promised that you would bring them up in the practice of the faith. You have done so in a beautiful and faithful way, and we recognize that today. For an old priest like me I see your great desire and love for your children, and I share your hope that the seed you have planted in their hearts will grow and bear fruit for countless generations. You have done what you can, and there is more yet for you to do, but the seed is planted, and now it will do only what the seed can do. In years to come, you may grow impatient and perhaps even feel guilty if the seed does not produce the way you wanted. There will come a time when you must simply wait to see what comes up. The waiting is hard, imagining what comes needs some openness and receptivity. Teach that to your children. Help them to remain open and hear the Word of God. The more they are open and receptive, the more they will be Blessed. Please step forward now with your children.

To the children: When you drive home today, I want you to ask your parents to tell you the story of the day you were Baptized. Have them tell you about your God-parents, about what you were wearing, who was there, maybe the name of the priest, and where it all happened. Have them tell you about the name they gave you that day. Then, I want you to ask them what they were feeling like and what they hoped for you that day and what they wanted to give you.  Whoever that priest was, he made the sign of the cross on your forehead. It’s like a mark that makes you different. It’s almost like a scar that shows something about you, something that happened. Then he asked your parents and godparents to do the same, and I want them to do it once more right now. We claim you today as children of God, and as members of this Church family, and I want everyone here to welcome you today into God’s holy family. Now be seated while we prepare and pray over the gift that God has for you, the Body and Blood of his only Son.

June 28, 2020 at St. Andrew Parish, Moore, OK

Kings 4, 8-11, 14-16 + Psalm 89 + Roman 6, 304, 8-11 + Matthew 10, 37-42

There is an old saying that always gets me riled up.  It goes like this: “That’s just the way things are.” It has a parallel saying that is just bad: “It’s always been that way.” Disciples of Jesus Christ are never content with the way things are, and they cannot stand still or keep quiet when someone tells them that “It’s always been that way” because that’s not the way of God’s creation. The whole point of the Incarnation, the reason why the Son of God left the Father was to make things different from the way they are now. The reason the Holy Spirit came to us was to re-create the face of the earth.

The church Matthew is writing to is living under social, economic, political, and religious pressure. Sounds like us doesn’t it? The narcissism, individualism, and secularism of our age makes a striking parallel to the times of Jesus. It makes his word all the more important and relevant today, because this Word of God is alive and speaks to us when we are gathered together. We may not sit here and think that these instructions are for a time and place in the past. To read this text and admire the trials, difficulties, and the faith of early Christians is nice, but it is not enough. To call this the Word of God is to be addressed by it now.

Jesus both charges and encourages us today. He tells us we can expect opposition because he met opposition, and the servant is no greater than the master. We’re not excused or exempt. Jesus was called Beelzebub, an Aramaic name for the devil. We can expect to be called names too like, “Tree hugger”, or “Socialist” when we care about this earth as our Holy Father keeps insisting, or care about the health and safety of others who may not be as well as we are. Sometimes verbal abuse is just as painful as physical abuse. We may not be flogged or crowned with thorns, but the social abuse and verbal abuse we may face is just as hard. Remember that old saying about sticks and stones?

In the end, what Jesus addresses here is what we could simply call, “priorities”, and there is a strong push here to critique our priorities in light of the values and priorities held by Jesus. Ours cannot be different. If they are, we don’t belong. In this text, there is no suggestion that families should be divided. You know, the result of an action is not always the purpose of the action. There is something called unintended consequences. When Jesus speaks of families being broken up, it’s not his fault, nor necessarily the fault of the one whose values and priorities cause the breakup. The purpose of God’s call to us is not to divide families. The purpose of these words is to encourage those who find this painful by insisting that this is no surprise to God. These are words of encouragement to those already suffering because of a family divided.

For Jews and Gentiles at the time this Gospel was prepared, strong family connections were an ultimate value. Whatever religion the head of a household held, all the family and the servants embraced the same. Maybe the critique here ought to be: “Who is the head of the family?” When the head of the family is God, I find it hard to imagine there could be any division. So, beyond the encouragement of those suffering, Jesus is re-ordering family priorities so that God and God’s will comes first. When it does, it is good. When it is good, it is exactly the way the Creator intended.

