November 16, 2025 at Saint William and Saint Peter Churches in Naples, FL

Malachi 3: 19-20 + Psalm 98 + 2 Thessalonians 3: 7-12 + Luke 21: 5-19

The Gospel writer places Jesus next to the Temple as he speaks of its destruction. There is temptation to suggest that this destruction means the end of Judaism and its worship, but that could not be further from the truth or the intention of Luke and Jesus. The Temple comes down, and in fact, is already down when Luke writes this Gospel, but Jesus stands because a new place of worship is now in and through the body of Jesus.

The whole idea of this change and the ruthless and violent suppression of the Jewish revolt against the Romans has shaken the confidence of those who listen to Jesus that day. His prophetic description of the changes to come scares them to death. You can almost hear their knees knocking as they cry out: “When will this happen, and what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?”

However, those signs that unfold in this vision of Jesus are really less about world events than about how the faithful respond to changes that are inevitable in this world. Nothing is permanent, and our raging and railing to preserve the cultural status quo is like chasing the wind. That the Temple could not last forever was not a prophecy as much as it was a simple fact of life. Monuments topple, and all things human change. How we stand in the face of change is the issue.

The work of disciples is to be on guard against “messiahs” who draw people to themselves and manipulate people’s fears in a changing world. A disciple will name these counterfeits, and stand between their lies and people in pain and need. Jesus warns these disciples not to be “led astray” by those who come with easy answers to giant complex questions.

The consequences of taking such a stand will result in hostility within families, cities, and nations. Yet, without it, Christians can grow dull and slip into narcissistic behavior filled with insignificant busyness and silence that comes from a shallow unreflective faith. The end result is a complete loss of conscience and a deafening silence while the cries of the poor are overwhelmed by sound of political rallies or tanks rolling in the streets.

Deciding not to rock the boat is also a decision not to steer the boat. Dr. King once said: “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

The troubling days in which we live demand the resuscitation of conscience. Without it, we risk a terrible judgment. The standard of success for us is endurance, so the last words of Jesus in this reading must lift us up. “By your endurance you will gain your souls.” We ought not be concerned with predicting the end of the world or with stopping change. We should be concerned with living by the call of Jesus for resolute conviction, in spite of opposition even when family and friends cut us off. We do not live by seeking signs of the future, but by raising up signs of conscience, calling for peace, justice, and reconciliation in the name of Jesus Christ.

November 9, 2025 at Saint Peter the Apostle in Naples, FL

Ezekiel 47: 1-2, 8-9,12 + Psalm 46 + 1 Corinthians 3: 9-11, 16-17 + John 2: 13-22

It does not make a lot of sense to me to have November 9 set aside on the Church’s calendar to celebrate the Dedication of a 3^rd century Basilica in Rome that most people among us have never seen. It’s big. It’s been through neglect and restoration several times. It is the Cathedral Church of Rome. It sits right inside one of the major gates to the city from a time when it’s walls were intact. When people entered the city through that gate, the first thing they saw was the huge church. Now the wall is gone and all that is left is the church and the gate.

What does make sense to me is taking a day, once a year, to let the story we just heard from John’s Gospel sink in and challenge our behavior, our thinking, and our attitudes. That this event actually happened is fairly certain because the other Gospel writers recall it as well. John’s version is a bit different however. In the other versions, it is almost as though they are slightly embarrassed by the behavior of Jesus. They tone it down. Not so with John. It is very deliberate and physical. This was not an impulsive act. Jesus made his own whip, and he went truly berserk. What John would have us see is that Jesus is claiming ownership of the place of worship and he was not pleased about a religion driven my market forces.

He objected to having the Temple look like and be used like a market place where people go to get conveniently what they wanted or needed. That was not the purpose of the Temple. This is point. This is why we might seriously set aside a date once every year to think more deeply and examine more carefully our behavior and attitudes because in many places the market-place attitude about church still prevails.

We move to a new town and we start shopping for a church. We look for a church that meets our needs and gives us what we want. It’s like shopping for the best deals, so we check out what different outlets have to offer. That system works from the inside too. Leaders start thinking that the congregation must be entertained and so programs and planning are all about interest-focused events that sometimes look like recreation. Of course, convenience is always important. If worship is not scheduled to fit in with my social life, I’m off to find something that will. The fear that someone might be challenged by the Gospel or might be offended and leave silences preachers, or turns them into stand-up comics or feeds the Gospel of Prosperity so popular these days, and so very lucrative. This is all market place mentality. Into this situation, enters Jesus Christ. With that, the whole idea of coming to God’s house to get something is called into question.

