Fr Kevin Kilgore

***

Gospel: John 3: 16-18

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

By a show of hands, how many of us have heard about or even read Dante’s Inferno, the first book in his famous trilogy, The Divine Comedy?

The Divine Comedy is the story of Dante’s journey to God. He begins in hell, but eventually he makes his way through purgatory into heaven.

***

In hell, Dante descends through nine different circles, each representing a gradual increase in wickedness: lust, greed, anger, and so on. Finally, when he reaches the very bottom, he encounters that ancient beast, Satan. 

Surprisingly, Satan isn’t breathing fire as many of us might have imagined. 

He’s frozen, trapped waist-deep in ice. Above his waist, his furry bat-like wings flap restlessly as he torments himself eternally.

That’s where the Evil One chooses to be – stuck in the darkness, frozen in ice, completely separated from the outside world.

For Dante, that’s hell; being isolated.

***

Alone.

***

Loneliness is something we’ve all felt.

It creeps in after a heated family argument; after scrolling through social media for hours on end; after a breakup; or losing a loved one. 

Why is loneliness so painful?

Because we were made in the image and likeness of God, who is relationship. 

Today we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday, our belief that God is Father, Son, and Spirit. Three distinct Persons who live in such perfect harmony that they are One.

This is what Dante discovers as he ascends from the icy darkness of hell, through the purification of purgatory, into the glory of heaven.

***

Heaven is a place of welcome, light, and love. The angels and Saints swirl around the throne of God in praise. The higher Dante climbs the brighter it becomes, until finally he beholds God Almighty.

Unlike Satan, God isn’t alone. He isn’t flapping furry bat-like wings.

God is living in communion. Or, we might say, community as Father, Son, and Spirit.

Dante discovers that this is the secret to his own happiness – living the way that God does, in perfect harmony with others.

***

It’s an amazing Christian insight: 

The more we live in harmony with our neighbors, the more we reflect the inner life of God.

As Saint John writes, “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.”

Wherever there is love, God is found.

***

God is found when couples exchange their vows. God is found when parents behold their newborn child. Or watch them grow.

God is found when neighbors are reconciled; when the hungry are fed; when the naked are clothed; when the weak are cared for; and when the sick are cured.

God is also found in our brokenness. His Spirit is that healing balm that slowly pieces us back together.

As Dante writes at the end of The Divine Comedy, God is, “the love that moves the sun and the other stars.”

God is everything that is good.

***

If hell resembles being alone, then heaven means being together. 

This is what God desires for us – to live as one, just as the Father, Son and Spirit are one. 

On this Trinity Sunday, we pray that God would strengthen the bonds we hold so dear – our connection to our family, to our friends, to this community, and to God. 

Doing so gives us a taste of heaven, even while here on earth. 

***

***

Image credits: (1) All Saints Mills River (2) NIV Bible (3) Divine Comedy, Dante, Amazon.com

***

Gospel: Mark 11: 11-26

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple area.
He looked around at everything and, since it was already late,
went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

The next day as they were leaving Bethany he was hungry.
Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf,
he went over to see if he could find anything on it.
When he reached it he found nothing but leaves;
it was not the time for figs.
And he said to it in reply, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!”
And his disciples heard it.

They came to Jerusalem,
and on entering the temple area
he began to drive out those selling and buying there.
He overturned the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those who were selling doves.
He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area.
Then he taught them saying, “Is it not written:

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples?
But you have made it a den of thieves.”

The chief priests and the scribes came to hear of it
and were seeking a way to put him to death,
yet they feared him
because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.
When evening came, they went out of the city.

Early in the morning, as they were walking along,
they saw the fig tree withered to its roots.
Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look!
The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
Jesus said to them in reply, “Have faith in God.
Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,
‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’
and does not doubt in his heart
but believes that what he says will happen,
it shall be done for him.
Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer,
believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.
When you stand to pray,
forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance,
so that your heavenly Father may in turn
forgive you your transgressions.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

Why does Mark wedge this strange story of a fig tree into his Gospel?

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified, ushering in the climax of the Gospel story. Why worry about a fig tree? 

It wasn’t even fig season. This story happens in the middle of April; fig trees don’t bear fruit until late May or early June. 

So, what’s the meaning of it?

***

Mark bookends the story of the fig tree immediately before and after Jesus cleanses the temple, because the fig tree was symbolic of what was happening inside God’s “house.” 

The religious authorities claimed to have knowledge of God, and were also the custodians of God’s “house,” but that authority never translated into fruitful action.

They were often greedy, arrogant, judgmental people, instead.

Mark uses the fate of the fig tree to serve as a reminder to us.

***

We cannot claim to be followers of Christ without bearing fruit – both in season and out of season, when we feel like it and, equally, when we don’t.

At all times, Christians are called to be kind, generous, forgiving, “fruitful” people. Otherwise, we become like the withered fig tree, fruitless stewards of the faith.

If Jesus passed by us today, what kind of person would he find?

Would he find us bearing good fruit? Or withering on the vine?

***

As Jesus says elsewhere, “I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

May we bring glory to God today.

***

***

Image credits: (1) Got Questions (2) Pinterest (3) busyblessedwomen.com

***

Gospel: Mark 10: 46-52

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” 
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus told him, ‘Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

Have you ever imagined what it’s like to be blind?

As a kid, I’d probably imagine being blind felt like having your eyes closed. It’s just pitch black; dark all the time.

In reality, there are degrees of blindness. A person who’s legally blind may see light, colors, or have blurred vision. Life isn’t lived totally in the dark.

“Perfect vision,” on the other hand, means a person can see with absolute clarity, even recognizing the smallest detail.

***

In today’s Gospel, we encounter a man who’s blind, Bartimaeus.

What makes him unique is not his blindness, but his faith. He “sees” something that many do not – Jesus is the “Son of David,” who has the power to heal him.

Hearing the voice of Jesus off in the distance, he casts aside his cloak – and all the coins resting on it, which he received from begging that day – and throws himself at the feet of Jesus. 

In doing so, Bartimaeus literally parted with everything he owned. It was a desperate display of faith.

“Master, I want to see,” he says. Bartimaeus wants to see more than the physical world; he wants to “see” Jesus, his Lord.

“Go, your faith has saved you.”

***

Bartimaeus received two things that day, one we already have: his physical sight.

More importantly, he received something we all need: salvation. “Your faith has saved you,” Jesus says.

Like Bartimaeus, do we “see” Jesus? And if so, where?

Can we see him in prayer? Can we see him in the Eucharist? Can we see him in our neighbor?

***

“Master, I want to see.”

May the Lord remove any blindness within us, giving what he once gave to Bartimaeus, perfect vision through eyes of faith.

***

***

Image credits: (1) Adobe Stock (2) Vision Therapy Center (3) The Messianic Light