My friends, we are all called to put things in the right order and trust that God will care for our needs. While this text may seem harsh, Jesus is inviting us into the love of the Trinity in a deeper way. Finding life is the ultimate adventure of discipleship. In doing so, we can never accept the unacceptable or tolerable the intolerable. We live and show an alternative to “the way things have always been.” Our mission is to prove that the forces working against life are doomed. The more we believe and live with Gospel values and Gospel truth, the more it becomes a reality in and through us.

This is what our vocation is all about. It matters not whether we are priests, teachers, cooks, physicians, farmers or carpenters. The heart of the matter is whether or not we are willing and whether or not our commitment is equal to the task before us. It takes a kind of prophetic dedication that will allow others to know Christ’s love because they have met us. Jesus said exactly that when he said: “Whoever receives you, receives me.”

Keep in mind, that before these verses we hear today, Jesus was commissioning a community, not individuals. No one of us will ever be sufficiently worth or equal to take up the mission of Jesus. Husbands and wives share in each other’s vocation. Communities are called together to create the physical, psychic and spiritual spaces that heal the wounds and divisions of this world. That is exactly what Saint Andrew Parish is about, and every other community sharing in the Gospel truth must be as well. The broken must find a place here. Those who feel alone or isolated, or left out, must come here to be loved and healed not scolded or judged. As we who are followers of Jesus, our every love fits uniquely into our mission. Rather than limit our focus and care as Christians, our love for father mother, son, daughter, friend and lover can make us ever more-worthy and ever more-ready to love without limit. No one is outside the boundaries of God’s love and compassion. There are no limits, and it must be the same for us, or we fail to be what we are called to be, leaving this world the way it has always been, because that’s just the way it is.

God sent Jesus to say: “No, it isn’t.”

June 21, 2020 at St. Peter the Apostle in Naples, FL

Jeremiah 20, 10-13 + Psalm 69 + Roman 5, 12-15 + Matthew 10, 26-33

Now, well into summer, we are settling into Matthew’s Gospel which consists of five distinct sermons. Be calm, you’re not going to get them all today. You know the first one well, it is the Sermon on Beatitudes. Today we are into the Sermon on Mission. Later we will move into the Sermon on the Parables, then the Sermon on the Church, followed by the Sermon on the End Times.  And so, it is to us that Jesus speaks in this church today. He speaks about our Mission, and about the fear that can keep us from fulfilling that mission.

         We’ve all learned by now that fear can be both good and bad. When it is good, fear can keep us from doing foolish and dangerous things. When it is bad, it can keep us from doing good and doing the right thing. Fear can either turn us into wise and prudent people or it can make us cowards. Courage is what Jesus proposes as a necessary virtue for us, his disciples. This courage sets us free. The courageous are not without fear, they are simply not reckless. They know what to fear, and how to avoid it trusting their gifts, skills, and wisdom. As Jesus nurtures us today as his disciple/missionaries, he never suggests that taking up his mission in this world will be easy and without risk and danger, but there can be no silent disciple/missionaries. We are either known and recognized by what we say and what we do, or we count for nothing in God’s sight.

Having been called in faith and gifted with the gospel, there is no going back for us, and there is no hiding. There is no denying that the values of our faith are being eroded all around us. The evidence is there day and night. It is greater and more complex than abortion. It is a choice being made every day that choses privilege and convenience over life itself. It is a kind of moral decay that rewards the powerful and wealthy with more and more safeguards to their privileged position. It is the kind blindness that sees nothing wrong with demonizing people who are different from us fleeing from violence and poverty. In that blindness the face of Christ is never recognized. It is a kind of deafness that does not hear the cries of children snatched from the arms of parents who just want their children to be free and safe like us. It is not likely here and at this time in history that we will put our lives in danger. What we are likely to face is not so much hostility or opposition, but something which is even harder – a deadly indifference. To bear witness in this case requires a special kind of courage. It means overcoming our fear of what people think of us or call us, and the fear of what it will cost in in terms of letting go of our ego.

When Jesus says to us, “Do not be afraid,” he is not saying that we should never feel afraid. The issue is what fear will do to us, paralyze us, silence us, and make us unable to fulfill the mission he has entrusted to us. What he does is encourage us to trust in his Father who sees, cares for, and loves even the littlest and the least valuable of all creation. Faith, my friends, is not a comforting illusion that all is well. Rather, it means knowing that life is full of risk, full of insecurity, and yet rejoicing in it. That is the essence of faith. Nowadays, thanks to security cameras, we are often being watched, watched by a cold, dispassionate eye intent on catching us in the wrong. The feeling that someone is watching you is not a pleasant feeling. But the feeling that someone is watching over you is a really good feeling. God is not watching us. God is watching over us. That conviction offers us comfort, strength, and courage. Most of all it gives us hope in times of difficulty and danger, and only God can dissolve our deepest fears.