Jesus did not say that people should not get something and only come to give. He simply reminded us, and still does, that the place belonged to God, and people should come there to encounter God, turning their attention to God in all the ways and movements we call “worship.” It is no different today in this Temple. We are called here into the presence of God, and we respond with praise and thanksgiving. Moved by that presence, we acknowledge our sins and our need for God’s mercy. We come here to listen, to trust in the Word of God. We are reminded to obey God’s Word and God’s Will, and we can ask for help from God and from each other. Anything else misses the mark, and we just as well stay home and watch some preacher on TV with a cup of coffee.

And so, this weekend, the Dedication of a third century Basilica, a thousand miles away, gives us a reason to reaffirm why we are here and let Jesus Christ remind us of what a Church is, why it is built, and what it is we ought to expect and hope for when we step through those doors. We don’t have to feel good all the time, but we should feel God’s love even when it corrects or calls into question our behavior. We ought to find hope here remembering that we are never alone and that burning red candle is our reminder. When be beat down, lonely, and lost, we ought to find respect here coming from those around us filled with the Holy Spirit that draws us together in peace.

Wisdom 3: 1-9 + Psalm23 + Romans 5 5-11 + John 6: 37-40

November 2, 2025 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Something in us often longs for the past whenever times get tough. You know how that goes, you have said it and you have heard it: “Back in the day….” Or, we hear people say, “In the good old days…” as though these are not good days. We often fool ourselves into thinking that back in the day things were more stable and secure. We were often entertained by “Father Knows Best,” “Leave it Beaver,” and “Ozzie and Harriet.” But my family was nothing like that, leaving me wonder what was wrong with us. My Dad never wore a tie to the table, and my mother only wore pearls about four times a year.  Those were the days when appliances lasted a life-time. Right?

With that in mind, it’s no big surprise that the crowds come to Jesus thinking that the past was really good talking about their ancestors and how good they had it in that desert with that manna. They didn’t even have to work for it. Those people coming to Jesus remind him of that past believing that if it was so then it ought to be the same now. Give us, they demand.

In understanding this conversation, it might help to know that just a few verses earlier, Jesus has fed a large crowd on two fish and some bread. They want more, and they want it always. They have begun to confuse Jesus with Moses, and that will not work as Jesus points out. It was not Moses but God who was the source of that manna. By pointing that out, Jesus suggest that the comparison should not be between Moses and Jesus, but between Jesus and manna. Now, he is the one provided by God.

There is an interesting detail in these verses that unlocks a very important and comforting message as a people remembering our loved ones who have gone before us. The detail is the verb tenses. The statements of the people are all essentially in the past tense. For the entire second half of this passage, Jesus speaks about the future. “Whoever comes will… Whoever believes will… Then, in the present tense Jesus says the crowd, “It was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

We are sometimes a lot like these people. We always want more, and too often we want signs when the truth is, we already have the best and final sign, Jesus Christ risen from the dead. That resurrection happened because he did the Father’s will. It is a sign to us that we who do the Will of God shall be raised up as well, and that is our hope today.

Too often this day has taken on the trappings of gloom and grief, and too often we live in the past as though there is no future. Jesus draws and leads us into the future. Those we remember today are still full of life – the fulness of life, where no harm can touch them. This day is a day of hope, anticipation, and joy. Sadness on this day ought to come from the fact that we are not yet there rather than the fact that we are not still together on this earth with those who have gone before us. Some years ago, the Church threw off those dreary, morose black vestments that once marked this as a day of mourning and sadness as though we had no hope and all was lost. Now, we put on the white of Easter to proclaim our hope that rests on the Resurrection of one who fulfilled the Will of God.

We rejoice today with grateful hearts that we have received the promise of life as we feast on the Body and Blood of the one who has come to give us life that lasts forever.  For we believe that one day whatever death has broken will be restored, as those with whom we have shared this life wait for us in glory.

October 26, 2025 at Saint Peter the Apostle Parish in Naples, FL

Sirach 35: 12-14, 16-18 + Psalm 34 + 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 16-18 + Luke 18: 9-14

A young monk that I know once said that Jesus spoke in parables to keep us wondering, and this parable leaves us plenty to wonder about being cautious in any judgement about the two men, and about what Luke is telling us. There is something to wonder about when it comes to prayer, but this is not Luke’s instruction on prayer even if it does follow a parable about a woman who would not stop her plea for justice before a judge. There is something here to notice about justification, but that comes at the end.

