Saturday, December 29, 2012


Christmas I (John 1:1-18) In the beginning was the Word.

All things in this universe of matter, energy, time and space have a beginning. All things in this universe are subject to the law of cause and effect. And all things in this universe reflect a pattern. That pattern can be described by the physical laws that govern the universe.

Modern science generally confines itself to observation, description and experimentation within that pattern. The ancient Greeks asked themselves what they considered was a logical question. If everything in the universe has a beginning and it subject to the law of cause and effect then what caused the universe? What is the First Cause of all things? What is the uncaused cause of the entire pattern and process?

The answer the Greeks proposed is the logos. The logos is the uncaused cause of the pattern of cause and effect. Based on observation of the natural world, the Greeks proposed that the pattern of the universe, of nature, derives from a transcendent and eternal pattern. That pattern reflects in the universe as being rational, active, dynamic, creative and spontaneous. That pattern, the logos, is the Word.

When the beloved apostle John introduced the story of Jesus to the Greek speaking world, he used this concept of the logos, the word. John boldly declares that Jesus of Nazareth is the logos, the eternal transcendent Word, appearing and embodied at a particular time, place and person.

John reflected on an esoteric philosophical concept and personalized it. John personalized it because John experienced the logos in person. And, John formed his experience of that person, Jesus, in the context of his mother Mary’s wisdom and insight.

The Bible is a book of human observation and human experience. Moses and the prophets record their impressions of human behavior in the context of their relationship with God. The Biblical writers never directly present rational logical proofs for the existence of God. What they do is to record their experience of the world as it is in the context of their experience of the God who is.

The Christian Faith is an experience of life in the context of a personal relationship with the Logos, the Word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ. John the Beloved invites the people of his time and all time to enter into this personal relationship.

The apostle Paul comments on this reality when he reflects: the Greeks seek rational analytical proof. The Jews seeks miraculous demonstrations of power. God offers a personal relationship with himself in Jesus Christ.

John encourages us to experience God not just speculate about God or demand favors of God. John and Mary demonstrate a new way of living in the context of the logos, the Word of God. That experience of a new way of living is love. For Mary it started with the love of a mother for her son. For John it was the love of a friend. For both, Jesus met them within the love they could experience and then invited them to experience the infinite and eternal love of the Holy and Blessed Trinity.

The Logos, the Word of God, the transcendent pattern of the universe is the Love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit that creates, sustains and transforms the universe and each of us. The logos is universal, it is particular and it is personal. The pattern of love embedded in the universe  is three fold. That pattern is love of God through worship on the Seventh Day, the day of real presence. It is the love of others through acts of compassion and charity. Human frailty and human need is a pattern by which we participate in divine compassion. And, there is love of self through personal transformation in the beauty of holiness. Our ability to choose, grow and transform is the third strand in the three fold pattern of love that gives form to the universe.

The three fold pattern of Love is worship, compassion and personal transformation. It is in that pattern and process that Jesus meets us, reveals himself to us and unfolds the infinite and eternal Great Mystery of the Trinity and the Incarnation.

John invites us to enter into a new life and a new way of living in a personal relationship with Jesus, the Word of God made flesh.

 

Monday, December 24, 2012


Christmas 2012 (Luke 2:1-20)

Mary gave birth to her first born son.

At Christmas, a young working class woman named Mary reminds us that God is real, God is personal, God is Jesus Christ.

Throughout history people have speculated about God. Is God real? Is God one? Is God many? Who is God? Is there God? Is God whoever I want or need God to be?

From time to time I hear people say: if God is real then where is God? If God is real then God must prove the divine existence to my satisfaction.

Moses reports that the answer God gave him to these questions is: I am. I am who I am Moses. I am nothing like anything you can imagine. I am not defined by your speculations, needs or desires. I will not be constrained by your politics, philosophies or ideologies.

Mary reports that the answer God gave her is: Jesus.

Jesus is the I Am made real and made personal. Jesus is the assurance of God to Mary and to all people everywhere that God is for us. God is with us.

The infant Jesus reveals that while God has many attributes: omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and so much more- God is not any of these things. God is the infinite and eternal I am who reveals that he is love.

Mary reminds us: do not look for God amongst the rich and powerful. Do not define God from the place of fear, self-will or pride. Look for God in the stable outside Bethlehem. Let God define himself in his only begotten Son, Jesus.

The revelation of God as Love cannot be contained in a book, a ritual or a spiritual discipline. The revelation that God is love can only be embodied in a person: Jesus.

Love is not a law to which we submit. Love is not a prophet who authorizes holy war. Love is not serenity now meditation that seeks to detach the mind, heart and will from this world. Love is an ongoing personal relationship we experience.

God becomes real to us in the relationship God invites us to experience. The relationship began with the birth of Jesus. The relationship gives us a new life and a new way of living. The new life is eternal. The new way of living is the way of faith, hope and love. It is the way of goodness, kindness, gentleness, compassion, humility and grace.

In Jesus the timeless touches time. In Jesus the infinite intersects space. In Jesus the eternal God who is love reveals himself to us as we make a real choice to respond to his invitation to be in a relationship with The Beloved.

Holy Mother Mary speaks to us from her throne in Heaven. She reminds us that she gave birth to a child at a particular time in a particular place. She asks us to ponder the imponderable truth that this child, as weak and as helpless as all infants is the fullness of God in human flesh. Jesus is that fullness of God. His mother Mary reminds us that God is real, God is personal, God is Jesus.

Mary gave birth to her first born Son. She named him Jesus. The universal Lord of Love. The universal savior and forever friend of all people everywhere.

 

 

Thursday, December 20, 2012


Christmas 2012 (Luke 2:1-20)

Mary gave birth to her first born son.

At Christmas, a young working class woman named Mary reminds us that God is real, God is personal, God is Jesus Christ.

Throughout history people have speculated about God. Is God real? Is God one? Is God many? Who is God? Is there God? Is God whoever I want or need God to be?

