June 28, 2026. This homily will not be delivered as I am in Oklahoma City

2 Kings 4: 8-11, 14-16 + Psalm 89 + Romans 6: 3-4, 8-11 + Matthew 10: 37-42

Matthew’s Gospel has fewer miracle stories than Luke or Mark because Matthew is more interested in telling us what Jesus said than what he did. At this point, in Chapter 10 we hear the closing words of what some call, “The Missionary Instruction.” I find it interesting that while Matthew takes great care to record the instruction of Jesus to his missionary disciples, unlike Mark and Luke, they are never sent out. Matthew would have us know what Jesus says, not what the disciples do.

At the center of his instructions is the matter of hospitality, something that is a challenge for us all today. With our locks, bolts, gates, and alarm systems, “hospitality” is an ideal that has escaped us. The consequence is a lot of loneliness and a lot of displaced people. Hospitality to a friend is no big deal. There is no risk involved and every likelihood that the favor will be returned. On the other hand, hospitality to a stranger is a great thing. You don’t owe anything to a stranger, and there is risk involved.

Yet, Christ calls us to welcome strangers. Being hospitable does not mean making them like us. It means accepting them as they are. Doing so allows them to shed their strangeness and be included in a community. If Christian people get into ghettos where they secure themselves and their property against anyone considered socially inferior, there is no hope for the world.

Hospitality is not so much about open doors as it is about open hearts. There is always a risk from having an open heart, the risk of being hurt. But to open one’s heart is to begin to live. To close it is to begin to die.

June 21, 2026, at Saint William and Saint Peter Parishes in Naples, FL

Jeremiah 20: 10-13 + Psalm 69 + Romans 5: 12-15 + Matthew 10: 26-33

There is a breathtaking intimacy expressed in these verses of today’s Gospel. To those of us who are too often timid, if not downright afraid, to respond to the challenges of today’s culture and political climate, Jesus reveals a God of sparrows. This is a God who is to be trusted. A God who has not withdrawn from the world but filled it with his gentle and loving spirit to give us courage and hope. Yet, we are so like Saint Peter, who in Pilate’s courtyard cowardly avoided any association with Jesus Christ when it meant some risk. Then the Spirit awakened in him, and there was no way to silence his voice when it came to speaking of Christ and what he had learned from his Savior.

This culture and political climate may not be as physically dangerous as in other times, but there is a persecution still. It is subtle, often expressed in apathy or a roll of eyes that minimizes our faith and what we have learned from our Savior about how to live together in peace, generously, respectfully, and honorably. Religion becomes a private matter banned from discussion as though we had nothing to say that mattered.

Our values matter, and they need to critique the public sphere and shape public policy not in a patrician political way, but in such a way that our values raise questions about what is right and what is wrong. We do not check our values rooted in the Gospel when we leave this church. The compassion of Jesus Christ for the poor, the sick, those in prison, and the vulnerable matters as much today as it did in his own historical time. These vulnerable ones cannot be demonized.

I know people who place conditions on God’s unconditional and extravagant love. They resist a Gospel of Grace and often embrace a Gospel of punishment and retribution calling it “Justice.” I also know people who simply avoid any mention of Jesus Christ and resist what he taught us about the Father. With no more judgement about them than I would judge Peter in Pilate’s courtyard, I wait and pray that the Spirit will awaken them to experience that God of Sparrows who protects, inspires, and waits for us to bear witness to his presence, his Son, Jesus Christ, and all that he taught us. Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. Who wouldn’t want that?

June 14, 2026. At Saint William Parish in Naples, FL

Exodus 19: 2-6 + Psalm 100 + Romans 5: 6-11 + Matthew 9: 36 to 10:8

Leadership in first-century Palestine was a precious commodity. In fact, it would be impossible to point to anyone in those times who fulfilled that role. The Roman Emperor was no leader. No one followed him willingly. It was all fear-inspired oppression. Even today, there are precious few examples of true leaders. There are bullies and bosses, tyrants and rulers who threaten and frighten with power and punishment. Into this world comes Jesus who shows us something about leadership, forming and commissioning disciples in a real school of leadership that will eventually threaten the powerful so-called leaders of his day with bad consequences.

What Jesus teaches us by example is that leadership is really ministry. Yet, while many people came together seeking his help, they did not come together as a community. They are simply a crowd driven by their own individual needs. There is no sense of community or solidarity. The truth is, at that time, they were needy, searching for food and healing.