Neither man is condemned in this parable. The Pharisee does good things. He fasts, he tithes, he prays. The other man is not condemned either in spite of the fact that he has been part of an unjust system that oppresses the poor. So, this parable is not told or repeated to judge a Pharisee or a Tax Collector. This is something to notice about their prayer that is a bit more important. There is a stark difference between the two men that has nothing to do with where they are in the Temple or the words. What is important is what is revealed about what was in their hearts and their attitudes toward God and other people.

We should notice how many times the Pharisee uses the word “I”. His prayer had nothing to do with gratitude to God. He wanted God to know how good he was. It would seem that his life is devoid of relationships. Love of God and Love of Neighbor is the bedrock of what Jesus taught. You wonder how he can love God when he is so full of himself, and how can he love his neighbor when he sees only their sins and faults? For all of his obedience to the rules, he has missed what matters most. There is a quick test to see where you stand between these two examples. Count how many times you use the word “I” in your prayer.

The other man’s focus is God and God’s mercy. He knows what he needs and who can provide it. There is about his posture and his words an authentic humility. He needed God. A wonderful example of great prayer is the Gloria with which we begin our liturgy every weekend. “We” replaces I because we live in relationships, and “You” is repeated over and over again.

That Pharisee stands as a challenge in our culture where admission of human weakness and failure is almost taboo. It is not cool to admit your mistakes or that you need help. This failure of honesty and humility runs from the highest office today to the playgrounds of our schools. With a carful look at both of these men we might see ourselves not as one or the other, but because there something of both of them is within us.

Privileged as we are, we need to come to terms with how look at others, and sometimes with how proud we are with what we have forgetting where it all came from to begin with. On the other hand, when we honestly face our failures and our sins, we need to come to terms with our infinite worth in God’s eyes. We are not hopeless sinners. Salvation is really about the transformation from a nonperson toward real personhood, from worthlessness to dignity, and that is what happens at the end of this story. A sinner is justified not by his prayer, but by grace from a merciful God. Jesus provides us this parable because he understands that his message was to humble those who exalt themselves and exalt those who humble themselves.

When Luke repeats this parable, it is not so much about prayer, Pharisees or Tax Collectors. It is one more reminder of the great reversal Luke repeats again and again in different ways. Some people who seem least likely to find a place in the Kingdom of God will be there before the pious and those who seem to be so good and successful. Once again, Jesus keeps us wondering.

October 19, 2025

Exodus 17: 8-13 + Psalm 121 + 2 Timothy 3: 14-4: 2 + Luke 18: 1-8

When compared to others who were employed like my father, we lived simply. He was frugal, and even though we had the first television on our block, color television was about to begin before it was replaced. We traveled some, but a downtown hotel with room service was out of the question. We stayed in motels where the highway noise kept us awake most of the night. When he died suddenly I was shocked to see what he left behind and how he carefully he had planned for mother to continue living comfortably and safely.

Just before the verses of this Gospel we proclaim today, Jesus has informed his disciples that he is going away. Yet, he wants to provide for them.  Like my family without our father, those disciples will have to negotiate life without his physical presence, being faithful to all they have been taught. How they will survive and remain faithful without him is the big question answered in today’s Gospel. They will pray. With that, Jesus gives us an example of how we are to negotiate life without his immediate physical presence.

It is easy to be distracted by this Judge, but he is not focus. He is not there to tell us something about God. If anything, he is there to tell us about the world in which we live, a world not much changed since the first telling of this story. There are still Judges who care nothing about God or what others will say. There are still women and countless others who cannot find justice, who are abused and trafficked. They cry out and nothing changes, at least not very quickly. What are we to do while we wait for God to act, knowing full well that God acts on God’s time.

Even though, in this story, the woman gets her justice, multitudes today are still going to their graves being denied the satisfaction of seeing their adversaries dealt with. I believe that the answer to this dilemma is not found in what we expect from God but, rather, in how we struggle like this woman for justice in the hopelessness of seeing justice denied in our lifetime. We have to decide if we are going to just wait for God to act and meet our needs or if we might be called to do justice for those crying out among us. Rather than wait for a miracle from God, it might well be that we are called to be the miracle for which others pray.

