Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Luke 17: 20-25

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come,
Jesus said in reply,
“The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,
and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’
For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”

Then he said to his disciples,
“The days will come when you will long to see
one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.
There will be those who will say to you,
‘Look, there he is,’ or ‘Look, here he is.’
Do not go off, do not run in pursuit.
For just as lightning flashes
and lights up the sky from one side to the other,
so will the Son of Man be in his day.
But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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When she was just a child, Saint Frances Cabrini often visited her uncle, who was a priest. Behind his home, there was a canal where she’d make paper boats, place flower petals in them, which she called “missionaries,” and send them downstream.

As the boats disappeared, Frances imagined they reached the shores of China and India, where she dreamt of being a missionary someday.

On one occasion, Frances leaned too far forward and fell into the canal nearly drowning. She was found on a riverbank downstream and attributed her survival to divine intervention.

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Although she survived, this near-death experience left Frances with an intense fear of water. Still, that was not enough to dampen her dream of becoming a missionary.

As Providence would have it, Frances did realize her dream, but not where she had imagined as a child. After meeting with the pope, she was told the real need was to minister to Italian immigrants in America.

Obedient, she went.

But imagine the fear she must’ve felt when she first saw the Atlantic Ocean. It was a million times larger than the canal she fell into as a child! Incredibly, she made the perilous journey across the Atlantic not once…but twenty-three times.

And often enough, in frail health with nausea and shivers.

She later said, “I do not ask God to take my fear away. Rather, to expand my heart. If I love more than I fear, then I shall overcome.”

Overcome she did. Frances lived with the poor of the earth, serving often abandoned children, turning them from orphans into beloved children of God.

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She reminds us that, no matter how great or deep our fear may be, there is One who walks on water. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus says, “I have overcome the world.”

And with him, so shall we.

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Image credits: (1) Wildwood Lifestyle Center (2) Stewardship and Development, Archdiocese of Chicago (3) Walking on Water, Joseph Brickey

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Gospel: Luke 17: 11-19

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying,
“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”
And when he saw them, he said,
“Go show yourselves to the priests.”
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
“Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Leprosy was a slow death sentence. 

Long before a person died physically, they were stripped of their home, their family, and their dignity.

If there is any good in this lonely Gospel story prior to the lepers’ encounter with Jesus, it is this: leprosy dissolved the racial and national barriers that kept these Jews and this sole Samaritan apart. Under any other circumstance, they were sworn enemies.

But in this woeful colony of exiles, they were simply human beings in need, together. The boundaries that once defined their lives had been erased by their common affliction. 

Suddenly, they hear Jesus of Nazareth is nearing. Like street dogs barking uncontrollably, each with a makeshift collar and a bell jingling around their neck, they cry out in unison, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”

Moved with compassion, the Lord heals them.

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Notice, however, when all ten lepers wanted something from Jesus, they cried out in unison. But when it was time to give thanks, those ten desperate voices lowered down to one. 

How does the intensity of our own prayer life change when we want something from Jesus versus when we thank him? Do we pray harder in our need than we do in our gratitude?

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Although we can never repay the Lord for his goodness to us, especially for healing us from the “leprosy” of sin and death, we should thank him in three particular ways. 

Pray in gratitude as often as we pray in petition; praise him wholeheartedly as a community of faith; and serve him in our neighbor. 

May we spend our lives in gratitude so that the Lord may say to us what he said to that sole leper, “Your faith has saved you.”

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Image credits: (1) God’s Fingerprint (2) The Leper and Evangelization, Word on Fire (3) Pinterest

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Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-40

Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.'”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today we celebrate both the Feast of Saint Martin of Tours and Veterans’ Day.

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Born shortly after the legalization of Christianity in the early 4^th century, Martin was bred to be a warrior. His father was a senior officer in the Roman military, who named his son after Mars, the Roman god of war.

As the son of a veteran officer, Martin was required to enter into military service at the age of 15, though reluctantly. He was baptized sometime thereafter and quickly felt the burden of being a Christian.

Shortly before a battle was set to begin, Martin switched his allegiance from Julian the Emperor to Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. “I am the soldier of Christ,” he said, “it is not lawful for me to fight.” 

He was charged with cowardice and was jailed, but later released after volunteering to go to the front lines unarmed. Fortunately, peace terms were established before the battle began, and Martin was released from service. 

He made his way back home and converted his mother to Christianity, but not his father. For some years thereafter, he lived the solitary life of a hermit. But word of his good character spread far enough that Martin was eventually ordained a bishop. 

Legend has it that, aware of this plot to consecrate him a bishop, he hid in a barn full of geese. The geese, unhappy with his intrusion, gave him up. Humbled, Martin accepted his cross, becoming the second bishop of Tours.

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Of all the stories told, he is most famous for a gesture he performed in his youth. While still in military service, he passed by a scantily clad beggar. Moved with compassion, Martin cut his cloak in half, dressing the man.

That night, Christ appeared to him in a dream, thanking him for the warmth.

On this Veteran’s Day, Martin reminds us of our common call to strive for peace, to be soldiers for Christ, to fight the good fight, and to give ourselves away for the sake of others.

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Like Martin and our nation’s vets, how might we be of service to others today?

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Image credits: (1) Farmer’s Almanac (2) Saint Martin Dividing His Cloak, Anthony van Dyck (3) The Vital Edge, Gideon Rosenblatt