Cycle C - Year I:

30 June 2019: Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading: 1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21

Second Reading: Galatians 5:1, 13-18

Gospel: Please Read Luke 9:51-62

The challenge of following our Lord!

Have you noticed that towards the end of the Easter Season the Church celebrates a series of Solemnities (Ascension, Pentecost, Holy Trinity, and Corpus Christi just last Sunday)?

Let us first take a short catechism on the Church's liturgical calendar as a backgrounder.

Solemnities are the highest degree of celebration and are usually reserved for the most important Mysteries of our Faith.

Feasts, on the other hand, honor a mystery or title of the Lord, of our Lady, or of saints of particular importance (such as the Apostles and Evangelists).

Ordinary Time in the Catholic liturgical calendar is that part of the yearly cycle of 33 or 34 weeks in which there is no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated, but rather the mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ in all its fullness is observed.

Now after a series of solemnities we are back to Ordinary Time, and this Sunday is the 13th in Ordinary Time.

The Gospel from St. Luke presents Jesus determined to journey toward the final stage of His mission which must happen in Jerusalem. For it is in Jerusalem that He will reveal the whole purpose of His life on earth, namely, to die out of love for us sinners.

The travel narrative begins with the brief encounter where Jesus is rejected in Samaria. But Jesus rebukes His disciples who wanted to repay the hostility of the Samaritans with fiery destruction.

The rest of the Gospel story is an admonition from our Lord about detachment from all worldly security when we decide to accompany Him in this "journey".

What are the implications of the Sunday Gospel for us today?

The first lesson for those who would travel with Jesus is to put aside all initiatives prompted by anger, violence, and prejudice. That is why in the Gospel Jesus Himself rebukes the disciples James and John who wanted to "call fire from heaven to consume" the hostile Samaritans. As Christians we are taught to put aside anger and violence as ways to solve problems. And Jesus reminds us that to "call fire down from heaven" is definitely not the Christian way to deal with difficult people.

The second lesson is that those who follow Jesus must be willing to let go of all previous attachments. Because half-hearted discipleship simply will not be accepted to our Lord.

Thus, the challenge of our Christian faith is really to keep calm in the midst of storm, to keep our peace even in turbulent times. Because we believe that our life on earth is but a journey, in preparation for our final destiny in the heavenly home.

This is the challenge for those who want to follow our Lord Jesus Christ in His journey to Jerusalem. The Lord expects the same kind of decisiveness from His followers. It is not going to be easy, that is why we need to pray persistently and consistently for grace to be able to respond to the challenge. And our Blessed Mother Mary is our very model in trust and complete submission to God's will.

And so when we really begin to trust more the wisdom of Jesus, we will gladly let go of unworthy attachments as we trust more and more the promises of God and begin to run joyfully toward the future, which is our heavenly destiny.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!