My friends, we are called to seek justice, not because it is easy or because in the end we will win. We are called regardless of the consequences for the sake of justice. We don’t fight for justice like this widow because we know we are going to win. We fight and work for justice for the sake of justice alone even if we do not see it in our lifetime.

I love this story, unique to Luke’s Gospel so populated with women and widows of all sorts. It would seem that in Luke’s estimation, the church and this world can never have enough of women like her. Every woman in this church, in this city, country, and world should learn from her not just a lesson on prayer, but on perseverance in the face of injustice.

October 12, 2025

This homily will not be delivered. I am in Oklahoma for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Missionaries Monks from France

2 Kings 5: 14-17 + Psalm 98 + 2 Timothy 2: 8-13 + Luke 17: 11-19

A familiar yet complicated story is proclaimed today. It is one that all of us know very well, and we have all heard countless sermons about gratitude springing from it. For me, that is all well and good, but there is so much more to this story yet to be discovered if we sit with it, and carefully look at the action and the language.

One of the details that has often struck me as is the fact that this whole scene comes as an interruption. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and suddenly he has to stop. It reminds me that sometimes, it is the interruptions that matter and provide us with a chance to do something that may be more important than whatever it is we are up to.

Another detail easy to miss is that this is not really a healing story. Instead of healing these ten who come asking for mercy, which may have been a plea for alms, Jesus sends them to the priests. The actual healing take place as they travel away from Jesus, which is the center of the story. As a matter of fact, the one who returns had no reason to go to the priests because he was a Samaritan. He was a double outcast. Bad enough that he was a leper. He was also a despised Samaritan. We should notice that even this one is healed. They were all faithful enough to do what Jesus asked even before there was a healing. We ought to connect this obedience to the healing.

The Samaritan’s status as an outsider allowed him to see his healing differently from the other nine, and this leads us deeper into the story. The healing is not the focus here. All ten had the faith to do what Jesus asked and start off on their way to the priests. Yet, only one had the faith to return, and what he did and said brings a whole different dimension to this story and leads us to why Saint Luke tells it when the other Gospel writers do not.

If there is fault with the other obedient nine it is not that they fail to see God at work in their healing. It is that they fail to see God at work in Jesus Christ. The Samaritan does, and what he does about it is important. Luke not only reveals Jesus as mediator and healer, but he teaches us how to respond to the work of Jesus Christ with praise and thanksgiving. Luke tells us that the Samaritan came back with gratitude and praise. This is an attitude of worship. These are the practices that mark our worship, and Luke is connecting these with the restoration of health.

This Church and our actions here are transformative. They are healing. This is the place where we can cry out for mercy. In fact, we just did so a few minutes ago. This is the place where we gather to offer thanksgiving and praise. In Luke’s original Greek, he says that the Samaritan came to offer “doxa” which is praise or glory, and eucharisto which means thanksgiving and is a unmistakable reference to worship. Martin Luther is said to have defined worship as “the tenth leper turning back.” Ultimately, this story invites us to follow the healed leper into a life of thanksgiving and worship.

Finally, the last movement and command in this story, “Get up and Go” is exactly the way this Mass and every Mass concludes with a commission to get up and go out with the joy and hope that forgiveness and healing brings to people who will obey and follow the commands of Jesus Christ.

October 5, 2025

Habakkuk 1: 2-3, 2: 2-4 + Psalm 95 + 2 Timothy 1: 6-8, 13-14 + Luke 17: 5-10

I wonder as I stand here how many of you might remember something those of us who were born into the Catholic Church learned back in the day. First, we learned the Ten Commandments. There will not be test this morning, but I wonder how many could really pass that test. We could probably get them all, but maybe not in the order in which we first learned them. Then, I’m not certain about you, but right after we learned the Ten Commandments, we learned the Six Commandments of the Church, at least I did. Sometimes, so as not to compete with the Ten, they were called “Precepts.” There were six minimum obligations for Catholics to live according to Church laws.

These included (1) attending Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, (2) Confessing sins at least once a year, (3) Receiving the Holy Eucharist during the Easter Time, (4) Observing days of fasting and abstinence, (5) Contributing to the support of the Church, (6) and not celebrating marriage during Lent or with close relatives. Now, don’t be impressed. I had to look them up to get it right.

All of that stuff comes from a focus on an institution, and changes in time and practices have influenced how we interpret all of this. For instance, when strict fasting before Communion was expected, many people simply avoided Holy Communion and were therefore encouraged to receive Holy Communion at least once a year. If there was no priest nearby, at least once every year the faithful were encouraged to seek one for Confession and Communion. All well and good and an interesting piece of history.