June 14, 2020

St. William Church and St. Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL

Deuteronomy 8, 2-3, 14-16 + Psalm 147 + 1 Corinthians 10, 16-17

John 6, 51-58

Every year, immediately after Pentecost, the church reflects upon our unique Christian experience of God revealed by Jesus Christ, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We have come to call this revelation: The Holy Trinity. Then this weekend comes, and we are called deeper into the unique relationship expressed by the Trinity celebrating the Body and Blood of Christ. Weeks ago, I prepared a homily for this Sunday reflecting upon Body and Blood of Christ, and then this country erupted in a spasm of rebellious anger over a violent act, and way more besides. It has opened for us a deep wound that has never been healed but simply denied and ignored as a sense of privilege and exceptionalism has left too many of us comfortable and secure. We are no longer comfortable and secure even way down here in Naples, Florida.

The words I had put on paper about five weeks ago seem shallow and useless for the most part until our Bishop challenged the priests in the Diocese of Venice to let the Holy Spirit guide and open our hearts to the present unrest, fear, and anger. It is certainly not the first time this nation has experienced this upheaval. In fact, history reminds us all too well that this nation was founded by rebellious revolutionaries who rose up against oppression, burned, and looted. The event has taken on a softer look by the name history has given it: “The Boston Tea Party.” It wasn’t a “party”. In fact, it is impossible to imagine that the looting of those ships in Boston Harbor was done without injury to those who may have been on those ships. This kind of thing is simply deep in our history and our psyche. I’m old enough to remember Selma and the violence and deaths that forced us to look at a particular example of injustice and oppression that showed itself in schools, waiting rooms, and drinking fountains. I remember it all. Then and now I felt ashamed.

This is perhaps a good day to begin a conversation within ourselves about just how racist we are, and just how racism affects not just our lives here on earth, but the very heart of our faith, our belief, our relationships with one another, and our relationship with God. When we look at how slowly and quietly we have become polarized over the last twenty years, we can hardly deny that the way we look at, think about, and sometimes speak about those who look, think, or act differently from us has broken the beauty of the human family. Name calling, excluding, judging, and ridiculing are common practice these days from the highest office to conversations over coffee. It reveals a wound, a sad brokenness that longs to be healed, and this is the place where it must begin. It will not be resolved in a courtroom. We’ve seen that. Legislation never changes human hearts.

This feast of The Body and Blood of Christ is about communion, and that’s not a little consecrated wafer. Communion, in our faith tradition, does not refer solely to the act of eating the Eucharistic Bread. It refers to the reason, the purpose for which we consume it: to become one Body of Christ. The purpose for which Jesus Christ left us this sacrament with the instructions “Do this to remember me” is to make us one body, a communion of brothers and sisters. This Sacrament is our identity. The mere hint of racism in our midst reveals how far we have to go to accomplish what Jesus Christ began and commanded, and not one of us can say, in truth, that there is no racism in us. It’s deep, it’s lasting, it’s ugly, it’s tricky, and it’s hidden. I caught myself in a racist act this week. I was in Miami driving through a neighborhood in which I felt like an outsider because of my skin color, and I checked to make sure the doors were locked. Why did I do that? Was there danger? I doubt it. It was broad daylight, and there were other tourists mingling about. It was a trendy part of town. But fear of something different triggered a reaction that reveals something I need to think about, and this is exactly what we ought to do moments before we accept the gift of God offered to us for our salvation.

Since near the beginning of this year, we have had an opportunity to remember that we must not ever take God’s gifts for granted, the gift of our health, the gift of our life, and the gift of our faith resting upon this altar. If I have ever taken you for granted, I know better now. Standing at this altar looking out at empty pews, hearing no response when I say: “The Lord be with you” or “Amen” when the great prayer of thanksgiving concludes has been a sad but good lesson. Being a priest without people doesn’t make much sense to me. I hope it has been the same for you.

