Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Luke 10: 1-12

Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say,
‘Peace to this household.’
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves his payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’
Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you,
go out into the streets and say,
‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet,
even that we shake off against you.’
Yet know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand.
I tell you, 
it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day 
than for that town.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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At the age of 24, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux lay on her deathbed holding a crucifix.

Her five final words were: My God, I love you!

That simple gesture of confessing her love for Christ while clinging to a crucifix is key to understanding her spirituality.

Thérèse believed that no action was extraordinary in itself; on the surface, there’s nothing profound about speech or clutching a crucifix, even from one’s deathbed. 

What is profound is the love behind those actions. She loved God as Christ has commanded – with all of her mind, heart, body, and soul.

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A 20^th century Saint later adopted Thérèse’s name and spirituality. We know her today as Mother Teresa. 

Like Thérèse, Mother Teresa spent her life doing ordinary things with extraordinary love: clothing the naked, feeding the poor, washing the wounds of lepers, clutching people in her arms as they died of disease or starvation.

Each person, she said, was “Christ is distressing disguise.”

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So, what might Thérèse say to us today?

Most of our days are filled with ordinary tasks: take the kids to school, care for an aging spouse or parent, break bread at the dinner table, visit the sick.

Or, in my case, celebrate the Sacraments. 

There may be nothing profound about these actions in themselves. What can be profound is the love with which we do them.

May all that we do reflect Thérèse’s great profession of faith, My God – and by extension, my neighbor – I love you!

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Image credits: (1) Christina Chase (2) Congregation of Holy Cross (3) Calling Couples to Christ

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Gospel: Luke 9:57-62

As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding
on their journey, someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
And to another he said, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”
Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Saint Jerome is often depicted seated at his desk with a quill in one hand, a bible manuscript in the other, and a skull in the corner – each item symbolic of how he lived his life. 

He was studious, prayerful, and keenly aware of the passage of time.

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Born in the 4^th century just after the legalization of Christianity, Jerome was baptized and raised in a religious household. But he did not take a genuine interest in the faith until he became gravely ill at the age of 30.

While bedridden, he had a vision of himself standing before the judgment seat of Christ, who accused him of taking more interest in secular literature than in the Word of God.

The vision struck him to the heart. 

Shortly after his recovery, Jerome withdrew to the desert where he lived as a hermit for several years, studying the Old Testament in its original Hebrew.

Eventually, he was ordained a priest and became the secretary to Pope Damasus.

During that time, he began the most important work of his life – translating the bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, the language of the day, providing the translation of the scriptures used by the Church for more than 1000 years – and is still used today.

It was a labor of love that took him 40 years to complete. 

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After the death of Pope Damasus, Jerome was released from service, and allowed to establish a monastery in Bethlehem where he lived until his death.

Although he longed for a solitary existence, he was known for welcoming Christians fleeing from persecution into his home, saying, “We must always translate the words of Scripture into deeds.”

Jerome leaves us a few questions to ponder.

How important are the scriptures in my own daily life? In what ways do I translate my faith into action? Am I prepared to stand before the judgment seat of Christ?

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May Saint Jerome intercede for us, that we, too, would always find ways to translate our faith into action.

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Image credits: (1) SlideServe (2) Saint Jerome Writing, Caravaggio (3) Medium, young-catholics.com

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Revelation: 12:7-12

War broke out in heaven;
Michael and his angels battled against the dragon.
The dragon and its angels fought back,
but they did not prevail
and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
The huge dragon, the ancient serpent,
who is called the Devil and Satan,
who deceived the whole world,
was thrown down to earth,
and its angels were thrown down with it.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed.
For the accuser of our brothers is cast out,
who accuses them before our God day and night.
They conquered him by the Blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
love for life did not deter them from death.
Therefore, rejoice, you heavens,
and you who dwell in them.”

The Word of the Lord.

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Growing up, my mother, brother, and I huddled together each week on the family couch to watch one of our favorite feel-good tv shows, “Touched by an Angel.” 

Each episode included a person suffering for one reason or another, leaving them on the verge of despair. 

Heeding their cries, God sent an angel – veiled as a human being – to open their eyes, revealing how intimately God was working in their life, even in the midst of their suffering.

By the end of the show, the person is healed; a doubter comes to faith; a broken heart finds peace. Someone learns that they have been, “touched by an angel.”

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Throughout the bible, we see angels working in people’s lives, each with a different purpose, particularly the archangels Raphael, Gabriel, and Michael.

In the Old Testament, Raphael serves as an agent of healing, protecting Tobias and his father from blindness.

In the Gospels, Gabriel appears to Mary, encouraging her to be receptive to God’s will, and to bear the Son of God in her womb. 

And, as we heard in our first reading from the Book of Revelation, Michael will slay Satan at the end of time, casting him and his minions out of heaven – and out of our lives – forever.

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Today’s Feast of the Archangels reminds us that God is still at work in this world, often through the use of “angels,” literally messengers sent to accomplish his will. 

Sometimes these angels appear as bright and glowing figures as Gabriel did to Mary. But more often than not, they are veiled in flesh and blood; God’s angels are ordinary people like us – messengers of grace.

When have I been touched by an angel? 

How might I be an angel, bringing a message of hope and healing, for someone else today?

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Image credits: (1) Touched by an Angel, IMDb (2) The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism, Gustave Dore (3) Woodstock Bookfest