From time to time I hear people say: if God is real then where is God? If God is real then God must prove the divine existence to my satisfaction.

Moses reports that the answer God gave him to these questions is: I am. I am who I am Moses. I am nothing like anything you can imagine. I am not defined by your speculations, needs or desires. I will not be constrained by your politics, philosophies or ideologies.

Mary reports that the answer God gave her is: Jesus.

Jesus is the I Am made real and made personal. Jesus is the assurance of God to Mary and to all people everywhere that God is for us. God is with us.

The infant Jesus reveals that while God has many attributes: omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and so much more- God is not any of these things. God is the infinite and eternal I am who reveals that he is love.

Mary reminds us: do not look for God amongst the rich and powerful. Do not define God from the place of fear, self-will or pride. Look for God in the stable outside Bethlehem. Let God define himself in his only begotten Son, Jesus.

The revelation of God as Love cannot be contained in a book, a ritual or a spiritual discipline. The revelation that God is love can only be embodied in a person: Jesus.

Love is not a law to which we submit. Love is not a prophet who authorizes holy war. Love is not serenity now meditation that seeks to detach the mind, heart and will from this world. Love is an ongoing personal relationship we experience.

God becomes real to us in the relationship God invites us to experience. The relationship began with the birth of Jesus. The relationship gives us a new life and a new way of living. The new life is eternal. The new way of living is the way of faith, hope and love. It is the way of goodness, kindness, gentleness, compassion, humility and grace.

In Jesus the timeless touches time. In Jesus the infinite intersects space. In Jesus the eternal God who is love reveals himself to us as we make a real choice to respond to his invitation to be in a relationship with The Beloved.

Holy Mother Mary speaks to us from her throne in Heaven. She reminds us that she gave birth to a child at a particular time in a particular place. She asks us to ponder the imponderable truth that this child, as weak and as helpless as all infants is the fullness of God in human flesh. Jesus is that fullness of God. His mother Mary reminds us that God is real, God is personal, God is Jesus.

Mary gave birth to her first born Son. She named him Jesus. The universal Lord of Love. The universal savior and forever friend of all people everywhere.

 

 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012


Advent 4 (Luke 1:39-45) Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

All grace flows through Mary.

All grace flows from God. Mary is the conduit of grace. She is the mother of God incarnate, Jesus, who is the grace of God.

In Mary God the Father sent God the Holy Spirit to facilitate the unification of humanity with divinity in God the Son.

After centuries of preparation, Israel brought forth a single woman who the archangel Gabriel recognized was full of grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. It is God’s universal gift to all people of all time. It is an unconditional gift. Yet, few people choose to receive the gift. Some of us ignore it. Some of us reject it. And some of us are indifferent.

The call to repentance is the call to receive God’s unmerited favor.

The call to preparation is the call to walk in God’s unmerited favor.

The call to worship is the call to be immersed in God’s unmerited favor.

By her own choice Mary lived in the center of divine love. By God’s sovereign grace, Mary became the center of divine love. She is the holy mother of God, the Hagios Theotokos, who says “yes” to God.

For nine months she bore the incarnate co-eternal Son. She became the Temple of the Beloved of the Father. She offered her mind, heart and will to God with the words of surrender: Let it be. Let it be according to Thy will. Let God be God. Let His will be sovereign. Let his love shine forth into the universe, this planet and my body and soul.

This surrender of love in love and with love forms who Mary is.

She is, as her cousin Elizabeth stated: blessed among women. She is unique as the Theotokos, the holy mother of God.  She is representative of God’s chosen people, Israel. As God chose Israel to be the instrumentality of His plan of salvation so God chose Mary to accomplish that call.

Of all the people of her time and all time, Mary knew that God just doesn’t have love, God is love. Mary knew she had not been called in power to power, in pride to pride, by self-will to self-will. Mary knew she had been called from a people, a tribe and a family who had been called. She knew by faith she had been called in grace for love.

Mary was the first to experience the new life God gives in Jesus Christ. That new life is union with the Father, through the Son, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Mary walked in the new way of living. It is the way of joy, sorrow, glory and Light.

Mary knew and experienced the Real Presence of Divine love and holiness in Jesus Christ. For thirty years the Holy Spirit prepared Jesus through Moses, the Prophets and Mary for his brief but intense public ministry.

Moses issues the call to worship through the Law. The prophets repeat the call to worship in the invitation to repentance and preparation. Mary lives the call to worship as she becomes the Theotokos.

Mary is always the Holy Mother. She nurtures, teaches, preserves and protects by grace through faith in Love. As she helped Jesus through infancy, childhood, and adolescence to adulthood so she helps us. She is the universal mother of grace channeling the universal unconditional love of God in Jesus Christ to every human being on earth.

In her humility she embraced the new life and entered into the new way of living. The new way of living is the immersion of the soul in the infinite and eternal love of the Holy Trinity. St. Elizabeth recognized this and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit proclaimed to Mary and to all people about Mary: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

 

 

Sunday, December 16, 2012


Newtown candle light vigil 12/16/2012

Thank you all for being here this evening. Welcome to those from our various faith communities. Welcome to those from the wider Newtown community. Welcome.

For many of us this time of year holds the theme of light shining in the darkness. In my tradition we hear the ancient words: the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never overcome it.

It isn’t always easy to accept this. It is sometimes easier to believe darkness is stronger than light. Our ancestors in the Northern Hemisphere struggled with this belief, this fear that darkness would overwhelm light.

They held this fear in a very real and physical way as the winter solstice brought an ever encroaching darkness into the world of nature. People who observed nature from the perspective of reason and faith asserted that darkness of the winter solstice will always yield to the light. They devised religious rituals to reassure the people of their time that there is a balance in the natural world. Darkness has not and will not overwhelm light.

That is why many of us in the northern hemisphere light candles or display lights at this time of year.

There is another form of darkness in the world. We are here tonight to ponder the mystery of that darkness. It is the darkness of separation. It is the darkness of violence. It is the darkness of sudden unforeseen tragic death.

