Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Deuteronomy 30: 15-20

Moses said to the people:
“Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

The Word of the Lord.

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“I set before you life and death… Choose life.” A desperate Moses pleads with Israel in our first reading. They have reached the end of their 40-year sojourn in the desert after being freed from slavery in Egypt.

Now they are on the edge of the Promised Land, but Moses will not enter; his death is imminent. So, he leaves his people with a long farewell speech, recognizing that his nation – perhaps like our own today – is at a crossroad. 

If the Jews are to keep their land, and not return to exile, then they must, “choose life,” which meant a number of things. 

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First, Moses admonishes his people to accept their past failures, to recognize their helplessness without absolute reliance upon God, and to return to the covenant which God made with them. 

A new day was dawning with endless possibility, but Israel needs to repent, placing God back into the center of their lives. Whenever the Lord is relegated to second – or worse – things go awry.

Moses also recognizes that the human mind is deceptively liable to seek easy answers to complex questions. How Israel, tired and weak, could arise again as a sovereign nation seemed impossible. They had been grossly defeated.

But Moses warns them not to turn away from God at the first sign of difficulty. If God provided for his people for 40 years in the desert, then why would he abandon them now? 

Still, faith remained a deeply personal decision that would affect, not only the individual, but also the fate of the entire nation. Each would have to intentionally choose life.

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Perhaps Moses can speak to us today. “I set before you life and death. Choose life.” Choose hope. Choose the Gospel. Choose the Lord and his loving ways. 

While the problems we face are different from that of ancient Israel, our nation is also facing wide-ranging and complex issues that demand faith, hope, and love to solve. 

May God speak to our collective conscience this Lent as we seek to build, not only a Church, but also, “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

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Image credits: (1) Allegiance Flag Supply (2) Mikeszone (3) Words, Nevertheless, WordPress

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Gospel: Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms,
do not blow a trumpet before you,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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On January 25^th, as snow was falling and freezing onto our streets, Olympians began to gather half-way around the world in the small, snowy, hilltop town of Cortina, located in the foothills of the Italian Alps. The time for the 2026 Winter Olympics had come.

Some of the greatest athletes in the world walked proudly into the Olympic stadium to the tune of their national anthems, with dreams of glory burning in their hearts.

Perhaps the most talked about athlete of all was Lindsey Vonn, the 41-year-old American gold medalist skier who came out of retirement for one last shot at victory. 

Although her Olympic dream ended after 13 seconds in a literal crash landing, she later posted on social media: “I hope if you take away anything from my journey it’s that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to.”

Vonn reminds us that we are not only capable of daring greatly, but we are also capable of doing great things. Competition is written into the human spirit. We all want to win – and some like her are willing to fight for it.

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Today, we mark the beginning of Lent – a forty-day journey into the desert with God. What are our hopes, even dreams, for this holy season?

Lent appropriately begins with Ash Wednesday, challenging our understanding of greatness. Were we only created for gold, a singular medal placed around our neck tied with ribbon? Or is there another dream – a bigger dream, a divine dream – we all share?

Saint Paul writes, “These athletes train for a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable one.” Much like downhill skiing, Paul describes Christianity in strongly athletic terms. When facing the end of his race, he wrote this to his spiritual son, Timothy.

“I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight; I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith… All that awaits me now is the crown of righteousness.”

Paul describes his faith journey in terms of effort; grit; sacrifice; and endurance. He exhausted himself for the sake of the Gospel. His goal was not a perishable, but an imperishable, crown.

One which everyone can be awarded.

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In a few moments, each of us will have a black cross of ash traced onto our foreheads. That cross is meant to remind us that everything and everyone in this world eventually returns to dust; even the world’s greatest athletes will fade into the annals of history.

But we who compete for the sake of the Gospel shall rise again, when God calls us by name, bestowing upon us glory beyond our wildest imagining.

This is the irony of our Christian faith. The only way up is down. Glory comes through humility. Blessings come from being last, from washing feet, from being the servant of all. And, mysteriously, death, my death, leads to life. 

Over these forty days of Lent, may we compete well, renewing our commitment to Christ and our neighbor through acts of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. May our goal be peace, inner renewal, and ultimately, an imperishable crown of glory.

Thanks be to God.

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Image credits: (1) WUKY, Winter Olympics Milano Cortina (2) Winter Olympics, Axios (3) Malcom Guite, WordPress

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Gospel: Mark 8: 14-21

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.” 
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today’s Gospel passage sets the stage for Ash Wednesday tomorrow, and for our journey through Lent. 

Jesus is in a boat with his disciples, fresh off of another confrontation with the Pharisees. Frustrated by the Pharisees’ spiritual blindness, he warns his disciples not to become like them. “Watch out,” he says, “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

In the Old Testament, leaven was symbolic of the power of sin. Just as a pinch of leaven can permeate an entire loaf of bread, causing it to rise, so the Pharisees have allowed their pride to inflate, closing their hearts to Christ. 

Sadly, the disciples miss the metaphor. 

At the sound of the word, “leaven,” their minds drift off to food as they begin complaining that they only have one loaf of bread for lunch. 

This is almost inconceivable given the fact that the disciples just witnessed Jesus multiply five loaves into enough bread to feed thousands of people. If he fed the crowds, then why would he let his friends go hungry?

Exasperated, the Lord sighs from the depths of his spirit.

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There is good news, however. 

Unlike the Pharisees, who are unyielding in their resistance to Christ, the fact that the disciples continue their journey with the Lord implies their willingness to let go of their ignorance and change, albeit slowly.

Isn’t this what Lent is all about?

Slow spiritual growth. Intentional change. Inner renewal.

So, what’s the “leaven” in my own life? What threatens to distance my heart from Jesus?

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“Watch out,” the Lord says. “Beware of the leaven.”

Through prayer, fasting, and penance, may these forty days soften our hearts, leading us ever closer to him, who has loved us and given himself for us.

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Image credits: (1) Christian Fellowship (2) Schmaltz and Menudo (3) Etsy