This all came to mind weeks ago as I was thinking and praying my way into this Sunday’s Gospel. What we have here is the last two parts of a four-part instruction to the disciples. Jesus has interrupted a conversation with the Pharisees to offer instructions on faithful discipleship to his closest followers. That’s us.

The first two of four parts are not included in today’s proclamation, but you might go home and take a look at the first five verses we did not hear today. It seems that Luke has pulled four bits of tradition together to stop a perception that being a follower of Jesus Christ is to enjoy special privileges and status. You get that point in the last of these examples about the relationship between the servant and the master. We don’t get any privilege.

With the cry of the disciples, “Increase our faith” Jesus assures any struggling believer that faith is not a quantitative commodity. It is a matter of sincere trust in the promises of God. It is never about how much. It is simply about remembering who God is and what God has promised. It’s not about what we do. It is about what God does.

What we get here today is what discipleship requires, sort of like the Six precepts that tell what being a Catholic requires, and what we get here comes first. In every community there are expectations and obligation just as in any household or social system. What we can draw from the beginning of Chapter 17 is that disciples must live exemplary lives – in other words, give good example. They must offer unlimited forgiveness to those who repent, and constantly grow deeper in faith more and more trusting in God’s promises. All of this is a tall order for frail, imperfect human beings like us, but God in Christ has shown us what it means to do as God commands. Here, it is not ten or six, only of four: (1) live responsibly, (2) forgive generously, (3) believe trustingly, (4) and follow obediently. When we do so, we shall find the best blessings of this life with God for ourselves and for the community of God’s people.

September 28, 2025 As I am away for some vacation, this homily will not be delivered.

Amos 6: 1, 4-7 + Psalm 146 + 1 Timothy 6: 11-16 + Luke 16: 19-31

We hear a powerful and what should be a deeply troubling Parable/story this weekend. In Luke’s Gospel, repentance and amendment of life among the rich occur only rarely, but they can happen. There are several people of means who do become disciples. Yet, this parable, spoken to us today, is a great challenge for us about how we use our resources. To make sure that we do not think this Gospel story is about someone else, that rich man has no name. This is a common way for Gospel writers to make sure we cannot and do not shift the message toward others. While the rich man has no name, the poor man does, and it helps our reflection to know that his name is a form of Elazar, meaning “God has helped.” It is, in a way, a prophesy that is fulfilled when he dies and is taken by angels to a place of honor.

The “Good News” of this Gospel is only for the poor and suffering, as it illustrates what Pope Leo has recently spoken of, the vast gap between the rich and the poor. There is no way to overlook the clear call for justice and compassion by claiming that this is just an imagined exaggeration. It is real. It does not reflect something from the past. It describes life in this world today as executives and CEOs reap huge profits from the people who are denied the right to organize and share in the profits gained from their labor.

There is something about knowledge that can change the actions of those who control the world’s wealth and power. It can compel people to action, and all of us know that from our own experience. Yet, there is always the danger of rationalization for not acting or helping. Often the excuse is ignorance when in fact, deliberate denial or blame is often the case. We cannot pretend that ignorance, denial, or resistance to the truth of injustice is anything but immoral. We cannot say that we didn’t know the truth.

What that rich man fails to admit is that he is partly to blame for the suffering of Lazarus. Not once does it dawn on him to speak to Lazarus directly as a human being. It does not happen when they are alive, and it does not happen when they are in another world. He will not speak to Lazarus! He operates on the assumption that Lazarus is beneath him, a mooch sprawled on his doorstep covered in sores. Even when he sees Lazarus now in the comfort of Abraham he still does not understand. There is no way he could have come and gone from his comfortable home without stepping over Lazarus. He knew Lazarus was there.

There is great temptation these days from the preachers of the “Prosperity Gospel” that promises material wealth for those who have the right beliefs or obey certain rules of living. That rich man’s house is a gated community where outside there are growing numbers of the homeless and hungry who too often end up looting and stealing to stay alive. We have Moses and the Prophets. We even have Jesus Christ, someone risen from the dead. We have this Gospel to remind us all about our responsibility toward them, and they are waiting.