People have been asking two basic questions about this darkness. Why and What. Why did this happen? What can we do to prevent it from happening again?

These are good questions. They are also difficult questions. In the world we have created for ourselves there are no easy answers to these questions.

There is another more basic question we might ask. How? How could one solitary individual inflict so much pain, suffering and death in so short a period of time?

The answer to that question is easy to answer but difficult to hear. The answer to the “how” question is one semi-automatic weapon of mass destruction. The answer is a weapon specifically designed to kill as many people as possible in the shortest possible time. The deeper question is should we even make such weapons of mass destruction?

I remember an old song. It is called “Stop in the Name of Love.”

At the risk of offending your beliefs I have to repeat the refrain of that old song as I ponder the reality of the mass murder in Newtown, CT by a solitary individual wielding one of these perfectly legal and easily accessible weapons of mass destruction.

To those manufacture these weapons I say: Stop. Stop in the name of love. Stop. Think. Consider the cost in suffering, death and despair. Make a different choice. Choose love.

To those who sell these weapons I say: Stop. Stop in the name of love. Stop. Think. Consider the cost in suffering, death and despair. Make a different choice. Choose love.

To those who possess these weapons I say: Stop. Stop in the name of love. Stop. Think. Consider the cost in suffering, death and despair. Make a different choice. Choose love.

I appeal to choice and I appeal to love because it is clear that I cannot appeal to law.

As a Christian priest I remember how a teen ager named John became Jesus’ best friend. I remember how Jesus, as he was dying on the cross, asked his mother Mary to complete John’s spiritual formation. He asked his mother to do this because he knew she lived and moved and had her being from the place of Love. He specifically committed that one teen to her because he knew that teen wanted to live and move and have his being from the place of love.

Jesus did this because he knew how one person can change the world.

John would later share with the world what he learned from his best friend, Jesus, and from Holy Mother Mary. John wrote: God is love. God just doesn’t have love. God is love.

God is love. He who loves is born of God. By this do we know we are of God: that we love one another.

As a priest of the living Lord of Love I appeal to all of us here tonight to choose love.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way. Love transforms fear into faith, anger into hope, pride into humility. Love is the missing term in the unbalanced equation of individual rights and social responsibility.

It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. Light the candle of love. Love is the one thing in our midst that is infinite and eternal. It may seem counter intuitive to say that. It is as counter intuitive as the statement: the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never overcome it.

Light the light of love here and now tonight. Guard that light. Nourish that light. Cherish that light.

Every new morning affirm: I choose the light of love in my thoughts, words and deeds.

I choose love. I choose life.

With all respect to our elected officials, they can only work with law. It is clear the solution to darkness is not more law. The solution to darkness is more light. The solution is our personal choice to live and move and have our being in the light of love.

Moses once said: behold I place before you the way of life and the way of death. Therefore, choose life.  Jesus’ best friend, John, extended the words of Moses under the instruction of Holy Mother Mary and said: Choose the light of life by choosing love.

The message I want to bring to you tonight is love. Love alone will enable us to find the courage to move through this tragedy into a new way of living.

If we choose love we choose God. If we choose love we choose patience, courage and kindness. If we choose love we gain everything in the midst of loss.

Light and only light shines in the darkness. That light tonight, tomorrow and always is love.

 

 

 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012


Advent 2 (Luke 3:1-6) Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.

If you want to visit the arctic you need to prepare for the cold. If you want to visit the tropics you need to prepare for the heat. If you want to experience God you need to prepare to meet Jesus.

Moses and the prophets understood this. Through careful observation of human behavior they came to realize that most people most of the time are not interested in God. Most people most of the time ignore or reject God.

Moses draws two important conclusions about human nature. The first conclusion is that God created human beings in His image and likeness. The image and likeness of God are love and holiness.

The second conclusion is that human beings have separated from God. We have not only separated from God we are stubbornly and willfully lost in separation.

The prophets declare that God designed humanity to walk with Him on a journey through this universe of matter, energy, time, and space. It is a journey that manifests the infinite and eternal love of God in the present moment. Sadly, through our own choice the journey we choose to take manifests fear, anxiety, pride and despair.

From time to time when I am using my GPS unit to find an address I hear the words: Sorry to inform you but you are going the wrong way. You need to turn around follow the directions more closely.

The last of the prophets, John the Baptist, brought this message to his generation. It is a message for all generations. John reminds us of the prophet Isaiah’s warning. We are off the path God invited us to take. We are not following the directions God gave us in the Bible. We are headed in the wrong direction. We are lost in a detour that keeps us trapped in the arrogance of self-will. We are going in circles of self-indulgence and self-deceit.

The path is straight. The detour spirals away. The path is illuminated by God’s word in the Bible. The detour very gradually and almost imperceptibly moves from light to twilight to darkness. The path is narrow to provide safety and security in the midst of temptation and danger. The detour is wide and broad and open to all manner of threat disguised as opportunity.

The prophets declare to us: prepare! Take personal responsibility for your life. Assume responsibility for your relationships with God, other people and the image and likeness of God imprinted on your soul. Your path is your choice.

The prophets teach us how to prepare. Make God’s paths straight. Avoid the detours. Trust the directions. Keep moving forward in the light to the light on the straightway of the light.

The Bible is the set of directions we need to take the journey. The Bible is not the journey. It is not the Way. The Way is Jesus. The journey forward is the personal relationship we cultivate with Jesus.

Jesus offers to meet us at the altar of sacrifice on the Seventh Day of Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Do you make the way into your heart and mind and will straight for him to meet you at the appointed time and at the appointed place?

Jesus sends us a teacher in the person of the Holy Spirit. Do you make the way into your thoughts, emotions and choices straight for the Holy Spirit by reading, studying and memorizing the Bible?

Jesus walks with us in the present moment of our lives. He walks with us in joy and sorrow, in pleasure and pain, in victory and defeat. Do you make your way with him straight through faith, hope and love?

