Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: John 1: 1-18

In the beginning was the Word,
    and the Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. 
All things came to be through him,
    and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
    and this life was the light of the human race;
    the light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness has not overcome it.

A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light, 
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world,
    and the world came to be through him,
    but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
    but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
    he gave power to become children of God, 
    to those who believe in his name, 
    who were born not by natural generation 
    nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision 
    but of God.

And the Word became flesh
    and made his dwelling among us,
    and we saw his glory,
    the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son,
    full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried out, saying, 
“This was he of whom I said, 
‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me 
because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses, 
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, 
has revealed him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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The first thing I do when I start a puzzle is spread out all of the pieces across a large table. 

One piece turns into a cluster – and then several clusters – and finally a picture starts to emerge. 

Once the puzzle is completed, it’s helpful to look back, remembering how it all began.

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In today’s Gospel, John builds upon the Book of Genesis, describing the beginning of the world. It began as a dark formless waste, with mighty winds sweeping across the waters.

Slowly, God ordered the chaos. Day by day, piece by piece, he assembled the world into a suitable home for humanity. Billions of years passed until finally, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

These are things that only God can do: turn the darkness into light; chaos into order; take on flesh and dwell among us, ultimately turning death into life.

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We still need that divine, creative power at work in our world today.

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Looking back over the year, we can see the challenge. 

2024 looks like a thousand puzzle pieces strewn across a table. There was war, social unrest, a divisive election, and whatever struggles we dealt with personally – pieces that may make little sense to us now.

But God can bring them all together, producing a meaningful story of human resilience and divine intervention if we ask him. 

Perhaps that’s the best way to end this year and begin another one, to say with open hearts, “Welcome, Lord Jesus.”

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Image credits: (1) Dreamstime.com (2) Rontar, Instagram (3) Fraternized – WordPress

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Gospel: Luke 2: 36-40

There was a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. 
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. 
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. 
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth. 
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Anna is one of the few female prophets mentioned in the bible. But in just four short verses, Saint Luke paints a beautiful picture of her with three particular traits.

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First, Anna was a widow. 

Anyone who’s lost a loved one – particularly a spouse – has known the sorrow of Anna. But her sorrow didn’t make her bitter. As Luke tells us, she never left the temple; she worshipped God, day and night.

Anna reminds us that sorrow can do one of two things: it can dry up our faith. Or it can make us kinder, softer, more sympathetic people, who trust that God will never waste our tears.

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Secondly, Anna was eighty-four.

Age changes us. As our bodies weaken, we either become increasingly irritable, complaining about all of our health issues, or increasingly grateful for a long life well lived. 

In Anna’s case, though the strength of her body was slowly being taken away, the strength of her heart and character increased by the day. She was a joyful, holy – and elderly – woman.

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How did Anna come to be the person she was?

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She prayed. In spite of her age and sorrow, she praised the Lord, not only publicly in the Temple; she also prayed to him in private.

As the old saying goes, “They pray best together who first pray alone.” Prayer lifts the spirit; it keeps us joyful; it fills us with God’s peace, even into the final years of our lives. 

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As we look to yet another year, may we become like Anna – not only older in years, but also stronger in spirit.

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Image credits: (1) theendtime.org (2) Anna, Vic Laura (3) Amazon.com

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Gospel: Luke 2: 41-52

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover, 
and when he was twelve years old, 
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning, 
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, 
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple, 
sitting in the midst of the teachers, 
listening to them and asking them questions, 
and all who heard him were astounded 
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished, 
and his mother said to him, 
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them; 
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor
before God and man.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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If you read a transcript of all the conversations you had with your family over the course of a day, it might include a combination of questions and commands, such as:

“How was your day?” … “Stop hitting your brother!” … “Why should I clean my room?” … “Put your phone down.” … “Dinner’s ready!”

Communication is an essential part of family life. 

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Yet there are only three recorded conversations in the Gospels between members of the Holy Family.

Joseph is a silent figure. He never speaks. Nor do Mary or Jesus ever speak to him.

Mary speaks to Jesus twice.

Jesus speaks to Mary a whopping three times!

Given the scarcity of their dialogue, when they do speak to each other, something important is being revealed about the nature of their family life. Today’s Gospel includes one of those conversations.

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It begins with their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, revealing they were a religiously observant family. 

Joseph and Mary would’ve seen themselves as Christ’s first teachers; it was their responsibility to teach him what it meant to be Jewish, and from a human perspective, how to worship God.

And like us, they experienced conflict… even on their way home from “church.”

Heading back from Jerusalem, Mary realizes that she’s lost Jesus. Any parent can empathize with that fear of losing a child.

After searching frantically for three long days, Mary finally discovers Jesus sitting in the Temple, conversing with the religious leaders, leading to the first words she ever speaks to him in the Gospels:

“Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety!”

If I were in her position, I would’ve also added, “You’re grounded young man!”

Like a typical teenager, Jesus withholds an apology, issuing his own type of reverential rebuke: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

This curt back-and-forth between Mary and Jesus offers several precious insights.

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For the first time in the Gospels, Jesus breaks away from Mary and Joseph, planting himself firmly in the Temple, where he claims that God – not Joseph – is his true Father.

Previously, the only mention of Christ’s divinity comes from the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation. Now Jesus makes this declaration on his own. He is, in fact, divine.

This effectively concludes the infancy narratives, starting a new chapter in his life: the teenage years, when Jesus grows “in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” 

At age twelve, children were considered old enough and responsible enough to make the faith their own, which is why the Lord chose this moment to reveal his divinity and his deepest obligation – to be obedient to his heavenly Father.

Here Jesus also becomes a model for young people, who often receive the Sacrament of Confirmation around the same age. 

After years of religious preparation by their parents and faith community, youngsters are expected to take ownership of their faith as they publicly declare their own desire to love and serve God.

How well might our young people relate to Jesus in the Temple? As they age, are they becoming more religiously mature? And in what ways might we as a parish continue to encourage them along their faith journeys?

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Notice Mary does not rebuke the Lord after he speaks with her. Rather, she keeps “all of these things in her heart.” Literally, she tries “stitching together” the meaning of his words. 

Mary doesn’t know where Christ’s path will lead; she doesn’t have any foreknowledge of his public ministry, his healing power, his bloody cross, or his empty tomb. 

But even as a young mother, she understands that the heart of parenting is not about making Jesus obey her; rather, she must encourage him to obey God, which will lead to both grief and glory.

It takes another twenty years before Mary sees where it all leads. But through it all, she’s patient, she trusts, and she surrenders.

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Like Mary, how supportive are we of our children, especially when they attempt to follow God’s plans, not our own?

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Communication is an essential part of family life. Often our conversations include questions and commands, like: “How was your day?” … And “stop hitting your brother!”

May it also include the words of Mary: “Do whatever he tells you.”

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Image credits: (1) Covenant Network (2) Heinrich Hoffman, Jesus in the Temple, BYU Museum of Art Store (3) We Are Saintly