Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Matthew 15: 21-28

At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! 
My daughter is tormented by a demon.” 
But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. 
Jesus’ disciples came and asked him,
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
He said in reply,
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” 
He said in reply,
“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.” 
She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.” 
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith! 
Let it be done for you as you wish.” 
And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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When visiting religious shrines like Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, often you’ll see people making desperate displays of faith. Pilgrims will come from around the world to place their prayer intention in the hands of Our Lady or a particular Saint.

For example, while I was in Fatima two weeks ago, I noticed an elderly woman crawling on her knees towards the chapel of the apparitions. She had to be at least a hundred yards away. At her pace, it could’ve taken another thirty minutes, even an hour, to reach Our Lady.

I didn’t know when her journey began or why she chose to crawl. But seeing this elderly woman drag her aching bones along the hardened pavement sent chills down my spine. 

It made me stop dead in my tracks and pray for her intention. 

Maybe she hoped for the conversion of a loved one. Perhaps she was haunted by a choice made years ago and still longed for forgiveness. 

Or, like the mother in today’s Gospel, maybe she had a daughter dramatically in need of healing.

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“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!” the mother says. “My daughter is tormented by a demon.” 

That’s the worst pain any parent can experience – watching your child suffer while feeling helpless, knowing there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

The Gospel does not tell us what other methods this mother has already tried to cure her daughter. But the fact that she turns to God for help – as opposed to blaming him for her daughter’s illness – is a sign of deep faith.

Yet, she’s not initially rewarded the way we might imagine. In fact, she receives a very cold response.

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First, Jesus ignores her. 

Then the disciples dismiss her. “Send her away,” they say to Jesus, “for she keeps calling out after us.”

It’s a chilling scene.

But she persists. “Lord, help me.”

When Jesus finally speaks to her, it seems he does so condescendingly. “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”

Still, this mother humbles herself further. “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” She senses that just a morsel of Christ’s power can heal her daughter.

Amazed by her faith and utter humility, Jesus blesses her, saying, “O woman, great is your faith!”

Then he gives her what she wants. “Let it be done for you as you wish.”

This becomes one of only two miracles that Jesus performs at a distance. This mother doesn’t need to rush home to know her daughter is well; Jesus’ word is enough, allowing her to part in peace.

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Compare the depth of this woman’s faith with the shallowness of Peter’s faith in last week’s Gospel.

Remember, Peter and the other disciples were sailing across the Sea of Galilee, when suddenly they got caught in a storm – one so strong they feared they would drown. Meanwhile, Jesus was praying on solid ground by himself. 

When he finally appeared to them, Peter questioned the Lord’s identity – “Lord, if it is you command me to come to you on the water.”

So, Peter stepped out of the boat and shortly thereafter began to sink. “O you of little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt?” 

Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, focusing on the wind and the waves, instead. Meanwhile, this desperate mother remains fixated upon the Lord until he calms the demonic storm enveloping her daughter.

“Great is your faith,” he says to her (unlike Peter), “let it be done for you as you wish.”

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So, what might all of this mean for us? 

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Like the persistent mother in today’s Gospel, or the little old lady in Fatima crawling on her knees, sometimes a desperate, but confident, display of faith moves the Lord to act.

But we conclude our prayer as the Lord himself did while staring into the heavens from the storm of the Cross:

“Into your hands, I commend my Spirit.” 

Let it be done unto me as you wish.

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Image credits: (1) please LORD, Prayer for Anxiety (2) The Woman of Canaan at the Feet of Christ, The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix (3) J.John on Twitter, X

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Gospel: Matthew 18: 21-35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had him put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Scholars have tried to calculate just how much debt these two characters owed. In dollars and cents, you might say one owed millions to the king, while the other owed a few pennies to his master.

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The parable begins with the multi-million dollar debt being forgiven by the king. Relieved, the once indebted man returns home.

Suddenly, he begins strangling one of his servants who owes him a few pennies.

How can someone who’s just received forgiveness for a massive debt be so petty? The story sounds ridiculous, as Jesus intended it to be. 

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What might the Lord be saying to us?

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Asking God to forgive us our trespasses is like a servant asking to be relieved from a multi-million dollar debt – one so large we could never repay it.

Yet the King forgives us every time we approach him.

Why, then, can we be so petty with our neighbor?

A colleague gets underneath our skin; a person cuts us off on the road; a family member does something that leaves us nursing a grudge for weeks, even months or years.

“If your heavenly Father forgives you,” the Lord says, “then you also should forgive one another.”

“How many times?” Peter wonders in today’s Gospel. “As many as seven times?”

“No,” the Lord says, “seventy-seven times.” Meaning, without limit.

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By God’s grace, may we all have hearts that open – to both being forgiven and to forgiving those who trespass against us not seven times, but without limit.

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Image credits: (1) The Christian Broadcasting Network (2) Tabletalk Magazine (3) unveiledwife.com

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Gospel: Matthew 18: 15-20

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen, 
take one or two others along with you,
so that every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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One of my favorite Saints is Damian of Molokai.

As a young priest, he felt called to be a missionary. So, he left his family and friends in Belgium behind and spent the rest of his life living in a leper colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.

At the time, people didn’t know how leprosy was contracted, only that it caused immense suffering and, ultimately, death. So, when a person contracted leprosy – or, at times, was even exposed to it – they were sent away.

Molokai was a place of despair, which is why Father Damian felt called to live, serve, and ultimately die there. He wanted to be light where there was darkness.

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Once a month, a fellow priest would sail to Molokai and throw supplies overboard for Father Damian and the other residents. Damian also seized this opportunity to confess his sins. 

Because the other priest was too afraid of contracting leprosy, Damian had to wade out into the water and literally shout out his sins before receiving absolution.

You can imagine how humiliating that might’ve been.

But Father Damian recognized his need to be reconciled – not only with his brothers and sisters on the island, but also with God.

As Saint James tells us, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

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This is the essence of Christ’s teachings in today’s Gospel – be reconciled with one another at any cost, even if it means shouting out your sins to a priest on a boat. 

Do I need forgiveness? Is there someone whom I need to forgive?

“Whatever you loose on earth, will be loosed in heaven,” Jesus says, meaning whatever you forgive on earth shall be forgiven in heaven.

What an opportunity! May we seize it.

Saint Damian of Molokai, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Southern Living, Bryant McGill (2) Damian High School (3) CBN