Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Mark 7:31-37

Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis. 
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd. 
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly. 
He ordered them not to tell anyone. 
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it. 
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well. 
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today’s Gospel passage reminds me of an experience I had recently, which wasn’t one of my finer moments.

Sitting in my office, I noticed an Amazon delivery driver pulling up the driveway to drop off a package. So, I went outside to greet him.

After a few attempts of saying, “Sir! Sir! Sir!” I became increasingly frustrated, thinking he was ignoring me. 

So, I started walking towards him angrily, but when he turned around and saw the look on my face, he apologetically signaled that he was deaf.

My heart sank. I was quick to judge. Humbled. Embarrassed.

That moment made me consider how difficult it must be to be deaf; nobody can immediately recognize your condition.

You have to interact with a deaf person – hopefully in a kinder manner than I did – before you realize they cannot hear you.

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That moment struck a chord in me. I began to wonder, “Aren’t we all like that man who is deaf?”

Often, we, too, can conceal what burdens us most.

Nobody walks around with a t-shirt on saying: Deaf. Cancer. Difficult marriage. Addict. Frazzled. Bullied. Insecure.

Yet sometimes we are.

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What if we allowed Jesus to pull us aside – to dig his finger into our wounds and heal us? What might he touch?

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While we all wish our healing were as immediate as that deaf man, remember how his healing started: the community brought him to Jesus.

Then, he was healed.

Perhaps that’s where our own healing can begin – by bringing one another to the Lord in prayer. And sooner or later, the Lord will respond:

“Ephphatha! Be opened.”

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Image credits: (1) The Georgetown Voice (2) Dustoffthebible.com (3) pktfuel.com

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Mark 7: 14-23

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.” 

When he got home away from the crowd
his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them,
“Are even you likewise without understanding?
Do you not realize that everything
that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
since it enters not the heart but the stomach
and passes out into the latrine?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

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Have you ever wondered why the Saints tell us the path to holiness is so difficult?

It requires a slow, consistent turning away from ourselves to the point that, as Saint Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me.”

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The Native Americans think about it in a similar way. They believe there are two wolves living within us.

One wolf feeds on things that are evil, which Jesus mentions in today’s Gospel: pride, selfishness, gossip, anger, judgment, and lust. 

The other wolf feeds on things that are good: patience, humility, honesty, forgiveness, kindness, and love. 

The question is, “Which wolf wins?”

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The one we feed.

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How do I feed that good wolf within? 

Or, using Paul’s imagery, how do we feed Christ living within us?

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May we continue feeding that good wolf until it is no longer “we who live, but Christ living within us.”

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Image credits: (1) Pin on Following Christ, Pinterest (2) Verve Team (3) Jesus Christ, Biography

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Gospel: Matthew 25: 1-13

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins
who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
The foolish ones, when taking their lamps,
brought no oil with them,
but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.
Since the bridegroom was long delayed,
they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight, there was a cry,
‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise,
‘Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.’
But the wise ones replied,
‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you.
Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’
While they went off to buy it,
the bridegroom came
and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him.
Then the door was locked.
Afterwards the other virgins came and said,
‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’
But he said in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’
Therefore, stay awake,
for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Josephine Bakhita, a woman who lived a storied life. 

Born in Sudan in the 19^th century, she described her childhood as idyllic. But sometime in her youth, she was kidnapped by Middle Eastern slave traders, and was forced to walk over 600 miles barefoot to a slave trading center.

She spent the next 12 awful years being bought and sold.

Providentially, she ended up in the care of the Canossian Sisters in northern Italy while her “owners” were away on vacation.

The nuns welcomed Josephine, took good care of her, and taught her about Jesus. Josephine always had a deep religious intuition and believed all the nuns told her.

Eventually, she was freed, baptized, confirmed, and allowed to become a nun. 

She spent the final 42 years of her life as a cook and doorkeeper in the convent, as well as travelling throughout the region, sharing her story with others.

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Somehow, Josephine claimed that she was grateful for her past; had she never walked that 600-mile road barefoot, she might not have come to know Jesus. That alone – her relationship with God – made it worth it.

Suffering is a mystery – and nobody enjoys it.

But Josephine reminds us that sometimes God allows us to endure particular trials because they can lead us deeper into our faith. 

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What’s my own view of suffering? Has it led me closer to the Lord?

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May Saint Josephine Bakhita, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) The Southern Cross (2) The BayNet (3) Footprints, Pinterest