In contrast to this, Matthew shows us a community of disciples that can move beyond its own needs to ministry to others. For Matthew, the church exists to identify with needy people, and this is the key to leadership in the model of Jesus Christ. The faithful leader of a community of believes is like a shepherd, meeting others who are like a crowd of individuals leading them into a compassionate community.

When Jesus laments that there are few laborers, he is not talking about Nuns, Sisters, Brothers or priests. He is talking to and about all of us who are often so focused on our own wants and needs that we fail to see others who are waiting and longing for a companion with far greater needs. Those lost sheep of the house of Israel are, in other words, our immediate neighbors isolated, fearful, alone, and afraid. There is a sickness called helplessness we can cure. There are people dead from loneliness who can be called to life. There are people living in filth out of sight, shunned like lepers who need to be cleansed, and others living with the demon of sadness and hopelessness. That demon needs to go, and a people together, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit can cast out that demon, cure, and call people to real life. This is the leadership to which we are called.

Up to this point in Matthew’s Gospel, the disciples have been watching Jesus at his work. They have seen him in his triumphs and when he is tired. They have listened to his teaching and have heard him being confronted by the establishment. They have sacrificed a home and stability for the opportunity to be a part of a movement that will usher in a new way of being in relationship to God. That movement is all of us together, the Church.

When any of us complain that nothing is happening to make things better, we need to remember what Matthew has put before us today, set aside our own sometimes puny needs, and rise up together to challenge any establishment that is self-preserving, self-serving, and show the kind of leadership to which we are called. No more watching. There are helpless, hopeless people all around us, probably near us in this church. It is easy to shut down, but we are apostles. We have been given authority and permission to be human like our teacher whose humanness is best revealed in his compassion, empathy, and love for us all.

June 7, 2026, at Saint William Parish and the Naples Maronite Mission

Deuteronomy 8: 2-3, 14-16 + Psalm 147 + 1 Corinthians 10: 16-17 + John 6: 51-58

“How?” the leaders ask themselves. It’s not necessarily a bad question. Abraham asked that question, and young woman in Nazareth asked it as well. There is so much we do not know, and even then, there is even more we do not understand. There was really nothing wrong with the question those leaders asked. Their problem was that they were talking to themselves and not really listening to Jesus. Surely, overhearing their conversation, Jesus pushes his messages and drives it home with graphic words that cannot be watered down or explained away as though it were a metaphor or just symbolic.

It is near Passover time John tells us, and Jesus presents himself as the sacrificial offering, that Lamb whose flesh is eaten, affirming God’s covenant with his people leading to their liberation. These words then are as much about the identity of Jesus and what he perceived was his role and destiny as they are about eating and drinking. Yet, eating the flesh of that lamb and the flesh of Jesus Christ cannot be separated. It’s real flesh to be eaten.

Jesus does not make it easy for those who do not seem to really want to know how. Pushing harder, he hammers it into them by repeating the phrase that makes them back away: “Eat my flesh and drink my blood.” Three times he says it and then adds: “Whoever eats me will live because of me.” John uses that word “flesh” very carefully here. Matthew, Mark, and Luke use the word “body.” If at the last supper John had cared to focus on the meal rather than the washing of feet, Jesus would have said: “Take and eat. This is my flesh. This is my blood.” This how the work of salvation is accomplished in flesh and blood. God takes on flesh and blood in the person of his son to redeem all those who will receive him. To eat his flesh and drink his blood is to welcome and accept God’s saving action into our whole being. When we consume his flesh and blood, we are consumed by him.

For those who wonder, “How,” I always wonder why they can’t get it. If God can create all things out of nothing, God can certainly change bread into flesh and wine into blood. If Jesus could take jugs of water and change them into wine, he can take wine and change it into his blood. What he goes to say is that this is how we are saved. Consume him, eat and live.

I never forget that in 2004 I was really close to death after open heart surgery that didn’t exactly go well. After getting me to CCU, the surgeon went back into surgery for another patient, and I crashed. The nurses called down to surgery, and he told them to pump blood into me until he finished and then bring back. I had nine units of blood that morning, and because someone gave that blood, I’m standing here. It saved my life.

