Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Matthew 1:16-24

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today we celebrate the life of a man whom we know almost nothing about. 

Joseph was the foster father of Jesus. But he never speaks a word in the Gospels, disappearing from the scriptures when Jesus is twelve. 

God spoke to Joseph, but only in dreams, first encouraging him to not be afraid to take Mary into his home. Later, another angel appeared, warning him to leave the very same home with Mary and the Christ-child in tow, because King Herod wanted Jesus dead.

So, the Holy Family took what little they had and walked the same road that cuts through Gaza today, from Bethlehem to Egypt. After an indefinite period of time in exile, they returned home – to a simple life.

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Simple because Joseph never went to college. He never wrote a book. He never owned shares in the stock market. He never held public office. He never made the news. He did nothing memorable in the world’s eyes. 

He was uneducated; a peasant; a foster father; a refugee.

A nobody.

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But 2,000 years have come and gone, and we still honor his life. Out of the billions of people who’ve lived and died, Joseph is one of the few our world still remembers fondly.

Maybe that’s because we all see something of ourselves in him. 

He worked hard. He loved deeply. He was a faithful husband. A devout father. And, most importantly, obedient to the tasks that God entrusted to him, even when only directed in a dream. 

Joseph shows us what really matters in the end.

Fidelity. Humility. Taking responsibility for the tasks that God has given us to do. If we can emulate his example, then we, too, shall be blessed in the eyes of God. 

Saint Joseph, pray for us!

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Image credits: (1) Cathopic (2) Year of Saint Joseph (3) The First Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.

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Gospel: John 5: 17-30

Jesus answered the Jews: 
“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the sabbath
but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus answered and said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
for what he does, the Son will do also.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,
so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.
Nor does the Father judge anyone,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life.
Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in himself,
so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.
And he gave him power to exercise judgment,
because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this,
because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs
will hear his voice and will come out,
those who have done good deeds
to the resurrection of life,
but those who have done wicked deeds
to the resurrection of condemnation.

“I cannot do anything on my own;
I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
because I do not seek my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Perhaps the most famous love story in literary history is William Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet.

You may remember the famous balcony scene when Juliet gazes down upon Romeo and says, “Romeo, the more I give to you, the more I seem to have.”

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Juliet learned to see the world through Romeo’s eyes.

She dreamt her lover’s dreams and sought to please her lover’s needs, because the happier Romeo was, the happier Juliet became.

The more she gave, the more she had.

That’s the essence of love.

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Jesus is describing a similar love with his Father in today’s Gospel.

“I do not seek my own will,” he says, “but the will of the one who sent me.” 

The more Jesus gives himself away – the more he preaches the truth, the more he loves, the more he heals, the more he forgives those caught in sin – the more he seems to have.

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The same is true for us.

The more we give ourselves to God in love, prayer, fasting, and charity, the happier we become.

In what ways might we love and serve the Lord today?

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Image credits: (1) Canyon Lake United Methodist Church (2) Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo (3) FaithGateway

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Gospel: Luke 5: 1-11

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening  to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that they were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

On the surface, we may associate this day with parades, dancing, Guinness, soda bread, and even the Chicago River dyed green.

But behind this feast is the remarkable story of a man whose life and legacy still speaks to us today.

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When he was a boy, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders and sold into slavery. He spent the next several years suffering terribly from hunger and the cold.

Eventually, he escaped and made his way back to Britain, where he entered the seminary and became a priest, serving locally for 20 years.

One night Patrick had a dream. A voice with an Irish accent pleaded with him, “We appeal to you, to come and walk among us.” Patrick knew the call came from the Lord, so he returned to Ireland as a free man.

Imagine the courage it took for Patrick to return to the land that once enslaved him as memories of hunger and the cold raced through his mind. But he went anyway, spending the final 28 years of his life spreading the Catholic faith amongst the Irish.

With the help of his friends and the grace of the Holy Spirit, he converted an entire nation. Today 90% of Ireland still identifies as Catholic!

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Imagine what the Church could do, locally and at large, if we embraced Patrick’s courageous spirit, sharing our faith with others one word, one gesture, one invite at a time. 

If humility were our daily bread.

If we did not allow memories of rejection or mistreatment to freeze us; rather, we let love thaw our hearts, spurring us onward. If we developed a spirit of obedience to the Lord, eagerly following him from sea to shining sea. 

Together, we would – and can – rebuild the Church. 

Saint Patrick, pray for us!

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Image credits: (1) The Week (2) Krystal Craven Christian Music (3) Prayer of Saint Patrick, Amazon.com