At the conclusion of the Eucharist liturgy in the Maronite Rite, the pries and people bid farewell to the altar, the symbol of Christ around which we gather, and they say these words: “I leave you in peace, O Altar, and I hope to return to you in peace. May the offering I have received from you be for the forgiveness my faults and remission of my sins, that I may stand without shame of fear before the throne of Christ. I do not know if I shall be able to return to you again to offer sacrifice. I leave you in peace.” People who celebrate the Maronite Liturgy never leave early. They all stay to say that prayer that acknowledges their faults, sins, and shame. They remind each other that they may not have another opportunity stand before this altar, so this time, they need to get it right. It should be so for us, we never know if we shall be able to return.

June 14, 2020 at St. William Church & St. Peter Church in Naples, FL

Deuteronomy 8, 2-3, 14-16 + Psalm 147 + 1 Corinthians 10, 16-17 +

John 6, 51-58

This annual feast we once called, “Corpus Christi” is an annual occasion to get back to basics. So, let’s go there for a moment. Ancient peoples believed, as we still do, that earth, air, fire and water are the fundamental elements of creation. With that in mind, we can begin to understand why Jesus chose bread as the element we should use to bind us together. It is, as we say in prayer, “Fruit of the earth and work of human hands.” It is, first of all, a gift of God to us. Bread in every culture and language is a metaphor for food. It is the most basic human sustenance. To lack bread means to lack food, to lack that on which we depend to live and without which we die for lack of nourishment. Wine however, is not a principal of sustenance. It is not necessary. We can live without it. But, wine is a symbol of gratuity. It is part of feasting and fulness of life. It is something of joy that calls to mind community, sharing, and social bonds. So, we take bread and wine to the altar together, never one without the other, because they are a symbol of human life all of which comes from God.

With that in mind, we must choose carefully the words we use to express what we do in here. We do not “Go” to Mass. We are called here by God. Mass does not begin with the opening song. The Eucharistic celebration begins when we accept God’s invitation to come and be here willing to be transformed by what God gives us. In a society where individualism triumphs, the Eucharist reminds us of the common destiny of all humanity. It awakens us to the injustice that leaves so many of God’s people with out bread. We are also a society in which waste prevails. I read a credible statistic that tells the truth: half of what we buy is thrown away. Look at the food piled on the plates in restaurants. Then think about the boxes people carry home and forget about until they get moldy and get thrown out. The Eucharist forges a bond of charity between us all, and it awakens us to injustice and disturbs us enough to give us a mission.

         What has happened to us since mid-February or early March has alerted us to more than physical challenges. There is a spiritual one as well. I cannot count the times when I have heard people say: “I miss receiving my Holy Communion.” I heard it so often that I was beginning to think that somehow, we have lost more than Holy Communion. Then, one day sitting in counsel with someone, they said; “I miss being at Mass.” With that statement, the challenge was focused for me. As church, we cannot be satisfied with having the Eucharist; we do not possess it. The Eucharist serves no purpose if it remains simply an object to be possessed or adored. We are called to become the Eucharistic body of the Lord; the truth and the proof of the Eucharistic body is the worshiping community. What we lost for most of this year was not having communion served, but being in communion, being together, being renewed, and strengthened as only friends and family can do for us. In the Second Eucharistic Prayer, the priest says these words: “Humbly we pray that, through the Body and Blood of Christ, we may be gathered into one by the Holy Spirit.” That is why we receive communion, that is why we have communion, and it is why Christ Jesus gave us the Eucharist; so that we might become one by the Holy Spirit.

         When I say we have to take care about how we express what we do and believe, we must be conscious about the expression “communion.” It does not refer solely to the act of eating the Eucharistic bread. It also refers to the reason, the purpose for which Christians eat it: to be church-communion, to become one body in Christ. This is why we do not have “open communion” or just say “Y’all come.” It is not just a moment of me and Jesus. It is not just a way of remembering the Last Supper. Taking communion in here means we accept God’s invitation to become church, and as church to be the Body of Christ for each other and the world.