If anyone of you has had any similar experience, it’s probably not hard to understand what Jesus promises, offers, and gives us. There is life in this food that we have because he died surrendering his life, pouring out his blood for the life of the world. What’s the point of asking how. It might be better to ask why, and accept the fact that God thinks we are worth it. Take and eat. This is my flesh given for you.

May 31, 2026, at St. William and the Naples Maronite Community

Exodus 34: 6, 8-9 + Deuteronomy 3 + 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13 + John 3: 16-18

It says here: “God so loved the world.” It does not say: “God so loved the Church, God so loved the pure, God so loved the pious and holy, or God so loved America” or anywhere else for that matter. God’s love is for the World. This story is about God’s deep and abiding love for all and everything created. The Divine Incarnation, the sending of God’s Word in flesh is for the world, for everyone, everywhere. He did not send his Son, His presence in human flesh into a Tabernacle. We need to understand that the Divine Presence is in a Tabernacle because that presence is first in us, all of us.

The implications of this love are massive It means that God is to be found where the Son of God is to be found living, incognito in the world. In the space of just two chapters of this Gospel, Jesus is found in the dark of night talking with a Jewish leader, Nicodemus, a classic insider. Then, he is found at Midday with a Samaritan woman, a classic forgotten outsider. He can be found in the synagogue, in the Temple, but usually he is seen in the streets feeding, healing, teaching, forgiving. He has been given to the world!

Yet, how often the world hears a different message. How often the world hears a message of judgement and condemnation. How often the people of the Church, where he should be found first, are busy separating and judging all the while looking holy and pious as they push people out to the margins of society because they are slow to believe, broken by divorce, gay, or some kind of public sinner.

The mission of Jesus Christ passed on to us is not a rejection mission. It is a rescue mission because God loved the world. The judgement spoken of in this Gospel is not the judgment of God. God does not condemn. The judgement is a choice to remain in the dark hiding from the light of God’s love. That choice is an act of self-condemnation.

Some love the darkness imagining that eternal life is found in possessions, power, and prestige. For some, the darkness is a land of addiction to short-term fixes that can never hide deep pain. In that darkness evil deeds become a habit and so much a part of our way of life that we barely recognize that this behavior and these attitudes are out of synch with Jesus Christ. Believing in him and trusting him means being in synch with him, living in harmony with God’s extraordinary love for the world.

There is no one in this world who is not good, and no one is going to hell if God has anything to say or do about it. Yet, the love of God revealed in Jesus demands a decision to believe, or not to believe; to live in response to the love of God for all people, or not. To say no to the love of God in Jesus Christ is to choose a life in the darkness of the world we have been taught to call reality. That is real condemnation, to the “living hell” of the real world that has chosen to ignore or dismiss its creator who loved the world into existence.

May 24, 2026 at Saint Agnes Parish in Naples, FL

Acts of the Apostles 2: 1-11+ Psalm 104 + 1 Corinthians 12: 3-7, 12-13 + John 20: 19-33

There is a sense of powerlessness hanging over many of us these days. There is violence in homes, schools, and even churches that leaves us uneasy at best and fearful at its worst. There is button at every altar in this city waiting to be pushed at the first sign of trouble, and our parish offices have one as well. Most of us live behind gates, and many have alarm systems at home, and we don’t seem to know what to do about it. And so, we flee from communities that are dangerous and hide. We are a very much like the Apostles in today’s Gospel. They were hiding in some upper room.

Like us, a great task and mission was entrusted to them. Yet they had neither the strength nor the will to begin. Then the Holy Spirit came, and they were changed. Christ Jesus had said to them: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit come on you, and then you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” The key word here is “power.” It is exactly what they needed as they hid feeling absolutely powerless, overcome by fear and a feeling of inadequacy. Having seen what happened to Jesus they needed courage and someone to empower them.

What Christ Jesus promised is what we celebrate today. It is a promise of power, but it does no good to celebrate this Feast if we fail to accept that gift. We are a people empowered by baptism and confirmation. We are able to take charge of our situation. We may not wait for someone else to do it for us. We are a people filled with the Holy Spirit.

Our Church, its values, its vision of the Kingdom of God, its message of peace and reconciliation cannot remain hidden because we are timid or feel inadequate. We should not think that the change in the Apostles was something instant. That’s a too literal reading of the Gospels. It had to be a gradual thing, a growth process, and that can be painful and slow. We do not easily let go of old ways, habits, and attitudes.

