Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Luke 11: 47-54

The Lord said:
“Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets
whom your fathers killed.
Consequently, you bear witness and give consent
to the deeds of your ancestors,
for they killed them and you do the building.
Therefore, the wisdom of God said,
‘I will send to them prophets and Apostles;
some of them they will kill and persecute’
in order that this generation might be charged
with the blood of all the prophets
shed since the foundation of the world,
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah
who died between the altar and the temple building.
Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!
Woe to you, scholars of the law!
You have taken away the key of knowledge.
You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.”
When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees
began to act with hostility toward him
and to interrogate him about many things,
for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Jesus stares at the religious leaders of his day and cries out, “Woe to you hypocrites!” It is scenes like this that inspire the authorities to plot Christ’s death. Jesus was not only questioning their character; but he was also challenging their spiritual authority.

The word “hypocrite”originally referred to someone who wore a mask, an actor on a stage. Although the scribes and Pharisees masquerade in religious attire, their hearts are filled with corruption.

These leaders have made several mistakes, which believers can still make today.

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First, we’ve all heard the old saying, “Practice what you preach.” 

It’s one thing for us to speak about Jesus. It’s another thing to live like him. Yet this is the standard which Christians are held accountable to – loving God with all of their heart and their neighbor as themselves.

As Mother Teresa once said, “Preach always. When necessary, use words.”

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Second, the scribes and Pharisees were cunning.

They imposed heavy legal and spiritual burdens on God’s people, but were experts in making loopholes for themselves. 

In a word, they lacked accountability, something which the Church has also struggled with over the centuries.

We should remember, God is always watching us – not with a judgmental eye, but with an interest in fairness. As the Lord says elsewhere, “Do to no one what you yourself dislike.” Rather, we should lead by example.

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After reading through the “woes” of Jesus this week, we can boil them down into two similar sayings:

Practice what you preach.  

And actions speak louder than words. 

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Image credits: (1) Adobe Stock (2) catholicsstrivingforholiness.org (3) Become Extraordinary, WordPress

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Gospel: Luke 11: 42-46

The Lord said:
“Woe to you Pharisees!
You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb,
but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God.
These you should have done, without overlooking the others.
Woe to you Pharisees!
You love the seat of honor in synagogues
and greetings in marketplaces.  
Woe to you!
You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.”

Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply,
“Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.”
And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law!
You impose on people burdens hard to carry,
but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Often, when we hear about the lives of the Saints, we turn back to days gone by. We examine the lives of men and women, even children, who lived and died centuries ago. 

Given the change in time, culture, and place, we might wonder what they have to say to us today. Consider the life of Saint Teresa of Avila, whose feast day we celebrate. She lived in 16^th century Spain, spending most of her life in a Carmelite convent with other nuns.

What might her life and faith experience say to us?

Surprisingly, perhaps, a lot.

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Teresa lived during a time of significant change. The Protestant Reformation was well underway, as Martin Luther and others accused the Catholic Church of straying away from Christ and his call to holiness, falling into corrupt and scandalous practices, instead.

She felt a similar dynamic unfolding within her own religious order. So, she founded the Order of Discalced Carmelites, focusing on austerity of life, solitude, and prayer.

At the very heart of her reforms, she believed that laws without love, or God at the very center, led to competing interests, transactional relationships, and selfishness. 

Some might say we can see the fruit of that truth unfolding in our nation today. When God is no longer part of the public forum, when faith is hidden, discouraged, or even stomped out, then the self-interested side of humanity emerges.

We have no one else to worship.

People need a common cause – or, better, a common Person – to rally around. That’s not only true in a convent full of Spanish nuns, but it’s also true of nations.

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On this Feast of Saint Teresa, we ask for her intercession, that our society would return to the ideals under which it was founded: one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Diocese of Norwich (2) Word on Fire (3) Guideposts

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Gospel: Luke 11: 37-41

After Jesus had spoken,
a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home.
He entered and reclined at table to eat.
The Pharisee was amazed to see
that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.
The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees!
Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil.
You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?
But as to what is within, give alms,
and behold, everything will be clean for you.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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If this Gospel scene took place in modern day, I’d imagine Jesus pulling a small bottle of Purell hand sanitizer out of his pocket, squeezing a dab onto his hands, rubbing them together, then proceeding to eat his meal.

To us, his hands would be clean.

But not to the Pharisees. 

What mattered to the Pharisees was not whether or not Jesus had germs on his hands; what mattered was whether or not he followed the Law.

And the Law required rinsing your hands in a very particular way before breaking bread.

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“Oh you Pharisees!” Jesus says. “Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil.”

For the Pharisees, religion was a matter of externals and laws. They worshipped the idol of detail; omitting the slightest step of handwashing was a sin. 

They failed to understand that the source of sin is not the hands, but the heart. 

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When I examine my own heart, where is there purity? Where might there be impurity?

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I find it interesting that priests still follow the ritual of handwashing today. Right before celebrating Eucharist, he pours water over his hands and prays: “Wash me, O LORD, of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”

But we do so with the understanding that “sin” is not found underneath our fingernails; it starts within.

May the Lord purify us all until we are holy and blameless in his sight.  

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Image credits: (1) FreePik (2) Cavman Considers, WordPress (3) Palm Beach Lakes Church of Christ