It is your choice to take the one true straight path into the light of life. It is your choice to take one of many broad and enticing detours into the darkness of death.

On this second Sunday of Advent the last of the prophets cries out to us: Prepare. Make a choice. Set your course. Choose wisely.Walk in the light. Walk in the Way God has set before our species and each of us as individuals. It is the way of life. It is Jesus.

Thursday, November 29, 2012


Advent 1 (Luke 21:25-36) Heaven and earth will pass away; but, my words will not pass away.

Nothing has to happen before Jesus returns to earth.

Everything that Jesus predicted would occur before that time has occurred. It also continues to occur.

This both confuses and disappoints many people. Some people would like to believe they have some special insight or secret knowledge about the second coming of Christ. Some believe in charts and graphs and diagrams. Some believe in secret codes embedded in the Bible. Some look for supernatural or political events. Some even say that Jesus returned in the First Century but no one recognized him.

People invent all manner of interpretations of the second coming, or more generically- the end of the world. Jesus very simply teaches that His return will be at a time we least expect it. What signs there are can be found in the natural world and in the conflicts and confusion of human society.

Since there is no “prophetic time line” as some teach, since there is no secret code, as others assert, Jesus can and will return at a time we least expect. The fact of his personal return to this planet is more important than the date. That is why Jesus gives us the imperative to “Watch”.

The NRSV uses the term “be on guard” and “keep alert.” Older translations of the Bible just use the word “watch”. The teaching Jesus gives is in the form of an imperative. This is not just a suggestion or even a law. It is a command. You must watch. You shall watch.

To watch is to be on guard and to be alert. It is to ask God to set us free from the distractions of the world culture, the disordered desires of our being, and the seductive deceits of Satan. To watch is to wake up. Pay attention. Be present. Hold the present moment as it is and not as we would have it become.

The great challenge in life is to be present to the Real Presence of God in nature, other people, and our own souls and in Jesus Christ. That challenge subverts the revelation of God through Moses, the prophets and the apostles as people seek to reinterpret the message. That challenge seeks to hold Jesus in the context of our cultural expectations and our individual needs and desires.

To watch is to be present. To be present is to surrender the pride of self-will. Self-will brings a demand to life that says: be what I want you to be. That demand keeps us trapped in the illusion of omnipotence. The illusion of omnipotence is the fantasy life we create when we believe we have the right to define God, other people and ourselves. In that belief we have an expectation that we can get what we want when we want it just because we want it.

To watch is to wake up from the dream of omniscience. The Bible is very clear: now we know in part. None of us has perfect knowledge. All of us need guidance, counsel and direction. Most of us most of the time sleep walk through life in a dream of invincible ignorance.

To watch is to be in a state of courageous humility. It is the recognition that the world does not revolve around me. It is the acknowledgement that God is the great I am. It is the experience that the individual is part of a larger community.

On this first Sunday of Advent Jesus reminds us that only his words remain and abide. Our words, our opinions and beliefs will pass away in the light of eternal Truth. Jesus is that truth. That truth manifests in the present moment of our lives as we make a real choice to wake up from dreams, illusions and fantasies of human pride to experience the Real Presence of Jesus in the here and now of Divine Love.

 

Friday, November 23, 2012


Christ the King Sunday (John 18:33-37)  My kingdom is not of this world.

Jesus is the rightful king of this planet. Jesus is also not what anyone expected in a king.

All governments on earth are temporary. At some point in the future, Jesus will return to Earth personally. When he returns he will not select any one nation, form of government or political party to rule. He will rule directly and personally. And, he will rule from the place of divine love and holiness.

People in Jesus day as in our day looked for a king to impose rule. They looked for a leader who would decide which religious faction, political party, and economic system was ordained by God.

Everyone then as now had their own idea about how that would look. Most people thought in terms of power. The right leader imposes the right religion, government and economic system. He doesn’t argue.  He doesn’t discuss. He certainly does not compromise. He does not govern- he rules.

Jesus did none of this. He doesn’t have to. There are two ways Jesus exercises sovereignty. One is in the impersonal aspect of Law. The other is in the personal aspect of love. Both aspects are grounded in the reality that Jesus is the pattern for life, the universe and everything.

In His impersonal aspect Jesus is the pattern for the laws of nature. Fundamental to the laws of nature is the structure of cause and effect. Sadly, most people most of the time engage in what the Bible calls “magical thinking.”

Magical thinking is based on the demand that the universe revolve around me. This way of thinking is most obvious in children. No one ever completely grows out of this way of thinking about life, the universe and God.

Magical thinking seeks to cheat the very fundamental laws of cause and effect by asserting the human will to power. For some, this will is expressed in the categories of knowledge. Some say that if I only acquired more knowledge, superior knowledge, perhaps even secret knowledge, then I could bend and shape the universe to my liking.

For some, the will to power takes a religious form. Some say that if I exert my will to follow the right religion then God is obligated to give me what I want.

For some, magical thinking takes form in pride. Pride simply ignores all data contrary to my beliefs and asserts my will to power to define other people, nature and God.

For those who attempt to assert the will to power in the categories of human knowledge, religion or pride there is an ever present undercurrent of fear. There is fear because the laws of nature are immutable. Sadly, fear leads to blame. For, if you are a true believer in knowledge, religion or pride then any failure to get what you want when you want it is someone else’s fault.

This was, and is, the condition of the human soul that Jesus met when he came into the world. People were willing to acknowledge him as a teacher who brought right knowledge, a prophet who brought right religion and even a Messiah who brought right use of national pride and power.  They were not prepared to accept him for who he really was.

Jesus did not come into the world to rule the world from a marble throne in a granite palace surrounded by guards and supported by armies. Had he attempted that he could have succeeded for a short time. He could have defeated Rome, enslaved the nations and rebuilt Jerusalem into a fortress of wealth and power.