         Communion is an actual communion, because through it we have communion with Christ and share in His flesh and His divinity; through it, we have communion and are united with one another. To receive communion is to be a communion. When we begin to understand that the purpose of the Eucharist is to make us one body, a communion of brothers and sisters in faith, we will no longer view our participation in the Sunday liturgical assembly as a matter of law or obligation. It will have become our way of expressing our identity. Being present, in the church is an essential part of calling ourselves Catholics. If you choose for no good reason to be absent, you’re not Catholic. It is the assembly, that provides our identity, and the Church is not Church until is gathers together. When a brother or sister cannot be here, we do not leave them alone, we take them holy communion from this altar table mindful that they belong, that we miss them, and we don’t want to lose them. This is why not being here because we don’t feel like it, because we’re tired, or because we have to shop or play a round of golf is to put ourselves outside and break communion. It is to decline the invitation of God and the gift of life God offers us in this place. It is simply a big, NO THANK YOU to God.

         What we have experienced for most of this year has been an opportunity to remember that we must not ever take God’s gifts for granted, the gift of our health, the gift of our life, and the gift of our faith resting upon the gifts of our common faith. If I had ever taken you for granted, I know better now. Standing at this altar looking out at empty pews, hearing no response when I say: “The Lord be with you” or “Amen” when the great prayer of thanksgiving concludes has been a sad but good lesson. Being a priest without people doesn’t make much sense to me. I hope it has been the same for you.

         At the conclusion of the Eucharistic liturgy in the Maronite Rite, the priest and people bid farewell to the altar, the symbol of Christ around which we gather, and they say these words, “I leave you in peace, O Holy Altar, and I hope to return to you in peace. May the offering I have received from you be for the forgiveness of my faults and the remission of my sins, that I may stand without shame or fear before the throne of Christ. I do not know if I shall be able to return to you again to offer sacrifice. I leave you in peace.” People who celebrate the Maronite Liturgy never leave early. They all stay to say that prayer. It should be so for us because, we never know if we shall be able to return.

God is Good.

June 7, 2020 at St. Peter the Apostle in Naples, FL

Exodus 34, 6, 8-9 + Psalm Daniel 3, 52-55 + 2 Corinthians 13, 11-13

John 3, 16-18

It’s easy to glide past this Great Feast Day without giving it much thought or without thinking a little deeper about what it is that should draw us together today. Most of us my age can remember a wonderful Sister in religion class telling us that the Trinity was a “mystery”. With that we turned the page, and we were on to the next theme in the Catechism. If you were not in Catholic School, whatever religious formation you had probably did not spend much time on this issue, or fact, or dogma. The fact that I just tried three different words should tell you that the Holy Trinity objectively is a complicated piece of our faith. The whole formula passed down for generations can easily leave most of us scratching our heads: “Three in One and One in Three.” Complicated or not, it is the distinguishing mark of Christianity that sets us apart from Islam or Judaism, and for no other reason, it is good idea to set aside at least one Sunday each year to ponder this unique experience and revelation of God, because it is an experience that reveals something important about our God.

In the seminary I sat through an entire semester with a course called: “De Trinitate”. I think I went to that class three times a week. I remember an old file of notes. Most of all I, remember staring out the window at a big Linden tree wondering when if it would get leaves before the bell rang. It was awful. Since then, I have come to realize that you have to experience the Trinity before you really understand it.  For me, that experience is in this church. Several weeks ago, in the midst of this pandemic, it happened right before my eyes right here in front of this altar. It was a marriage. That couple were in love, desperately, deeply, and beautifully, and I have seen countless others just like them in my fifty-two years. What I realize in that experience is that what I see with my eyes is two people, but what I see with my faith is three: a man, a woman, and love, because God is love.

The privileged way to know God is through love. Theologians have turned themselves inside out trying to explain the Trinity. Philosophers have resorted to mathematical precision. Mystics have lost themselves in God’s being. Perhaps the rest of us will come to understand the Trinity best of all through marriages, through a deep love that is sacrificial and forgiving, inspiring a joyful spirit that reflects the Joy of God’s spirit when we are one, living in the peace of God’s life-giving love. You don’t have to be married to experience this either. Those of us who had our beginnings in a real, sacramental marriage have lived in the Trinity, experiencing, if choose to reflect upon it, something creative, something sacrificial, and something joyful. Name it what you want, but we Catholics ought to call it, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is real. It is there.

         In a few moments, we will profess our faith believing that God is reveled to us as Trinity: three persons who are who they are because of how they love one another. We know this God because it is God’s nature to reach out to us, and to bring us all together into Divine Love. The evidence of that love is found in Holy Marriage, in Holy Church, and in Holy Families.