People change when they are given hope, and they change when they are loved. They come out of hiding and some kind of energy is released in them. I believe that the miracle of human change is perhaps, the only real miracle. The power that changed the Apostles is not just for them. The Holy Spirit did not just come for a day and then blow away like the wind. That Spirit is ours too. It stirs up power in us like the wind. If fires up our courage to get up, speak up, and act up in the name of Jesus Christ and all that he taught us.

We are not helpless, and together we are far from inadequate. We are a people of hope with a clear vision of the Kingdom of God which is at hand and available now for those who choose every day to say: “Come Holy Spirit.” When we do things will change. We will no longer be waiting for someone to do what we can do, and fear will be replaced by joy.

May 17, 2026.

This homily will not be delivered. I am away from Naples.

Acts of the Apostles 1: 1-11 + Psalm 47 + Ephesians 1: 17-23 + Matthew 28: 16-20

I recently read a great story about Jesus returning to heaven after his death and resurrection. It seems that the Archangel Gabriel who started it all, if you remember, was surprised to see him back so soon. Thirty-three years is not a long time, especially when you think about the importance and proportions of the task he had been given. Gabriel says: “Back so soon?” Jesus said: “Well, I would have stayed longer, but they crucified me.” “They did?” said Gabriel. “I guess that means you failed.” “Not necessarily,” said Jesus. “You see, I called together a little group of disciples. They will carry on my work.” “And what if they fail?” asked Gabriel. “I have no other plans.” Jesus answered.

There is no other plan. What those of us left must discover is that the Ascension of Jesus is his liberation from the restrictions of time and space. It does not represent his removal from the earth, but his constant presence everywhere. A sense of the presence of Christ with us does not change the world for us, but it should give us the courage to face the world.

The transformation of this world back into the Paradise that God intended depends upon us. There is no other plan. It is not a daunting task. It is a privilege. When we witness, stand up and speak about truth, justice, love and peace, we bear witness to and carry on the work of Jesus. We witness to truth by living truthfully. We witness to justice by acting justly with others. We witness to love by acting lovingly with others, and we witness to peace by living peacefully with our neighbors. It’s not such big challenge when we get down to the core of it. We might simply remember and draw encouragement from what Mother Teresa said once: “I don’t pray for success. I pray that I may be a faithful witness.”

May 10, 2026, at St William Parish in Naples, FL

Acts of the Apostles 8:5-8, 14-17 + Psalm 66 + 1 Peter 3: 15-18 + John 14:15-21

The quid pro quo world in which we live and in which we hear these words of Jesus Christ presents a problem, and we need to ask ourselves, “Does enjoying God’s loving and abiding presence really depend upon my keeping Jesus’ commandments? If it does, I have a problem, and I suspect I’m not the only one. Jesus being lifted from earth and drawing all people to himself does not depend on anything we do or fail to do. This is not a reward for being good. It is a gift not a prize. We must get out of that mentality. God’s plan does not depend on us. When Jesus speaks these words, he is attempting to inspire trust among us. These words are intended to assure us not threaten us. He is not laying down conditions for receiving the Spirit. It is a gift to us, not a reward or some personal possession.

Think of this. That word, “condition” has a lot of definitions. It could mean “something necessary” as in “It is necessary that you keep the command of Jesus for him to ask the Father to send the Advocate.” However, there is another way to define “condition” as a “way of being.” In other words, it is like describing what condition we are in, and that is where John is going with this. Those whose way of being is to love Jesus and keep his commandments, have the gift of the Spirit for without it it would be impossible to stay in love and keep the commandments Jesus has given us.

I think it helps to remember that in John’s Gospel “love” is always a verb, not a noun. It is not a thing, it is a way of being, a condition we’re in or a way of acting that comes from a deep intimacy with the God Jesus has revealed to us. This is the consequence of the Incarnation, the Word Made Flesh. Jesus is comforting and assuring those disciples with a description of what they will be like after he departs. It is a description of the Church, a Spirit filled faithful people who love, serve, reconcile, comfort and inspire.

