The Church of Saint Matthew - Saint Paul’s West Side

05.17.2020 Homily

The 12th to the 17th chapter of St. John's gospel records. The not only the events, but more than that, the words spoken by Jesus on the occasion of the last supper. And we need to put ourselves in that context, in order to, to hear those words, the way the disciples heard them, the disciples were confused. Some of them were afraid. Some of them were afraid for Jesus. And some of them were afraid from themselves and Jesus wanted to make it very sure that they understood how deeply he loved them. It was his, if you will last Will and Testament, he wanted to simply say in so many different ways, I truly love you. And I invite you to love me.
By the end of the meal, he and those disciples leave. And we, we barely hear a word out of Jesus' mouth after that.  He had done enough of the speaking. Now he had to do the, the acting he had to play out that commitment of love. 
I am sure that what most people say, if they have the opportunity to those around them at the end of time. And if life is simply, I love you. Those few words in a sense, embrace all that there is that one can acknowledge to another.  You know, so many years ago at nine 11, when those planes went down and those towers went down, we're told by any number of people, how they received a final telephone call from their loved one, their husband, wife, child, parent, friend, no one called their broker that afternoon, they did what was important. They called those whom they loved,   Well, you and I are experiencing a very different kind of, of Lent and Easter season. We've been kept away from each other. We've been asked to respect our neighbor and to keep our neighbor in our, in our mind and heart, as we try to, preserve health for everyone. 
But we miss each other. And maybe in the course of these past two months, maybe we've had a time to think about what's really important. You see our lives have really slowed down a lot. There isn't the kind of that frenetic energy for most of us that usually fills up our days. We do have perhaps a little bit more opportunity to do some searching of soul. Some of us are adapting to different styles of living. We're trying to focus on what is important. Well, I would suggest that during this week, we, we think about those persons who are, if you will distant from us, we pray for them. You might acknowledge in some way, your love or your care for them, a telephone call or a note or a letter or an email, Jesus summed up all that he was. And he is by simply saying, I love you. And I invite you to love me.

05.17.2020 Gospel John Chapter 14

The Lord be with you. The gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ according to John.
Jesus said to his disciples, if you love me, you will keep my commandment. And then I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate. The spirit of truth, the world does not accept him because the world neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him because he is with you and he is within you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come back to you in a short time. The world will not see me, but you will see me because I am alive and you will live. And then you will know that I am in the father. You are in me and I am in you. Anyone who loves me, keeps my word and my father will love him. And I will love him. And I will reveal myself to him. 
The gospel of the Lord.

05.10.2020 Homily

The words that Jesus speaks in the gospel reading this morning are part of that instruction. That final instruction, that final teaching that he gives to his disciples on the night before he dies. And we need to put it into a context. The evening began with Jesus, taking off his outer garment and putting a towel around his waist and going one by one to his disciples and washing their feet. And when he had done that, he said, do you understand what I have done? You call me Lord and master. And that is truly what I am. And if I, the Lord and master have washed your feet, how much more ought you to wash the feet of each other, then he will go on to say, this is my commandment. That you are to love one another as I have loved you. And no one has greater love than the one who lays down his life for his friends. 
So now we come to the gospel of this weekend. And the gospel is really about knowing the words know, and knowing are found a number of times in that short gospel passage. If you know me, you would know my father. And now you do know him because you have seen him. Phillip says, show us the father. And that will be enough for us. Jesus said, Philip, do you not understand that? If you know me, if you see me, you see the father. 
Most of us know from the outside in, there's an subject out there that we wish to have knowledge of. And we acquire that knowledge and we bring that into ourselves. We get, yet we take it, we acquire it. We say, now I get the solution to that mathematical problem. Now I acquire a higher education. Now I take in information from the world around me. It's the way we come to know. We come to know about things and persons and events. That's not the same as saying I come to know. And that's what Jesus is about in his instruction to his disciples. Not concerned about taking the outside in. He's concerned about the inside. The coming to know, that is fundamentally an interpersonal and intimate connection with another. It's not about knowing about somebody it's knowing the person. 
And so Jesus says, if you truly knew me, not know about me, if you truly knew me, you would know my father. And from now on, you do know him and you have seen him the way we come to the knowledge of God, that intimate, knowing that intimate, that intimate involvement, that is not a thing of the head, but as a thing of the heart, the way we come to that is in an interpersonal deep abiding relationship with Jesus. And that's what he invites his disciples to. And then he goes on and he will tell them that. And the way you come to that relationship with me has to do with the way you relate to each other, that as I have loved you, I asked that you love each other. And that in that love for each other, you will come to a deeper appreciation, a fuller appreciation of, of who I am. And through me who the father is. Jesus is the human face of the living. God. We come today to celebrate the mystery of the Eucharist. We celebrate that mystery in which, in which Jesus, places, himself caring all that there is of our lives and the life of the world. And by his dying and resurrection, he, he renews all that exists. He renews the creation that the mystery of the altar is the mystery of the recreation. 
As we pray this morning, think about that, that intimate gathering of those 12 around the table, the night before he died. The washing of the feet, and then the teaching. If you do see me, then you truly do see my father.

05.10.2020 Gospel John Chapter 14

The Lord be with you, the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ. According to John.
Jesus said to his disciples, do not let your hearts be troubled. You do have faith in God. Put faith in me as well. In my father's house, there are many dwelling places. If that were not true, I could not tell you. I am going to prepare a place for you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And then I will come back and I will take you with me so that where I am you too, maybe Thomas spoke up and said, Lord, we do not know where you're going. So how could we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me. 
Then Jesus went on to say, if you know me, then you also know my father. And from now on, you do know him for, you have seen him. Philip said, Lord, show us the father. And that will be enough for us. Jesus said, how long have I been with you? And you still do not understand me, Philip. He who sees me, sees the father. Do you not believe that I am in the father? And the father is in me, the gospel of the Lord. 

05.03.2020 Homily

05.03.2020 Gospel John Chapter 10

04.26.2020 Homily

04.26.2020 Gospel Luke Chapter 24

04.19.2020 Homily

04.19.2020 Gospel John Chapter 20