Fr Kevin Kilgore

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1 Corinthians 12:31 – 13:13

Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

The Word of the Lord.

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Perhaps there’s no greater standard to measure our lives against than Paul’s description of love. “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not inflated, it is not rude… it rejoices with the truth.”

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How might you define love in your own words? 

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To me, love is the energy inside that urges us to see beyond ourselves, living in a world of “we,” not “me.” It’s a law written into all of creation.

For example, the sun does not shine on itself; it gives its light away, warming and brightening the earth.

Rivers do not drink their own water.

Trees do not eat their own fruit.

Flowers release their fragrance.

Everything and everyone – not just humanity – has been created to give itself away for the sake of others. It just seems harder at times for human beings to do so because we bear the burden of freedom. 

Unlike Mother Nature, we must choose to see beyond ourselves.

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How do we give ourselves away?

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It’s often little things like a parent tucking a note inside their child’s lunchbox; asking your spouse about their day; listening to a friend burdened by life; taking a neighbor to a doctor’s visit; forgiving someone their trespasses. 

Love is anything that helps us to see beyond ourselves, in a world of “we,” not “me.”

This love, Paul says, endures because it is of God. 

May we all find some small way to freely give ourselves away today.

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Image credits: (1) 1 Corinthians 13, YouTube (2) Saint Paul Writing Letters, Valentin Boulougne (3) StockCake

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Gospel: John 19: 25-27

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was the most dreadful moment in world history. As the Gospels recount, “darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.”

Even the sun had to hide.  

Humanly speaking, Jesus was a victim robbed of his friends, his dignity, and his life. 

While Mary was robbed of her son.

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But Jesus and Mary were not only victims on Good Friday; they were also victors.

Jesus was a victor because he never reneged on his identity; even in the face of unimaginable torture, he would not back down from his claim, “I AM.” 

He was also victorious because he died with love in his heart. 

Not even spittle, thirty-nine lashings, thorns, or mocking cries from a Godless crowd could beat the love out of him. Rather, Jesus spent some of his final, precious breaths interceding for his guileless murderers.

“Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

Then drawing another fill of air, he turned to John, the only Apostle who did not abandon him, and said, “Behold your mother.”

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That is, behold the other victor of Calvary.

Mary did not give up in the face of torture, either. As seven swords of sorrow pierced her immaculate heart, she stood by the cross, clinging – not to understanding – but to faith. 

“How can this be?” She must’ve wondered. The same question she asked the Archangel Gabriel more than 30 years prior.  How could God allow this? 

Still, she stood her ground.

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The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows reminds us that, even in the face of the most unimaginable loss, there is always victory to be found.

We are victorious when we do not allow life – or the circumstances we may find ourselves in – to rob us of our faith in God, the love he has poured into our hearts, or the dignity he bestows upon us as his beloved children.

May Jesus and Mary intercede for us, that we, too, would compete well, run this race of life to the finish, and keep the faith.

Then the victory is ours.

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Image credits: (1) Pieta, William Adolphe Bouguereau (2) Cristo Crucificado, Goya (3) The Resurrection, Piero della Francesca

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Gospel: John 3: 13-17

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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In August 2021, two-hundred children began gathering with their families at the Immaculate Conception Parish in Haiti. All of the little ones were dressed in white, preparing to celebrate their baptism.

Thirty minutes before the ceremony was set to begin, the ground beneath them started shaking. Suddenly the roof collapsed, crushing twenty-three people, including a two-year-old child in her mother’s arms.

Somehow the mother survived.

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When I first heard the story, I let out a loud, guttural cry, asking, “Why God? Why would you let this happen? Is life not already difficult enough for them?”

I shared my troubled heart with a fellow priest that day, who said to me simply:

“At 3 pm on a Friday afternoon, an innocent man was nailed to a cross. We believe that man was also the Son of God. Three days later, he was raised from the dead.”

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The fact that Jesus was raised from the dead does not explain why evil exists in this world – nor does it make it okay for a church roof to collapse. 

But it does tell us something about who God is.

Mysteriously, God permits evil to operate in this world, whether man-made or erupting from the natural world itself. 

But only for a time. 

Perhaps to give us a chance to fight against it, to choose which side we are on, while also longing for a better world to come. 

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Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus likens death to a “thief in the night.” It’s in the very nature of a thief to come without warning, stealing what is not its own. 

Are we not reminded of this thinking of those poor children prematurely stolen from their families?

But on this Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross, we can stand in defiance of death, saying that there is at least one precious thing which death cannot take from us – not without our permission.

Our faith.

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While we may have many unanswered questions about good and evil, life and death, or why a church roof collapsed, today is an opportunity for us to reaffirm our core beliefs.

That life is not only a gift, but also a mystery.

That this world was created by a God who is good. 

That this same God lived among his creation, that he suffered and died like us, and that he was victoriously raised from the dead.

That this same God has made a way for us all to live again, even if that comes through an unceremonious, sudden, and terribly tragic earthquake.

For nothing – not even death – can separate us from the love and life of Christ… not without our permission.

Christ Crucified, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Christ Crucified, Francisco Goya (2) National Geographic (3) Believersbibleschool..com