May 31, 2020 at St. Peter the Apostle in Naples, FL

Acts 2, 1-11 + Psalm 104 + 1 Corinthians 12,3-7, 12-13 + John 20, 19-23

The image of the apostles in that room staying there out of uncertainty and fear could easily describe most of us for the past four months. Obviously if Thomas was missing once, they did go out, but perhaps only for food, or perhaps to help the poor. Having promised them that he would send “The Spirit”, Jesus was gone, and I wonder sometimes if they had any idea what the promise meant, or what they were actually waiting for. I honestly believe that if they had been given a choice between keeping Jesus with them or receiving this “Spirit”, they would have elected to keep Jesus. I dare say, if most Catholics were offered a chance to have Jesus present today or having the Spirit, they would choose Jesus. When you stop to really think about it, five minutes with Jesus is something most people would go for, skip the Spirit. But, we really did not get a choice no matter how much any of us would like to have Jesus here again.

What we must awaken to on this glorious feast of Pentecost is the fact that too often too many of us fail to recognize what the Holy Spirit does in our lives, and perhaps more seriously we fail to pray and then fail to acknowledge the work of and the gifts of what Jesus has sent as his last and perfect gift, that Holy Spirit. All of us, when in great need or crises turn to Jesus, some to his mother, some to a favorite patron saint, but I suspect after looking at my own behavior, that not many of us turn to the Holy Spirit in prayer. Maybe we should do something about that.

So many wonderful things happen in our lives by the grace of the Spirit. Compassion, generosity, hospitality, creativity are unmistakable signs that the Holy Spirit is at work within us. The feelings of loneliness and isolation we have all felt this spring are clear signs that the Holy Spirit has called us together, to be one people, one church, one family. I don’t know about you, but my prayer in the last two months has been a prayer to the Holy Spirit to inspire and lead scientists to free us from this contagion. I have prayed to the Holy Spirit to continue to give courage and strength to those working to ease the suffering and save lives of the sick. The wonder and the gift of the Spirit can make us realize that despite our diversity and different social or ethnic identities, we are all one on this earth; one in a humanity that has been touched by divinity. We need to learn how to recognize the Spirit in our lives. Every time we experience love, we experience the Spirit. The trusting and innocent love of children is a sign of the Spirit. People who risk their lives to care for the sick are filled with the Spirit. Those who dedicate their lives to justice and peace or protecting this sacred earth are impelled by the Spirit.

No matter how close we manage to get to Jesus, he will always be external, outside of us. But, with the Holy Spirit, there is something divine inside of us. It is the Spirit that makes us Jesus, makes us the Body of Christ. It’s a good trade off. It is the Spirit that gives us life and fills us with love. It is not enough for us to be with Jesus; we must become Jesus, and that only happens by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This holy day helps us focus on what really binds us together as a gifted people. This is more than a liturgical feast; it is an invitation to way of life, and it is the only way to salvation.

May 24, 2020 at St. Peter the Apostle in Naples, FL

Acts 1, 1-11 + Psalm 47 + Ephesians 1, 17-23 + Matthew 28, 16-20

It is impossible to understand and enter into this day’s Celebration without reflecting upon the Incarnation. What began on the twenty-fifth of December ends today. This concludes the revelation that God initiated by sending of his Son to be born among us. For too much of my life, and probably yours as well, we have been left with images of the Ascension by various artists too influenced by Old Testament writers describing the departure of various prophets. I can still see in my mind, two feet hanging out of cloud. With that, at some point in my life, I stopped wondering about this and just left it be. More recently, I have decided that perhaps the best physical image we could have for this day is an empty crib, because what started there is now complete, and something more and greater has begun.

That old image still stuck in my mind suggests that Christ left us which is not true, because Christ is present to us now in a different and probably much better way. Thinking that Christ left would be bad news. But we don’t celebrate bad news. We are celebrating good news that for the first time something truly human, something out of our own history was taken up into God. This is an affirmation, a validation of our humanity. It means that all that is human is destined for life in God. In Christ we believe that God has entered human history. In his resurrection and ascension, he has taken the human into heaven, lifted the mortal into immortality. Has carried our humanity into God. This means that we matter, that what happens to the least of us matters. Human history is destined for something beyond itself.

The reality of this truth is what always disturbs me when I hear people excuse their failings or sins by saying: “I’m only human.” Wait a minute! If we have really found ourselves in Christ, if we have been baptized into Christ, being human means to be Christ-like. His Incarnation has changed what it means to be human. Human life has been divinized. If that is true, then sinfulness is not human – it is to act in a way that is inhuman, less than human.

