Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Matthew 13: 1-9

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
“A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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I received my first bible when I was thirteen.

“You’re a teenager now,” my grandmother said to me. “Half-way to being all grown up! It’s time for you to start reading the bible. Start with the Gospels: there’s Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.”

It seemed like such a simple fact: there are four Gospels. My grandmother knew each of them by name. Back then, I doubt I could’ve even named one.

Three years went by, then I finally cracked that book open. A year later, I had read the bible from cover to cover…and it changed my life. 

In the words of the prophet Jeremiah, “When I found your words, I devoured them. They became my happiness and the joy of my heart.”

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Today we celebrate the feast of Saints Anne and Joachim, the grandparents of Jesus.

Just as my grandmother planted a seed of faith in my heart that later changed my life, I wonder what difference Jesus’ grandparents made on him.

What seeds of wisdom did they plant? What difference did they make in his childhood? What memories of them did he carry throughout his life?

We don’t know. 

But we do know this: God wanted the experience of having grandparents. 

It’s part of the strange, mysterious truth of the Incarnation – our belief that, in Jesus, God became flesh and lived among us.

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Today, on this feast of Saints Anne and Joachim, we pray for all grandparents, both living and deceased.

May their good works go with them, and may the seeds of faith they have planted – like my grandmother gifting me with a bible – bear fruit in the lives of future generations.

Saints Anne and Joachim, pray for us!

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Image credits: (1) Pintrest (2) Jesus’s Grandparents, Illustrated Prayer (3) Semi-Delicate Balance

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Gospel: Matthew 20: 20-28

The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her,
“What do you wish?”
She answered him,
“Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.”
Jesus said in reply,
“You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”
They said to him, “We can.”
He replied,
“My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.
But Jesus summoned them and said,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“Can you drink the cup that I will drink?” Jesus asks his Apostles in today’s Gospel.

“Of course!” they say.

The Apostles are imagining themselves sharing a gilded chalice with the Lord at a royal banquet in Jerusalem. They believe that Jesus will soon be crowned king, and the Apostles will constitute his inner circle.

In a sense, they’re both right and wrong.

The Apostles are right in the sense that they will drink from the “cup” of the Lord. But this mysterious “cup” is a reference to his suffering and death – not an earthly coronation as the Apostles are imagining.

We hear a final reference to this “cup” in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus prays, “Father, let this cup pass from me. But not as I will, but your will be done” (Matthew 26:39).

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The first Apostle to drink from the “cup” of the Lord’s suffering and death will be the Apostle James, whose feast day we celebrate today.

James was beheaded by the Roman Emperor Agrippa in the year 44 AD, about 10 years after the resurrection of Jesus.

Soon the others will follow. Matthew will preach the Gospel as far as Ethiopia, where he’ll be martyred. Some believe Thomas made it as far as India. Of course, Peter and Paul will die in Rome.

The only Apostle, aside from Judas, who will not be martyred is the Apostle John, who dies in exile on the Greek island of Patmos. But even that – living in exile – is a type of martyrdom.

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What might the story of the Apostles say to us today?

Often, we imagine our futures, much like the Apostles once did. And quite often, we’re wrong. Once we learn how to surrender and drink the “cup” of the Lord, our life is no longer our own.

God directs our path in ways – and to places – we would never have imagined otherwise. But our reward will always be the same: a seat in the kingdom of God, where, “neither moth nor decay can destroy” (Matthew 6:20). 

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Image credits: (1) Sherman Burkhead (2) National Catholic Register (3) Saints Feast Family

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Gospel: Matthew 12: 38-42

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
He said to them in reply,
“An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, 
so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here.
At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon;
and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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During the French Revolution, a group of Christians were thrown into a dungeon where they dwelt in near total darkness.

For a brief moment each day, the sun rose to a certain angle, allowing a ray of light to penetrate their cell. As the light came in, one of the prisoners was hoisted onto another’s shoulders, where he opened his bible and proclaimed what he read.

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I wonder what verses they heard.

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Here are a few possibilities:

“For I know well the plans I have for you, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

“Come to me all you who are heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

“Whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life.” (John 5:24)

“This is my Body…this is my Blood…do this in memory of me.” (Luke 22:19)

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At the darkest moment of their lives, these Christians heard the Word of God, and believed.

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees for their hardened hearts. They’ve seen him heal people and cast out demons. They’ve heard him preach. But it’s not enough. They still won’t believe; they want more and more signs. 

“But no [other] sign will be given it, except Jonah the prophet,” he says. Meaning, what Jesus has already said and done is enough. They should repent and believe in the Gospel.

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At times we’re all tempted to want more proof from God. But the words he’s spoken, and the countless prayers he’s already answered, should be enough to assure us that God is alive … and in touch.

Like those Christians huddled in a dungeon during the French Revolution, may we hear the Word of God and receive it for what it is: “A lamp for our feet, a light for our path” (Psalm 119). 

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Image credits: (1) Woman’s Day (2) Christianity (3) Thrive