Moses and the prophets clearly observed and recorded their observations that such an approach was a dead end. It always failed. Empires rise and fall. They never address the real problem confronting our species.

Jesus rules from His impersonal aspect in the Law of Cause and Effect.

Jesus rules from His personal aspect in his universal invitation to all people everywhere to receive reunification with God the Father and transformation in God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus rules from the place of love. The place of love is always the place of real choice. Choice for us as human beings enters into the world of cause and effect and produces a result that is always consistent with the fundamentals principles of God.

There is no condemnation in Jesus. There is truth. The truth is that if we live from the place of pride and self will we will live in fear. That fear will distort our perceptions and relationships. Left alone, fear kills both in this world and the next.

Jesus can, if we choose, transform fear into faith. The process is not magical thinking applied by right knowledge, right religion or right power. The process emerges in the context of right relationship.

Our Heavenly Father sent the co-eternal Son into the world to reestablish right relationship on three levels. The first is our relationship with God. The second, our relationships with other people, the third is our relationship with the truth of our own unique personal identity. Jesus reestablishes all three relationships for us in his own person then gives the Way of experiencing these three relationships to us as a gift.

The gift is free. It cost Jesus unimaginable pain on the cross. It costs us nothing. We don’t even need to give up our sins. We only need to yield those sins to the Triune God to be transformed in the fires of love and holiness back into their original virtue. We lose nothing in Jesus. We gain everything in Jesus.

The Kingship of Jesus in his impersonal form is absolute. No one can ever break the laws that govern the universe. We can try. We can deceive ourselves for a time that we can succeed. But, those Laws are absolute.

The Kingship of Jesus in his personal form emerges in relationship. As the very pattern of human nature, Jesus is the best way of being human. Jesus is the only way of being human according the plan and purpose of God.

God created this universe of matter, energy, time and space according the pattern of the Son. The Son not only invites us to enter into the plan and purpose of the pattern as a matter of law, he offers us his friendship and love to help us move away from magical thinking into the new life of faith. Jesus reigns as King from the pathways of human choice and in the consequences of those choices.

On this Christ the King Sunday, Jesus calls to us from the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. In the Real Presence of Christ the King at our altar, Jesus offers himself to us as our forever friend who can and will transform our lives. The general pattern of transformation is recorded for us in the Bible. It involves five basic categories:

Worship

Evangelism

Discipleship

Fellowship

Service to others

Do you believe Jesus is Lord?

Do you believe Jesus is the King of Kings?

If you do, come to the altar and ask Jesus to restructure your life according to the original pattern of human life. That original pattern is Jesus. It starts here at the altar. What begins here continues forever.

Jesus said and continues to say: my kingdom is not of this world. It is of the infinite and eternal realm of the Triune God of love. It is the emerging and unfolding pattern of love in your soul as you respond to Jesus and say: Behold, I am the Lord’s servant. Let all things be for me in accord with your sovereign love.

 

 

Tuesday, November 20, 2012


Thanksgiving 2012 (Matthew 6:25-33) Do not be anxious.

Do not be anxious? How do we do that? How can we simply make a decision not to worry about the future? After all, with all the uncertainties in life, the un predictabilities in nature, government, institutions and human frailty how can we simply not be anxious?

Jesus gives us two means by which we can actually choose not to be anxious. These means come to us within two categories: attitude and action. The attitude is to trust in God’s sovereign Love. The action is to seek God’s sovereign love.

The principle underlying these choices is faith.

Faith is not the same thing as belief. Belief can come from bias, desire, need and self-deceit. Many atheists claim that faith in God is self-deceit through wishful thinking.

The Bible is very clear that people believe all sorts of things based on the self-deceit of wishful thinking. Sometimes these beliefs turn out to have some basis in truth. Sometimes these beliefs are clearly not based in truth.

Faith is different than belief. Faith is grounded in human experience, observation, and reason. Belief, as modern atheists point out, requires none of those things. Belief only requires a stubborn will. Such belief produces anxiety.

And so Jesus asks us to observe the natural world. Consider the lilies of the field. Consider the birds of the air. Observe and consider. Think.

And so Jesus asks us to ponder our human experience of food, clothing and shelter, three of four basic human needs. Observe and consider. Think.

Modern scientists have discerned that the human brain is in many ways a threat assessment mechanism. There is a section of our brain that actively seeks out danger and prepares strategies for survival. That section of the brain does not understand the difference between real and imaginary threat. It specializes in one narrow area of threat assessment. Other parts of the brain evaluate the threat and decide on a response or reaction.

Jesus speaks to the whole person when he says do not be anxious. He speaks to the place of threat assessment, threat response and the higher cognitive function Based on that data and that of the brain. He invites us to observe, evaluate and engage rational analysis. process he asks us to set aside anxiety as a survival strategy. He asks us to adopt faith in the sovereign love of God as a survival response.

Jesus sets forth an hypothesis: do not be anxious. Then he asks us to engage our reason to observe nature and human experience. He offers an explanation of human experience based on these observations. Finally, he offers a new way of responding to that threat assessment mechanism in our brains.

Instead of reacting to threat, real or imagined, through anxiety Jesus offers us the pattern of a faith response. Seek ye first God’s sovereign love.

God’s sovereign love is God’s Kingdom and God’s righteousness. God’s sovereign love manifests in an active dynamic creative rational and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is not wishful thinking. It is active transforming faith. Do not be anxious. Observe. Ponder. Think. Choose the new way of living that is free from anxiety. Choose the new life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012


Pentecost 25 (Mark 13:1-8) “Take heed that no one deceives you.”

 

Jesus is the truth.

 

As the incarnation of the co-eternal logos, the Word of God, Jesus is the very pattern of truth. Jesus is also the perfect mirror of truth.

 

Jesus clarifies for all people everywhere the problem confronting our species and the solution God provides. The truth is that God is love. The truth is that God the Father created our species and each of us through the action of God the Holy Spirit to be the forever friend of God the Son, Jesus Christ.