September 21, 2025 at Saint Agnes, Saint William, & Saint Peter Churches in Naples, FL

Amos 8: 4-7 + Psalm 113 + Timothy 2 1-8 + Luke 16: 1-13

Jesus was a master at undermining systems. He saw people who benefited from a system that rewarded some at the expense of others. He saw that people in debt were caught in a vicious circle of increasing interest. He saw widows losing a chance to survive with dignity, the blind and lame being blamed for disabilities over which they had no control. It grieved him and his Father.  Today’s episode digs in as a response to what he saw. This parable is one of the most complex and sometimes troubling of all the parables in the Gospels. Saint Augustine is said to have remarked: “I can’t believe this story came from the lips of our Lord.” This parable is only found in Luke, and some scholars believe that even Luke had trouble with it because of those final verses added at the end. Luke’s Gospel, more than the others speaks about money and the trouble it causes. It is Luke who quotes Jesus saying that we cannot love both God and money. I was in a discussion group years ago with a group of Protestant Pastors, and this text came up in our study together. One of the older men said: “When this text comes up, peach about something else or you may end up getting fired.” I’m not worried about that very much.

What Luke describes here is the saturation of a rich man whose life-style is made possible by the income from his estate run by tenant farmers. They have to buy what they need from the company store with whatever is left over after they pay exorbitant rent to that rich man. The harvest is never enough to pay the rent and buy what they need. So, they just get deeper and deeper in debt. That steward knows just to enough realize that something is wrong, and it gets him in trouble. What he does about it is wrong, and so we have characters here. Both of them do wrong leaving us to wonder what it is we might get from this parable.

Remembering Luke’s overall critique of the wealthy who are only interested in their own welfare, we might begin to see that this saying is about more than money even though wealth is clearly at issue. Jesus is speaking to us about our values and ultimate loyalties. This parable is primarily about one’s approach to wealth and about how one uses it and to what end.

The steward or “manager” enjoys special praise not exactly for what he does, but for why he does it. This steward is praised because rather than accumulating wealth for himself, he invests in good and lasting relationships. He sees that ultimately wealth and security are not really provided by money, but rather by friendships and relationships.  In the end, when the two men are compared, we might just want to see which one did the most good for others. The Gospel seems to suggest that real prudence values relationships more than anything else.

September 14, 2025 at Saint Agnes, Saint William & Saint Peter Churches in Naples, FL

Numbers 21 4-9 + Psalm 78 + Philippians 2: 6-11+ John 3: 13-17

As we celebrate today this sign of our hope and salvation, we drawn into the entire plan of God to discover the very nature of God and see what happens when there is obedience to God’s will. There is no way to celebrate the Holy Cross without once again celebrating the Incarnation. The Son of God first poured out and surrendered his glory and his place at the right hand of the Father by taking on human flesh loving what God loves, all creation. Born of a woman, he had to grow, learn, fall and get back up. He used human eyes to see God’s creation, human ears to hear people’s cries, and a human heart to know and share God’s love. He used human touch to heal and his own will to fulfill the Father’s will that we may all flourish and fulfill our vocation to give glory and praise to God in all things.

Saint Paul calls him a slave, someone dedicated completely to the service of another. But this slave was not sold or bought. He chose to be a slave for the sole purpose of doing the will of God. He chose to empty himself in order to make room for God’s mysterious love and power. Doing so demanded hope beyond measure that can only be called: “self-emptying.”

Having emptied himself, he is filled with divine life. This man who had known heaven, chose to reveal heaven to earth. As John tells it today, he compared himself to that serpent on the staff of Moses so that he could be lifted up saving humanity from fear and the death that the serpent had caused. Without that fear of death, we are saved for love, for life, and for glory.

The death of Christ Jesus symbolized by this cross we hold high announces that evil is now as dead as its works. The death of Christ is the beginning of life, a new life lived with the assurance that evil and death will not ever have the last word for God’s love is everlasting and therefor what God loves is everlasting.

When we choose to believe this and raise high the cross, we are choosing to live by faith in the God of life and the God of love. It means that the image of God from the past, a God of anger, vengeance, and terrible punishment is no more. Because that was never the God who loved this creation into existence, and Jesus comes to restore that one true God of mercy and compassion who is revealed in the flesh and blood of his only Son. Believing this means that we bet our lives on God’s undying love. It means that like Jesus Christ, even though we may experience unspeakable pain or sorrow, we have nothing to fear because ultimately evil is nothing more than “chaff driven by the wind.”

Today we rejoice in the wonder of salvation renewed and encouraged to live with and under the sign of the cross by which we have been claimed for Christ our Savior.