Choosing every day to obey that commandment of love making it our very way of being in this world requires a little teamwork, and that’s why we are a church. What Jesus asks we cannot do unless the Spirit abides with us and sets up shop among us. A Spirit-filled church with the abiding presence of Jesus is all we need. Many in this world cannot see Jesus any longer, but we can because he lives in us now by the presence and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

May 3, 2026, at St William on Saturday & St Peter on Sunday

Acts of the Apostles 6: 1-7 + Psalm 33 + 1 Peter 2: 4-9 + John 14: 1-12

In John’s Gospel Philip is a main character. He is named twelve times as opposed to once in the other three Gospels. He is the first disciple to lead someone to Jesus. He is troubled that there will not be enough when asked to feed the crowd. He is the one the Greeks seek when they come wanting to see Jesus, and he is the one present with Andrew as Jesus prays that his hour has come.

Today we hear Thomas speak as a representative of the group, and Jesus answers him as such. When Philip tries the same move, Jesus gets personal with him. Jesus has made it clear that he will return to the Father. The disciples are stalling almost as though their questions can delay what is not only inevitable, but also God’s plan. And so, Thomas and Philip ask questions that are a bit silly, and it annoys Jesus. With that he scolds a bit and then reaffirms his intimate relationship with the Father offering all who follow him the same relationship.

“Show us the Father” says Philip, and with those words he speaks for many in this world who wonder “where is God” when tragedies happen and death and evil rage uncontrollably. They wonder, like Philip what God is like and what if anything God is doing.

The response of Jesus to Philip is echoed to all of us who too often get stunned by violence, fear, a personal tragedy that leaves us stunned and wondering how this could happen to us raising that question, “Where is God when we need God?” What happened to that part, “Whatever you ask in my name?” He says to us, look at my works, what I do: changing water into wine, healing the servant of a royal official, healing a paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda, feeding 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, walking on the water, restoring sight to a man born blind, and calling Lazarus from the tomb.

More than these works, Jesus points us to where we might look when we find it hard to believe his words. Wherever Joy and abundance replace embarrassment and scarcity, hungry people are fed, calm overcomes a storm. It is astonishing. Christian people can do what Jesus did and more, and many have over 2,000 years. This is where we must look to see what God is up to and where God is to be found.

The issue is whether we will do what Jesus did or not. It is up to us. The fact that we can do them is due to the fact that Jesus completed the very work God set him to do which was to show us the Father, show us what the Father is like and what the Father’s love can accomplish. To Thomas and to Philip he gave that task, and they have passed it on to us. No one should ever wonder why God has abandoned them as long as we hear their cry.

April 26, 2026, at St William, St Peter & St Agnes Churches in Naples, FL

Acts of the Apostles 2: 36-41 + Psalm 23 + 1 Peter 2: 20-25 + John 10: 1-10

As you probably know the number seven in the Sacred Scriptures carries with it a message much greater and more important than a numerical count between six and eight. When it shows up in the Scriptures it always brings a sense of completion and fullness. John uses sevens very skillfully to bring the new creation (seven days) into the present. Seven Signs make up the framework of this Gospel: turning water into wine, healing the son of an official, healing the paralytic, feeding 5,000, walking on water, healing a blind man, and calling Lazarus back to life. In the book of Apocalypse attributed to John there are seven seals and seven cosmic events. So, if I were to give you a test today, one question would be, “How many times in John’s Gospel does Jesus say: “I Am?”

Each of them is a profound declaration Jesus makes to describe His divine nature, role, and relationship with his followers. So today he speaks to us declaring that he is The Gate, and he does not mean an object. His role as The Gate is to save and give life to those who come to him. The function of The Gate is “Life”. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  There is nothing here to suggest that anyone who does not know Jesus Christ cannot be saved. The message here is for those who do come to The Gate. What happens to them? They have life, and the verb is in the present.

What is important for us to realize is that John does not confine “eternal life” to some heavenly afterlife. Having life abundantly is what we have who have come the The Gate, and that is what we hear today. John uses “life” as a present gift Jesus offers to believers. This life that Jesus offers refers to a quality of life that we experience now. So, The Gate is a portal to an abundant and full life. This is what Christ offers us, a new life to be lived right now: a life without fear, a life filled with  joy and gratitude, a life filled with hope in the face of danger or tragedy, a life lived with confidence that God will provide what we need, with an assurance that we are never alone, and that mercy and forgiveness are what we can expect when we remain faithful and live in the freedom of God’s children.

What John says to us today is, “Come to the gate.” “Come to life” “Come for the gift that the Father has given us in Jesus Christ.