 

The truth is that our species chose to separate from God. The truth is that separation produces pain, pain results in distortion, distortion results in sin and sin concludes in death. The truth is that God the Father offers all people everywhere the solution to separation. The truth is that the solution to separation is Jesus Christ.

 

In Jesus the logos, the co-eternal Word of God who is the co-eternal Son of the Father, permanently and irrevocably reunites humanity with divinity in his own person. Jesus is the solution to separation. Jesus is the only solution and the final solution.

 

Why does this matter?

 

It matters because belief produces action. Action is a choice that enters in the world of cause and effect to produce a result.

 

It didn’t take a prophet to discern the direction the religious and political leaders were taking the people of Israel. It didn’t take the Son of God to discern that such a direction would lead to confrontation, war, defeat and the destruction of the Temple.

Nevertheless, God the Father had directed God the Holy Spirit to reveal to the prophets the essential reality of choice, cause and effect and consequence. The people rejected this reality. They chose to embrace what they incautiously chose to believe based on their needs and desires, their demand and their pride, their fear and their self-will.

 

Nevertheless, God the Father sent the co-eternal Son into the world. The Father sent the Son to one specific nation at one specific time and place for one specific purpose. God the son came as the Truth to reveal the truth. Humanity is lost in separation. Humanity is found in Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus didn’t need to draw on his divine knowledge to predict the destruction of the Temple. The precedent in Scripture was there for everyone to read and to heed. The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed the principle and preached the warning. No one had the faith to move beyond their belief in national pride to accept Jeremiah’s message. No one had the faith to question their inherited beliefs to receive God the Father’s message in Jesus.

 

Religious zealots and political extremists defined the problem in sectarian, partisan, and nationalistic terms. They presented a compelling argument grounded in fear and relying on pride. They issued a series of non-negotiable demands that produced a sequence of choices that entered into the world of cause and effect. At any time they could have changed course. At any time they could have turned back to the Bible, to the writings of Moses and the prophets. At any time they could have asked God to reveal to them where they might be wrong.

 

They did none of these things.

 

They not only believed they knew the truth. They had come to that place of invincible ignorance where they knew that they knew the truth. They only read the Bible to reinforce these beliefs. They only asked questions to bully and intimate people who disagreed with them. Most tragically, they rejected, ridiculed, slandered and killed the One God the Father had sent to save them from themselves.

 

Their choices in 30AD entered into the world of cause and effect to produce a consequence in 70AD. In 70 AD they chose to empower the rigid inflexible uncompromising religious and political zealots. Those zealots seized Jerusalem, killed the priests, instituted a reign of terror in the city to impose the true religion and expelled the Romans.

 

When the Romans came back they brought to Jerusalem the full might and power and wrath of the Empire. They destroyed the city and the temple in the city. They massacred the population and they excavated the very mountain on which the city stood. The modern day city of Jerusalem is slightly north of the ancient city.

 

What they chose to believe in 30AD had terrible consequences for the next generation in 70 AD. Jesus wants us to understand that their choice reflects a pattern in human behavior. Jesus warned his generation and all future generations: Take heed that no one deceives you.”

 

The principles and particulars of the Biblical revelation are an open book.

 

God is love.

God’s love is universal and unconditional.

God’s love incarnates in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is not just one among many religious teachers who offers some insight about God. Jesus is God in human flesh.

 

The Bible supports no one specific economic, political or social system. No one can legitimately claim: God is on my side.

God wants us to examine and question our beliefs in the context of the Bible and in the context of the person of Jesus Christ.

 

Why is this important?

 

Jesus knew very well that a species lost in separation from God would produce teachers, leaders and religions to maintain and support separation. He knew that people in future generations would question his existence, his motives and his message. He knew that false Messiahs would emerge from the religious and secular realm to keep people lost in a state of fear, pride and self- will. The lost exist in anxiety and fear. The lost are defined by death.

 

He knew this. And he warns us of this. Do not rush to belief. Think. Question. Examine. Test. Read the Bible. Study the Bible. Memorize the Bible. The Bible is your first line of defense against deceit.

 

Hear the invitation of God to meet Him on the seventh day, the day of Real Presence, at the altar of sacrifice in the Real Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Holy Communion is your second line of defense against deceit.

 

Jesus came to seek the lost, to find the lost and to restore the lost to Divine love. Accept no substitute. There are many who will asset they bring a new revelation. There are many who will assert that Jesus is just one of many religious teachers. Jesus is the truth who reveals where we live from the place of deceit. Jesus is the love of God who rescues us from deceit.

 

Listen carefully to what Jesus says: Take heed that no one deceives you.”

 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012


Pentecost 24  (Mark 12:38-44) “Beware of the scribes.”

One of the great challenges for religion is hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy holds the outward and visible sign of belief but denies the inward and spiritual reality of faith.

The scribes in Jesus’ day had a reputation for ostentatious outward displays of religious devotion. They used this outward display to magnify themselves, justify themselves and intimidate other people. They acted from the place of pride that said: I am righteous and you are not. Because I am righteous, God empowers me to rule. Thus, if you challenge me you challenge God.

It wasn’t always this way. Originally, scribes did the manual labor of writing letters, books, court records and of course- making copies of the Bible. After the destruction of the first Temple and the exile of the Jews to Babylon, the scribes began to acquire greater responsibilities. They became guardians of the tradition and then interpreters of the Tradition.

They fulfilled a vital role in the preservation of religion and culture. In the process they acquired great authority and power.

It wasn’t easy to become a scribe. A boy entered into a course of study at the age of 14. He did not complete his training until the age of 40. He was then ordained and authorized to teach and to judge.

Scribes did not receive payment for their work. They were required to support themselves financially. Some scribes were also priests and received wages from the Temple. Many practiced a trade such as tent maker or carpenter.

