Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Matthew 19: 3-12

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying,
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”
He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning
the Creator made them male and female and said,
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?
So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” 
They said to him, “Then why did Moses command
that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?”
He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so.
I say to you, whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful)
and marries another commits adultery.”
His disciples said to him,
“If that is the case of a man with his wife,
it is better not to marry.”
He answered, “Not all can accept this word,
but only those to whom that is granted.
Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so;
some, because they were made so by others;
some, because they have renounced marriage
for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Maybe you’ve heard this joke before:

What’s the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer?

A good lawyer knows the law. A great lawyer knows the judge!

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Throughout the Gospels, the Pharisees try leveraging their knowledge of the Law against Jesus to trap him, turning the tide against him. 

But herein lies the difference between the Pharisees and Jesus. While the Pharisees know the Law, Jesus knows the Judge – God, his Father in heaven.

Today the legal question is over divorce. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 

Other days, the topic is different: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? A woman was married seven times, but each of her husbands died. In the resurrection, whose will she be? Why do your disciples not fast on the Sabbath? By whose authority do you do such things?”

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If the Pharisees can squeeze a legal ruling out of Jesus, then perhaps some of his followers will turn against him. Avoiding their trap, the Lord doesn’t convict anyone; rather, he responds, “From the beginning, it was not so.”

Jesus was there in the beginning – before there was sin; before there were laws; and before such laws were broken. From the beginning, there was only one force at work: God’s infinite love.

God created marriage to model the type of self-offering which exists between the Father and the Son; the Spirit being the love they share. 

No human being has ever modeled that love perfectly – be it in marriage or in friendship – “because of the hardness of your hearts.” In that sense, we’re all guilty, the Pharisees, too!

But instead of condemning the world, the Lord came to save us, creating a new, final law: “Love one another as I have loved you.” 

That is what the Judge asks of us.

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In what ways can I better love other people?

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That may include forgiving a spouse – or former spouse – who’s hurt me; putting the needs of others before my own; letting go of my tendency to judge prematurely; or encountering Christ in the poor.

Each in our own way, try to live life the way it was, “from the beginning.”

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Image credits: (1) SlidePlayer (2) Turning Stone Counseling (3) Daily Declaration

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Gospel: Luke 1:39-56

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.”

Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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While studying for the priesthood, I used to visit a children’s hospital located right next to our seminary. I’ll never forget meeting a 5-year-old girl there named Martina.

Martina suffered from a very rare condition, causing her to spend most of her life in the hospital.

She had no joints. The bones in her arms and her legs didn’t connect, so she could neither stand nor walk. All she could do was lay in her little hospital bed.

It sounds impossible, but making her life even harder, she was blind, deaf, and mute. 

Martina had never seen her mother nor heard her voice. She only felt her mother’s touch, a gift she experienced every single day.  

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Martina’s mother never left her side, because that’s who mothers are – they bring us into this world, they nurture us, and shower us with love and affection.

Witnessing their bond reminded me of a definition I once heard of love: “Love is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.”

It was as if Martina and her mother were one.

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That’s the type of bond we celebrate today – the inseparable bond between a mother and her child – specifically, the bond between Mary and Jesus.

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Mary was the only person who welcomed Jesus into this world and was also with him when he left it; from the day he opened his eyes in Bethlehem to the moment he closed them on Calvary, Mary was there.

She not only became the mother of Jesus, but also his disciple.

Some would say, his first disciple. 

Over the course of thirty-three years, Mary’s heart became so united to Christ, they were like, “a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” His will became her will; whatever was pleasing to Jesus was pleasing to Mary.

As she reminds Christians in every age, “Do whatever he tells you.”

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On this Feast of the Assumption, it makes sense that wherever Jesus goes, Mary would follow – not only in this life, but also in the next.

After he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, we believe that Jesus called his mother home – body and soul. It’s what we celebrate today – our belief that human beings have a place in heaven, starting with Mary.

As Jesus says in John’s Gospel, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, you have faith in God. Have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.”

A place for Mary. A place for Martina. A place for you. A place for me.

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This is essentially the message I shared with Martina’s mother the day her daughter died. That bond of love between the two of them was so strong it was as if they were, “a single soul dwelling in two bodies.”

Wherever Martina went, her mother would eventually follow.

But in heaven, Martina’s body has been freed from the cross that bound her here on earth. She’s been given a glorified body like Mary, where she’ll be able to walk and run; in heaven, she’ll see her mother face to face, thanking her for never leaving her side.

It’s just who mothers are. Wherever the child is, surely the mother will follow body and soul.

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Image credits: (1) The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix (2) Shutterstock (3) Aleteia

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Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that  every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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There’s an old Swedish proverb, “Those who wish to sing always find a song.”

In good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, those who wish to sing always find a song.

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Today is the Feast of Saint Maximillian Kolbe, priest and martyr.

During the Second World War, Maximillian was one of the millions of prisoners sent to Auschwitz, the most infamous death camp in history.

One day while he was working in the camp, another prisoner tried escaping. Furious over the attempt, the guards selected ten other men to be put to death in his place.

One of the men selected pleaded for mercy, telling the guards that he was a father and a husband.

Then Maximillian stepped forward and said, “I am a Catholic priest. Let me take his place.”

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Maximillian and the other nine men were thrown into a hole, condemned to death by starvation.

He led those men in prayer for nearly two weeks, trusting the Lord’s words in today’s Gospel: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Personal accounts recalled how the prisoners’ singing could be heard rising out of the ground at all hours of the day, making it sound like a church choir buried in the depths of hell. The hope was contagious.

“Those who wish to sing always find a song.”

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Our song is of praise and thanksgiving, because Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead – and because of him, so shall we!

Saint Maximillian Kolbe, pray for us!

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Image credits: (1) Benedict XVI Institute (2) Cross Catholic Outreach (3) Musical Notes Silhouette, Amazon.com