Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Matthew 5: 1-12

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 
He began to teach them, saying:

    “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
        for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
    Blessed are they who mourn,
        for they will be comforted.
    Blessed are the meek,
        for they will inherit the land.
    Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
        for they will be satisfied.
    Blessed are the merciful,
        for they will be shown mercy.
    Blessed are the clean of heart,
        for they will see God.
    Blessed are the peacemakers,
        for they will be called children of God.
    Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
        for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
    Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
        and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
    Rejoice and be glad,
        for your reward will be great in heaven.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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The Saints are the merciful, the clean of heart, and the peacemakers, whom Jesus blesses in today’s Gospel.

Some examples include: 

Peter, the first Pope, who offered his life for Jesus.

Paul, the greatest missionary in history.

Francis of Assisi, an instrument of God’s peace.

And Teresa of Calcutta, a modern-day Saint, who showed the world how to love the poor.

These men and women changed the world. And, rightly, they’re revered as Saints.

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But most of the Saints were ordinary men and women like us.

Saint Conrad was a doorman. For 40 years, he stood and welcomed pilgrims to a Marian shrine in Germany.

Saint Zita was a cook.

Other Saints were barbers, farmers, maids, soldiers, and soccer players.

There’s nothing extraordinary about what they did; we can all welcome people coming to church, cook a meal in our soup kitchen, till the land in our backyard, or kick a soccer ball.

What’s the difference? What made them Saints? 

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They did ordinary tasks with extraordinary love, living out that great prayer of Saint Francis: 

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.”

Bring the love of God wherever you go, and you, too, will be a Saint.

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Image credits: (1) Almost Saints, Denver Catholic (2) Pref-Tech (3) Dreamstime.com

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Philippians 2: 1-4

Brothers and sisters:
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests, 
but also everyone for those of others.

The Word of the Lord.

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“Humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,” Saint Paul says in our first reading.

Humility.

What is it? How do you define it?

The word “humility” comes from the Latin, “humus,” meaning, “earth.” 

A humble person is well-grounded. Their feet are firmly planted, allowing them to stand – not above or below – but shoulder to shoulder with their neighbor, including the poor, the crippled, and the blind as we hear in the Gospel.

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We know a humble person when we see them.

It’s the spouse who foregoes the last word, or the need to be right in an argument, in order to preserve peace in the household.

It’s the athlete who gets second place in a competition but sincerely congratulates the winner.

It’s the dad who forgoes a golf game in order to attend his child’s recital … or a meeting at church.

It’s the person you met at Mass on Sunday who promised to pray for you … and does so all week long … or longer.

It’s the person who quietly drops off fresh baked goodies for our café, or cleans the linens for Mass.

Often such acts go unnoticed, but the humble person doesn’t mind. They do it all out of love.

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In what ways might we practice that type of humility today?

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Image credits: (1) Jeff Brumley, Baptist Global News, Baylor University (2) Finding Humility, Movement Forward (3) Differencebetween.com

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Gospel: Luke 19: 1-10

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. 
Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature. 
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
“Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house.” 
And he came down quickly and received him with joy. 
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
“He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” 
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
“Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over.”
And Jesus said to him,
“Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. 
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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I was SO excited to see children enjoying our new playground last week. After Mass, I went outside to greet them and noticed one young boy quickly climbing the stairs to the top. He paused, took in the view, and shouted, suddenly:

Yaaaaahhhhh!

It was as if he saw the world from a different perspective for the very first time.

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In today’s Gospel, we encounter a man named Zacchaeus. There are two important things to know about him: he was a tax collector and, like the boy climbing the playground staircase, he wasn’t very tall.

Tax collectors were hated by their neighbors. They were seen as greedy, ambitious thieves, who extorted pennies from the penniless. No wonder the crowds tried blocking him from seeing Jesus!

Zacchaeus’s size was also metaphorical: in addition to being short in stature, he was also a man of little faith. 

Caught in a greedy profession, he was focused on worldly things, preventing him from seeing the bigger picture. 

But something was stirred inside of him that day. What was it? 

Was he lonely? Was he soul searching? Did he finally realize that, ultimately, material things cannot satisfy us? 

We need the intangibles in life to be complete; things like faith, hope, and love.

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The Gospel tells us that Zacchaeus wanted to “see” Jesus. This verb, “to see,” is used to describe more than physical sight; it also implies a person’s journey to faith.

So, Zacchaeus sprints ahead of the crowds and climbs up a sycamore tree, allowing him to see beyond the crowds, beyond his greed, and beyond the business of his daily life.

Clinging anxiously to those shady branches, he represents a soul seeking more; a soul at prayer; a soul in search of God. 

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It was a moment of discovery. Suddenly, that desire stirring deep within him started being satisfied.

But the Lord would not allow Zacchaues to remain there. Seeing Jesus is only part of faith’s equation; the other part is doing something about it.

“Zacchaeus, come down from that tree. I intend to stay at your house today,” he says.

The fact that Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus into his home implies that he not only makes room physically, but spiritually, he welcomes the Lord into his heart.

By the end of the meal, Zacchaeus declares, “Lord, if I have wronged anyone, I will repay it four times over.” Filled with remorse for his sins, he promises to repay all of his neighbors whom he extorted for years.

Imagine him knocking on their doors the next day a changed man, not only seeking to restore what he stole; but also, to repair the relationships he ruined.

He reminds us that faith always comes at a cost. It’s not enough to see Jesus; we must also be changed by him.

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This is the journey of faith.

It begins with our desire to see Jesus, followed by the realization that we cannot see him if we’re blocked by the crowds, blinded by busyness, or the burdens of daily life. We have to climb a sycamore tree.

What is my sycamore tree? Where do I discover the Lord?

Perhaps it’s the hour we spend each week coming to Mass. Maybe it’s the few minutes we spend reading a daily devotional, having a faith-based conversation with a friend, or the healing we find in confession.

That’s the first part of the equation – encountering Jesus.

But the other is being changed by that encounter. So, how has my faith changed me?

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I think of that jovial look on the little boy’s face, who climbed the stairs on our new playground. He saw the world from different perspective. It filled him with joy, and changed him. It was a type of “sycamore tree.”

May we have a similar experience with Jesus, taking the time to climb to a higher place – to see him – and to come back down changed for the better.

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Image credits: (1) “Zacchaeus” by Maryinasia, (wetcanvas.com) (2) Zacchaeus in the Sycamore Tree, by William Hole (3) FOOTPRiNTS Summer Day Camp 2022