As their role in society evolved their understanding of that role shifted. They believed that they and they alone held the true interpretation of Moses and the prophets. They came to believe that the purpose of the Bible was not to reveal God’s Plan of Salvation to all people everywhere but to conceal the truth from the masses. They believed and taught that God only revealed the true meaning of the Bible to religious scholars. Indeed, they taught that the Bible was a book of secrets and mysteries that only the righteous could understand.

The evidence of righteousness was, for the scribe, his long years of study, his title, his authority and his way of living.

The scribes had a rich history of service and study. As with so many religious scholars of all religions, they allowed themselves to be seduced and subverted by their pride of accomplishment. That pride led to the assertion of their will to power. They came to believe God had chosen them to rule not to serve.

When they met Jesus they reacted to him with fear. Jesus taught with authority infused with compassion. He did not assert his will to power in order to dominate anyone. He taught the masses of people the Scribes viewed with disdain and disgust. He taught that the purpose of the Bible was to reveal our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation to all people everywhere.

The Scribes viewed Jesus as a threat to their authority and to their understanding of God. Their fear of Jesus turned to anger, their anger to hate and their hate to murder.

They were so close to the Plan of Salvation. They were so close to the revelation of God in Moses and the Prophets. But when God the Son came to them in human flesh, they rejected him.

Jesus is God’s perfect mirror to the human soul.

It is as we look at Jesus, hear his words, examine his actions that we see in Jesus our own pattern of life. That pattern is grounded in the choice our species made to separate from God.

For the Scribes, religion became the trap that enslaved them to separation. They had the outward forms. They lacked the inward reality that gave meaning and purpose to the forms. They had rigid inflexible uncompromising belief. They lacked faith.

Jesus both illustrates the problem and comments on the problem in the person of the widow who came to the Temple.

According to the beliefs of the day, this woman was a widow and she was poor because she was a sinner. Somewhere in her life she had offended God and God had punished her. Her offering was pitiful and despised. The belief of the time said only those who gave the large sums of money deserved praise and admiration. They were the righteous. Their money proved they were blessed by God. Their offering of that money in the Temple proved they were better than anyone else.

Money buys influence. Money buys power. The Scribes used their money to buy both.

Jesus did not criticize the offering. He criticized the belief that defined the offering. An offering is a gift. The Scribes and others had come to see offering as a payment for privilege, position, prestige and power.

When Jesus says: beware the Scribes, he is warning us against using our religion, our position in life and our money to assert our pride and our will to power.

We are called to serve not to rule.

The call to service is grounded in the threefold love of the Triune God.

We are called to worship, charity and personal holiness.

Sadly, the scribes had come to believe they were called to rule. For the Scribes, religion stopped at the outward and visible signs: long expensive robes, the chief seats in the synagogue, and the best places at feasts. There is nothing wrong with any of these things. What is wrong is the assertion that these things define a man’s worth. What is tragic is that attachment to these things subverts faith.

Jesus praised the widow for acting from the place of faith. The amount of her offering is not just the standard 10% the Law commanded. It was not 30% or 50% it was 100%. By faith, the widow gave 100% of her money as an offering to God. That is why Jesus said she gave more than the rich and powerful who gave 10% of their wealth.

Hypocrisy is a mask we wear to assume a role. It is not who we are. It is a deceit designed to impress. It is a lie we tell others. It is a lie we tell ourselves. The lie is that we can cheat God. We can hold the outward and visible forms of religion and claim to be something we are not.

The problem is not with the outward and visible forms. The problem is the way we use those forms to deceive ourselves and others that we are something that we are not. It is the way belief subverts faith.

Jesus did not condemn the scribes- he warned them. He warned them they were not in truth. He warned them they had distorted the Plan of Salvation. He warned them they were using their position to dominate. He warned them that their mask of righteousness only created resentment, cynicism and skepticism among the people.

And, Jesus warned others as he warns us to see the tragic flaw in such hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is based on a lie. Nothing built on the foundation of deceit can stand. All who follow the lie are indebted to the father of lies. Religious hypocrisy can be very subtle in its corrosive effect on the soul. That is why Jesus warns: “Beware of the scribes.”

 

Thursday, November 1, 2012


All Saints 2012 (John 11:32-44) “Did I not say to that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

The glory of God is humanity fully alive.

So wrote St. Irenaeus, a second century bishop of Lyons in the province of Gaul, modern day France.

Jesus taught that he had come to bring life, abundant life. Jesus did not come to impose rigid inflexible uncompromising religious law. He did not come as the voice of condemnation and conflict. He came to heal, to teach and to transform.

Many people reject Jesus as a result of personal misconceptions and institutional misapplications of the Bible. The Bible is a record of human experience. It is a book of observations. It is a library of books that comments on the human condition in the context of human behavior. And, it is a discernment of the only possible solution to the fatal flaw in human nature.

That fatal flaw is the real choice our species made and continues to endorse to separate from God. Moses, the prophets and the various chroniclers and historians who contributed their observations of human behavior all come to the same conclusion. Sin does not produce separation. Separation produces sin.

Law based religion cannot solve the problem. It may restrain evil for a time. Sadly, those who administer Law based religion are themselves part of the problem. The systems they devise to administer Law subverts the stated purpose of the Law. Moses, the prophets and the apostles all agree. The Law can restrain evil but the Law cannot make anyone righteous.

Those who reject the Law are lost outside the Law.

But, those who seek righteousness under the Law are still lost. They are lost under the Law.

What is the evidence for this teaching? Death.

If obedience to the Law could produce righteousness then the righteous would live. There would be an amazing incentive to live by the Law and under the Law. Only the unrighteous would die.

The world does not work that way. No matter how well or how poorly you may keep the Law you will still die.

BY all accounts, Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha were righteous according to the religious standards of the day. They were devout Pharisees who attended Sabbath services in the synagogue weekly. They offered sacrificial worship in the Temple at the appointed times. But, they were still lost. Unlike others of their generation, they understood they were lost. And, they rejoiced to have been found in Jesus.

