Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Matthew 19: 23-30

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich
to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Again I say to you,
it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said,
“Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,

“For men this is impossible,
but for God all things are possible.”
Then Peter said to him in reply,
“We have given up everything and followed you.
What will there be for us?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you
that you who have followed me, in the new age,
when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory,
will yourselves sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or lands
for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more,
and will inherit eternal life.
But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“Lord, we have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?”

Peter and the others have left a lot behind: their boats, their homes, their families, their imagined plans for the future – all to follow Jesus into the unknown. It’s fair for Peter to wonder, “What will there be for us?”

“A hundred times more, and eternal life to come,” the Lord says. A promise that rings true throughout the ages.

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Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux – a man who, like Peter, left everything behind to follow the Lord. 

Bernard, the third of seven children, was born into a family of high-nobility in France nearly a thousand years ago. While his parents ensured that he received a comprehensive education, at the very center of their family was faith in Jesus Christ.

That faith was greatly tested by the death of Bernard’s mother shortly after he turned nineteen. But such a great loss was met with even greater grace, as Bernard turned to the Lord in his time of need.

Feeling the Lord drawing him closer, he decided to enter religious life as a monk. 

Amazingly, his conviction was so deep, that all of his brothers joined him, with the exception of the youngest, who would join him later, as would his father! His sister became a nun. Thirty other boys of nobility also followed Bernard that day.

Together, they traveled thirty miles north of their home and joined a Benedictine monastery.

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Some years thereafter, Bernard was sent to establish a new Benedictine monastery in France. By his death, over 700 other men had joined! Bernard leaves behind a legacy of faith, humility, and devotion to Our Lady, all of which are evidenced by his 530 pastoral letters and 300 sermons.

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So, what might his life say to us today?

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As is true in the life of Saint Peter, he reminds us that, with God’s grace, we can change the world for the better – one person at a time. 

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Image credits: (1) QuoteFancy (2) Bernard of Clairvaux, Britannica (3) Redbubble

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Gospel: Matthew 19: 16-22

A young man approached Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good?
There is only One who is good.
If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
He asked him, “Which ones?”
And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
honor your father and your mother;
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him,
“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Jesus looks upon the rich young man…and “loves” him.

The Lord must’ve delighted in his zeal for religion, and in his effort to be, “perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect.”

But notice what happens when Jesus “loves” him:

He peers into the young man’s heart, inviting him into even deeper holiness. “You are lacking in one thing,” he says. “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor…then come and follow me.”

The man walks away sad, “for he had many possessions.” Though he was a pious man, the Lord occupied second – not first – place in his heart, a constant challenge for any believer.

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When Jesus gazes upon us, he “loves” us just the same. He sees our zeal for God and all of the good works we do to serve him in our neighbor.

But he also sees those things that impede our spiritual growth. That’s what love does by its very nature; it seeks to remove things that block further intimacy between two souls. 

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What impedes my own spiritual growth or keeps me from growing in intimacy with Jesus?

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At times, our prayer life becomes rote or dry. Perhaps we compartmentalize our life, allowing faith to influence some – but not all – of our decisions. Maybe there’s a particular person, memory, or habit that keeps drawing us away from the Lord. 

Maybe we don’t always give God enough of our talent, trust, or time.

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Ultimately, the rich young man walked away from Jesus out of fear; he feared that following Jesus would not be enough; he feared leaving the security of his possessions behind, as if they could satisfy him more than Jesus.

We know that isn’t true. The Lord is more than enough. May we do whatever we must to keep the Lord where he belongs – in first, at the very center of our lives. 

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Image credits: (1) John Kenny The Relationship Guy (2) Regular Pastor (3) Behance

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Gospel: John 6: 51-58

Jesus said to the crowds:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world.”

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you. 
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day. 
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink. 
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him. 
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me. 
This is the bread that came down from heaven. 
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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When I was a little kid, I had lots of stuffed animals.

A few of them had Velcro strips on their backs. You could open them up from behind and turn them inside out, transforming them into a globe. The globe would reveal where that particular animal was from.

For example, I learned pandas came from China; penguins from Antarctica.

These stuffed animals sparked my imagination, fueling a hunger inside of me to know more about the world around me. 

So, I devised a plan.

One day I started digging a hole in my backyard. I was determined to dig my way to China, a land of pandas, bamboo, and apparently a very big wall.

I didn’t get too far before Mom discovered me, breaking the bad news: I wasn’t making it to China that day. 

But that curiosity – that desire for the truth – has never left.

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We find this same type of curiosity unfolding in today’s Gospel.

For the last four weeks, we’ve been reading chapter six of John’s Gospel, which is commonly referred to as the “Bread of Life discourse.” 

It begins with Jesus feeding a crowd of thousands in the multiplication of the loaves. Then he leads them to acknowledge a deeper hunger – the hunger for truth, for meaning, for love.

The Lord declares that he is the Source that can satisfy that hunger. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger…whoever eats this bread will live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

The crowds are stunned. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they ask. 

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Seeing their irked reaction, the Lord doubles down, using even more specific and graphic language than before.

Whereas Jesus initially invited the crowds to “eat” his flesh, he now switches to a more particular verb, “gnaw; chew; chomp,” emphasizing the physical nature of his command. 

Unwilling to dig any deeper, people leave him in droves. They do not yet understand that the “living bread come down from heaven” the Lord promises will be the Eucharist; we do not receive his flesh and bones, as it were. Rather, his Resurrected Presence.

So, Jesus is left alone with his disciples, prompting him to ask them, “Do you also want to leave?”

This is the greatest test of his disciples’ faith thus far. If they cannot accept his words now – even without understanding – then how much harder will it be to accept the scandal of the cross?

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Why does Jesus insist on this gift of the Eucharist? Why is belief in his Word not enough?

To understand his logic, we must dig deep into the Old Testament.

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While there are many connections that can be made between the Old Testament and the Eucharist, I will focus on the first, which happens in the Book of Genesis.

How do Adam and Eve break their communion with God?

Through an act of eating.

As Satan the serpent slithers in the Garden of Eden, he convinces Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. She then shares that fruit with Adam. 

This breaks God’s commandment first given to Adam: “You are free to eat from any of the trees in the garden, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it, you shall die.”

Christians understand the breaking of this commandment to be the origin of sin. Once humanity’s relationship with God was broken, “all hell broke loose,” as it were.

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Jesus reverses the curse of Eden in today’s Gospel, promising a new, final covenant between God and his people also through an act of eating. “Whoever eats this bread will live forever,” he says, “and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

We see this promise fulfilled at the Last Supper, when the Lord takes a loaf of bread and a cup of wine, telling his disciples plainly, “This is my Body… this is my Blood. Do this – eat this, drink this – in memory of me.”

Just as Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge in disobedience, so at Mass we consume the Eucharist in obedience, restoring the communion with God that once was lost.

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This is a lot to digest, as it were. 

But unlike the crowds, who leave the Lord in disbelief, may our love for Jesus inspire us to continue digging for the Truth until we, “taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”

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Image credits: (1) Mother of Divine Providence (2) thearcheologist.org (3) St. John the Baptist Catholic Church