Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Matthew 13: 47-53

Jesus said to the disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old.”
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Fishing nets are designed to scoop up everything in their path. They do not discriminate.

Naturally, when such a net is hauled into a boat, it contains all sorts of things: flapping fish, muddy twigs, and debris.

It’s up to the fisherman – not the net – to decide what he wants to keep and what he doesn’t.

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus likens the Church to a fishing net. 

You and I are meant to cast our arms far and wide, gathering as many people as possible into the Church. It’s not up to us to decide who does or does not ultimately belong; that power belongs to Christ, the Fisherman.

A power, he says, that will be used at the end of time.

Yet sometimes we can be tempted to lean into his role, to decide who’s in and who’s out; who belongs and who doesn’t.

“In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places,” Jesus says. A place for you. A place for me. And, perhaps, a place for everyone gathered into the net of the Church.

The Lord will make that decision at the end of our lives.

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Our mission is to cast the net far and wide, to embrace our neighbors, and to allow the love of God – made manifest in us – to transform them into what God has created them to be: a disciple of Jesus Christ.

When I cast my net today, who might I help bring into the community the Church?

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Image credits: (1) What Should Be The Mission of the Church? GotQuestions (2) Salt Strong (3) DiscernIt

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Gospel: Matthew 13: 44-46

Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field.”

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Fields are ordinary places; people walk across them all the time without ever wondering what might be buried beneath their feet.

Who knows, they could be standing on top of buried treasure! But they’ll only find out if they pause, and take time to dig.

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In a similar way, human beings can walk through the fields of life rarely seeing the deeper dimensions of reality.

Sometimes we can be satisfied with surface-level interactions, taking the people and places around us for granted.

But if we took the time to dig deeper, then we might discover a hidden treasure: Christ around us, Christ within us.

As someone once said, “Whenever the Christ in me discovers the Christ in you, we’re standing on holy ground.”

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May we see the fields around us as holy ground.

Buried deep within is the “pearl of great price,” the presence of the Divine.

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Image credits: (1) Twitter (2) R. Joseph Owles, WordPress (3) Hike It Baby Family Trail Guide

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Gospel: Matthew 13: 36-43

Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said,
“Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the Evil One,
and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his Kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the Kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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The Sistine Chapel is one of the most iconic works of art ever created. Strewn across the wall where the altar stands is a depiction of the final judgment.

Angels fight for the souls of the just, while demons pull the evil ones down into the netherworld. It’s a jarring but beautiful piece, drawing its inspiration from today’s Gospel.

“Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,” Jesus says, “so it will be at the end of the age.” 

Michelangelo reminds us that everyone must stand before the judgment seat of God. But why does God wait until the end of our lives to judge us? Or, using the imagery from today’s Gospel, why must the weeds co-exist with the wheat? 

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When they first sprout, weeds and wheat look quite similar. 

Any seasoned farmer knows that it’s best to wait until the weeds and wheat become fully mature before separating them; otherwise, one may be mistaken for the other.

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In a similar way, Jesus waits until the end of our lives to judge what we’ve become, either a weed or wheat. It’s his prayer that every soul becomes wheat. Shouldn’t we hope for the same?

Doing so means three things: 

First, that we are patient with ourselves; faith is a life-long journey. Secondly, that we’re patient with others. And, third, that we withhold our judgment of others, never seeing another person as incapable of change.

Rather, like Jesus, we do everything we can to reveal the goodness of God.

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Sometimes it feels like a distant and difficult truth, but the Lord’s judgment does come. So, “whoever has ears ought to hear,” Jesus says.

What does this mean for me today?

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Image credits: (1) Michelangelo, Divine Judgment, Sistine Chapel, SmartHistory (2) Undefined (3) Sistine Chapel, Ibid.