November 30, 2025 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Isaiah 2: 1-5 + Psalm 122 + Romans 13: 11-14 + Matthew 24: 37-44

We are just days away from the longest night of the year. As the solar system works its cycle, darkness has overcome the light, but not for long, and this season of Advent begins with a prophetic vision that lights our path through these short days and long nights. While the words might be Isaiah’s, it is God who speaks the vision not just to an ancient prophet, but to us, a prophetic people.

What comes down to us is a vision of peace and unity, one that we can hope for and work toward. We are living in those “days to come” that Isaiah speaks of because the Holy One has come among us in the very flesh of his Son, Jesus Christ. That coming we shall celebrate again in a few weeks. Living in his presence, we can finally put down the weapons of war confident that the way to peace is not possible violence and bloodshed. There is another way.

No matter how polarized, violent, and angry others may become in these days when trusted institutions seem to be shaking apart, and leaders resort to threats and violence, we are called to remain faithful to the truth of the Gospel and the vision we have inherited from the Word of God and the pen of a prophet.

Business may not continue as usual because that risks allowing intimidation and fear, threats, and violence becoming a new “normal” spreading darkness over this earth and silencing the voices of those who protest.

We who are baptized into this Catholic faith are baptized into a prophetic way of life, and we are filled with a prophetic spirit. This season of Advent is not for shopping and making lists. It is a time for us to get our act together, to live by and expect a higher ethic that will not ignore or tolerate anything that dehumanizes or uses another human being for profit or as a scapegoat in a system that puts profit before compassion and revenge before mercy.

That vision Isaiah puts before us must inspire us. It is the foundation of our hope that rests upon Justice and Truth. There can be no peace and no end to this polarization until we embrace the Truth of Jesus Christ and make justice more important than convenience, profits, or selfish ambition. “Wake up.” said Saint Paul to us. “We must walk in the light of the Lord.” said Isaiah today. “Therefore, stay awake” said Jesus in this Gospel.

Often Advent has been described as a season of waiting or anticipation caught up in Israel’s waiting for a messiah or children waiting for Santa.  At some point, and at some time, the passive waiting has to stop and something has to happen. I believe that one who waits is God waiting for us to stop the ordinary routines that can best be described as “Business as usual” and begin to look ahead beginning to build the kind of world that is worthy of the Lamb of God – a place called the Kingdom of God.

November 23, 2025 at Saint Peter and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

2 Samuel 5: 1-3 + Psalm 122 + Colossians 1: 12-20 + Luke 23: 35-43

This Sunday we face a day of reckoning. After opening our ears, minds, and hearts to Luke’s Gospel for 50 weeks, it is time to decide and make up our minds about what Kingdom we belong to.

We have no idea what prompted Pontius Pilate to ask Jesus whether he was king of the Jews. Perhaps it was because Jesus looked like a king. All of the writers describing the meeting of those two suggest that Jesus certainly did not act like a fearful victim. Pilate was well aware that there was something about this man that made people want to follow him, obey him and serve him. 

We do not need Pilate or a sign nailed to a cross to know that there is a king among us. At the very beginning of the story an angel tells Mary that Jesus will reign on the throne of David and that his Kingdom will have no end. Now at the end of the story, a criminal being crucified beside Jesus recognizes a king and speaks those haunting words, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

From Angels to a powerful ruler and on to a criminal the word is passed down. This is a king who wields the greatest power of all, the power of love. This is a king who has left his throne in glory, whose royal robes were stripped from his back. This is a king who speaks of forgiveness and tempers judgement with mercy. This is king who surrounds himself with outcasts and sinners, who feeds the hungry, and seeks the lost.

Jesus talks about the kingdom of God a lot, and the image of Christ the King leads us to wrestle with a conflict over what kind of power is best and what kind of power will bring peace. One thing is clear when we talk and think about this King and his Kingdom. It is not a democracy. This King as with all kings has the final say. It may not be a kingdom like any earthly kingdoms we know of, but it is definitely a place where God is in charge.

In a world that seems utterly taken by another kind of king who seeks revenge, punishes, silences the cries of the poor, and uses fear to oppress those whose skin is not the right color, we are faced with a choice about which king and which kingdom we belong to. Once we decide that, we must begin to decide what kind of subjects we are expected to be.

If God’s kingdom has already come, and Jesus is King, we might wonder why doesn’t he get busy doing kingly things, like bringing some order to the chaos that surrounds us? Why is he hanging on a cross instead of in the capitol, ordering people around?  Why isn’t he on Wall Street, throwing around a few tables? If Jesus is Lord of all, why is there still corruption and sickness and sadness and death? If Jesus is the ultimate ruler, why was he executed like a criminal?

It all goes back to our assumptions about kings and how they should behave. We keep looking for Jesus in places where we think he should be like those wise men did when they came to Herold’s castle. He was born in a barn, and he seemed to specialize in being in more unlikely places for the rest of his life. Remember his mother and father looking for him? Do you remember what he said to them when they found him? The father’s business required that he comfort the grieving, visit the sick, feed the hungry, and cloth the naked. Subjects in that kingdom will also be about the father’s business always obedient the king who has come in the name of the Lord. 

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.