         There is reason to believe these days that we are living in a “Post-Christian” era. There is evidence everywhere that this is true. Given what Christ commanded at his Ascension, we are living in the Apostolic time. If our society and culture fail to be “Christian” it might be because we have failed to be Apostolic. The failure to give witness to humanity transformed, to live as a people who are born into and fed on the very Body and Blood of Christ is what allows the memory, the teaching, the values, and a vision of God’s Kingdom to fade away and be ignored and dismissed by so many.

         This blessed day, the day of the Ascension, reminds and affirms who we are in the sight of God, and what we have been created to become. Our Catholic faith is not a philosophy, a collection of dogmas, or a system of worship. We shall understand the good news and be saved by it when we begin to live as if death has been overcome. We will know Christ in us by allowing his grace to move us in forgiving, patient, loving service to others. Then we shall finally experience living in a real apostolic community in the making.

May 17, 2020 10:00am St. Peter the Apostle in Naples, FL

Acts of the Apostles 8, 5-8, 14-17 + Psalm 66 + 1 Peter 3, 15-18 +

John 14, 15-21

We are back at the table of the Last Supper today, and the mood these is not exactly festive. The disciples are not comfortable with what they hear and understand. Not many of us like changes, especially those we have not chosen or have some control over. They are about to enter into a time of instability and uncertainty. They do not want to let go of what they have. It’s been good feeling like someone important moving around with Jesus, enjoying the limelight and attention. They are the “in” group. The people “in the know”. They even sometimes have power to act like the gate-keepers who can grant or deny access to the Rabbi. What he is telling them over that meal shakes up the vision of the future, and they are not so sure it’s going to be good.

Telling them that they will not feel like orphans even though they would feel abandoned is not particularly comforting. He knew that what was coming would cause them to question everything, everything about who they were and if they could make it without him. Every one of us has had those feelings of abandonment from time to time wondering if God is really there, if God is really caring for us, protecting us, and waiting for us. It’s not hard to understand the Twelve around that table. And so, we have to do more than just sympathize with them. We have to see how it all worked out, what it meant, and what became of them. It might give us some reason to expect that it might happen to us as well. The promise he made to them is a promise made to us as well, a promise renewed and strengthened when we gather around this table.

            This entire passage is well crafted challenge for us to see and experience the difference between being “in” and being “with”.  Listen again to what he says speaking of the Holy Spirit, “But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.” Which is better, we might ask, as I’m sure the disciples were wondering at first. Then he says: “I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.” There is no “with” here.  What is offered to us is the very relationship with the Father that Jesus has enjoyed, and we are left to think perhaps, that being “in” is better than being “with.” It’s all part of that intimacy of John’s Gospel, and the kind of intimate relationship Jesus has come to establish between God and God’s creation.

         The invitation here is to a new level of union with the Father through the Father’s Son. An invitation that leads us straight to this altar because it was at the Table of the Last Supper where these words of promise and invitation were spoken. This is the end of all separation and the final complete act on the part of Jesus completing his mission on this earth. We can be one with God when Christ is within us. This indwelling comes when we freely choose to accept the invitation to union and desire to live out of the energy we call grace. Our union with Christ will empower us to accomplish what he has done, and more besides, as he said in verses just before today’s reading began. “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father.”

         As I was reflecting on these extraordinary and powerful verses of John’s Gospel, a great old hymn kept running through my mind. It comes from an old Gaelic poem called “St. Patrick’s Lorica.” (A “lorica” was a mystical garment that was supposed to protect the wearer from danger, illness, and guarantee entry into Heaven.) It is a musical masterpiece in my opinion. It speaks of binding unto myself the strong name of the Trinity. The verses are many invoking the Trinity, the events of Christ’s life, Virtues, aspects of God, and everything from which we might need protection, and the final verse sings out: “Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet and in danger, Christ in the hearts of all that love me, Christ in the mouth of friends and stranger.

         Let it be so for us who have passed through the most unique and somewhat frighten Easter Season ever. Yet, Christ is within us, and Christ is before us. The strange way we have communicated these past many weeks leads me to suggest that in conclusion to this homily, you might listen to this great old hymn and take comfort and courage from its bold claim that expresses the promise Christ has made to us.