Death is the evidence of human separation from God. Death was never part of our Heavenly Father’s plan and purpose for humanity. Death is the ultimate consequence of separation. God alone is the source of life. When Jesus came to visit Martha and Mary and Lazarus he came in the fullness of life. He came in the fullness of life because Jesus is life. All life in the universe and on this planet derives from the co-eternal Son.

In the gospel account Jesus weeps as he ponders the death of his friend Lazarus. He weeps for the tragedy of death. He weeps for the willful and sometimes spiteful human will to remain separate from God. He weeps for the pain and suffering of the family and community. He weeps for Lazarus who is dead and who He will summon back to life in this world of duality: of pleasure and pain, of joy and sorrow, of life and death.

Jesus is the one who balances and unifies all duality. The missing term in the equation of human experience is steadfast holy unconditional universal and sacrificial love. Love brought Jesus into the world. And, love brought Lazarus back from death.

It is important to understand that most people, even religious people, in Jesus’ day believed dead was dead. The dead no longer have any personal identity or awareness. Some people speculated that some shadowy after image might remain after the death of the body. If it did, it immediately descended into the underworld, Sheol.

No one in the ancient Mediterranean world believed any one would enter into Heaven after death. Heaven was the realm of the divine. Earth was the realm of humanity. Sheol was the realm of the demons of chaos and of whatever after image that remained of the dead.

Of course, Jesus knew that the living soul of a human being is both physical and spiritual. He knew Lazarus’ spirit rested in that place in Sheol called “Paradise” and “Abraham’s bosom.” Jesus heard the cry of the sisters and the community and chose to reunite spirit with body to raise Lazarus from the dead in a restored body. Jesus reversed the process of decay and separation to give Lazarus a new life

The family, friends and community rejoiced. Jesus wept. He wept because he knew that raising Lazarus was only a temporary solution. Until Jesus dealt with the problem of separation there would be no final solution to the tragedy of death.

In dying on the cross Jesus trapped death in his own body. As the co-eternal Son of God death had no power over Jesus. Death did not take Jesus. Jesus took death. He took it, transformed it and in his resurrection now offers to all people everywhere a new life and a new way of living. People still experience physical death. For those in Christ, death is not the final word. Those who are baptized in Christ are one with Christ and live with him forever.

Through Jesus, all people now have a choice. We can choose to reunite with the Father, through the Son by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For those who make that choice death is now an open doorway to the beatific vision in Heaven.

All who are baptized in Christ are one with Christ. Where he is there we shall be at the moment of our physical death.

Some of the departed enter into the realm of the Church Triumphant in the company of Holy Mother Mary and the saints.

Some of the departed enter into the realm of the Church Expectant. Anglicans use the old word “Paradise” to describe this realm. The souls of the Church Expectant see Jesus face to face. They also recognize that they have so ordered their life in this world that they have unfinished business with Jesus in the next world.

From time to time people tell me they believe in ghosts. They normally tell me that they believe this because the ghost has unfinished business on earth and either can’t or won’t move on until that business is resolved. The Bible has a very different view. The Bible teaches that no one has unfinished business here on earth but virtually everyone has unfinished business with Jesus in Heaven.

Death ends our ties with this world. All contracts are nullified. Even the covenant of marriage ends with death. No departed soul has unfinished business here on earth. At the moment of death we are instantly in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.

The unfinished business is the attachment we cultivate to separation from God. Some of us cultivate separation through attachment to belief, some through attachment to other people, some to attachment to material objects, and some through attachment to self-will. All of those attachments diminish our relationship with the Father, through the Son by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Those attachments are what the souls in the Church Expectant work on. That is the unfinished business we all carry in our souls into the next life. We can only resolve these matters by cultivating greater and deeper union with Christ.

Sadly, some souls reject the love of God in Christ in this world and the next. They await the final judgment in Sheol. No soul in Sheol can travel back to earth, as Jesus himself taught. No soul in the Real Presence of Jesus in Heaven has any desire to travel back to Earth.

The souls of the departed continue to pray for us and we can pray for them. We need not pray for their salvation. If they are in the Church Expectant they are with Jesus in Heaven. We can pray for their sanctification.

The souls in the Church Expectant still choose how they will grow in grace and transform in Divine love and holiness. We can pray they choose to embrace the love of God in Christ with passion and delight. We can pray they surrender their attachment to the deceits and distortions of this world. We can pray they offer their sins to be transformed back into virtue.

As we all grow at a different pace in this world so we all grow at a different pace in Paradise.

The souls of the Church Expectant pray for us to make wise choices here and now. Pre eminently, they pray we make the choice to make the three aspects of love our priority here and now. The three aspects of love are principles not laws. The principles are worship, service to others, and commitment to personal holiness.

The glory of God is humanity fully alive. Jesus did not restore life to Lazarus because he had unfinished business with his sisters, friends and community. He restored Lazarus to life so the greater good of humanity might be accomplished. Lazarus was for his generation the living proof of the reality of Divine Love that so many people in our generation demand.

Jesus raised Lazarus because he loved him. Because Jesus loved Lazarus he gave him the mission to proclaim that the power of God is life. The power of God is love. Most of those who saw Lazarus and heard him speak reacted with fear. Some did not believe. Some believed but wanted to kill Lazarus. Many simply refused to believe.

Jesus wept because he knew Lazarus would face this level of animosity, fear and unbelief.

For that generation in that place, Lazarus was the physical evidence of the glory of God. Some believed and rejoiced. Many feared and reacted from the place of pride and self-will.

Here at the altar of sacrifice God provides another witness to life and to love. In the blessed sacrament of the altar the three realms of the church meet in union with the Real Presence of the co-eternal Son.

It is here that the saints of the Church Triumphant, the souls of the Church Expectant and the people of the Church Militant meet in union with the Real Presence of the Living Lord Jesus Christ. It is here that we enter into holy communion with the very source of life. It is here that are most fully alive in the infinite and eternal love of the Triune God. It is here that Jesus now asks us to receive his words: “Did I not say to that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”