Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: John 5: 17-30

Jesus answered the Jews:
“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the sabbath
but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus answered and said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
for what he does, the Son will do also.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,
so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.
Nor does the Father judge anyone,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life.
Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in himself,
so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.
And he gave him power to exercise judgment,
because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this,
because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs
will hear his voice and will come out,
those who have done good deeds
to the resurrection of life,
but those who have done wicked deeds
to the resurrection of condemnation.

“I cannot do anything on my own;
I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
because I do not seek my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Perhaps the most famous love story in literary history is William Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet.

You may remember the famous balcony scene when Juliet gazes down upon Romeo and says, “Romeo, the more I give to you, the more I seem to have.”

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Juliet learned to see the world through Romeo’s eyes.

She dreamt her lover’s dreams and sought to please her lover’s needs, because the happier Romeo was, the happier Juliet became.

The more she gave, the more she had.

That’s the essence of love.

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Jesus is describing a similar love with his Father in today’s Gospel.

“I do not seek my own will,” he says, “but the will of the one who sent me.” 

Everything Jesus says and does is to glorify his heavenly Father, even at the cost of his own life.

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The same is true for us.

The more we give ourselves to God – the more we pray, the more we love him, the more we serve him in our neighbor – the happier we become.

In what ways can I love and serve God today?

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Image credits: (1) Franciscan Spiritual Center (2) MeisterDrucke (3) Evergreen Church

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Gospel: John 5: 1-16

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
“Do you want to be well?”
The sick man answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Now that day was a sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who was cured,
“It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”
He answered them, “The man who made me well told me,
‘Take up your mat and walk.'”
They asked him,
“Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?”
The man who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.
After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,
“Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you.”
The man went and told the Jews
that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus
because he did this on a sabbath.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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I’m sure we’ve all been like this man who was healed by Jesus. 

Notice he does nothing to receive this grace; for thirty-eight years, he was actively trying to heal himself by diving into the waters at Bethesda.

Much like the spring at Lourdes, Jews believed that the first person to reach those waters when stirred would be healed of their sickness. But Lady Luck was never this man’s friend.

Suddenly, Jesus shows up and does for him what he cannot do for himself.

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Many miracles in the Gospels end at that point – when a person is healed. Think of the man who had a legion of demons cast out of him. He wanted to follow the Lord, but Jesus told him to go home and love his family.

So, we never hear of him again.

This miracle, however, is different.

John tells us that, after the man was healed, Jesus finds him in the Temple area. I’m sure he used those fresh legs of his to walk – or likely run – to offer sacrifice in thanksgiving to God. How that scene must’ve consoled the heart of Christ!

We know that’s one thing that matters to Jesus: gratitude.

Like the man who could not help himself, often we find ourselves in places or positions that we cannot work our way out of. So, we pray for strength, healing, or an open door, and it’s granted.

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When has Jesus come to your aid or answered a prayer near and dear to your heart?

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Two simple words always console him:

Thank you.

May they fall from our lips and reach his heart today.

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Image credits: (1) Kairos Ministries (2) Nathan Greene (3) TruFluency

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Gospel: John 4:43-54

At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.
For Jesus himself testified
that a prophet has no honor in his native place.
When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,
since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;
for they themselves had gone to the feast.

Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,
where he had made the water wine.
Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,
he went to him and asked him to come down
and heal his son, who was near death.
Jesus said to him,
“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
The royal official said to him,
“Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
While the man was on his way back,
his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.
He asked them when he began to recover.
They told him,
“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”
The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”
and he and his whole household came to believe.
Now this was the second sign Jesus did
when he came to Galilee from Judea.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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It’s been said the deepest pain a human can experience is the death of a child.

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In today’s Gospel, a desperate father approaches Jesus, begging him to heal his son. Adding to the anguish of the story, this man has traveled from Capernaum to Cana in search of the Lord, a wrenching 20-mile journey. 

Imagine walking that distance, knowing your child is deathly ill at home.

Upon finding Jesus, this father begs him for a miracle. So, the Lord tells him plainly, “You may go; your son will live.” This father believes what is spoken and begins his journey home – a journey filled with faith and hope.

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That 20-mile return – some 40,000 steps – serves as a beautiful image of the Christian life.

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Our Christian journey begins at baptism, when we first encounter Christ. That divine encounter is meant to forever change our perspective on life, as Jesus assures us, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.”

The rest of our days are meant to be like that father walking home. The anxiety and fear he once experienced looking for Christ have been replaced by the gifts of the Spirit.

We see the fruit of his encounter with Christ, as his son is not only brought back to life physically, but the entire household also comes to believe in the Lord.

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How is my own journey of faith going? Am I like that father anxiously searching for Christ? Or have I had an encounter with God that has forever changed my perspective?

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May the Lord stir up the waters of baptism within us, guiding our feet into the way of peace.

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Image credits: (1) The Christian Journey (2) Ars Technica (3) Reasoned Cases for Christ