Cycle A - Year I:  

2 July 2023: Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16

Second Reading:   Romans 6:3-4, 8-11

Gospel:  Please Read  Matthew 10:37-42 

Condition of discipleship!

Life is challenging because of the many storms we have to go through. Sometimes in frustration we look for God who seems far away. But a wise man says, "Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up!" 

On the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time our Lord Jesus tells His disciples the condition and challenges of being His disciples. And the cost of following Him is very high and demanding indeed!

Today's Gospel reading from Matthew brings to a close the so-called missionary discourse in which Jesus instructs His disciples on what it actually means to be disciples of our Lord Jesus.

We have to make excruciating choices in following the way of Jesus and living the Gospel  of truth and justice and compassion. In the Gospel reading we find Jesus being extremely demanding with His disciples: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves sons or daughters more than me is not worthy of me." (Mt 10:37)  The text invites us to take a look on who is the center of our lives.

Our Lord was utterly honest in telling His followers that it would cost them dearly to follow after Him. Because the demands of discipleship call for a total commitment and unconditional trust in Jesus to be able to follow in His footsteps and face life's difficulties as disciples with hope. Remember where our Lord's footsteps led, His death in Calvary.  Indeed, the cross is part of following of Christ. But oftentimes we associate the cross to pain, suffering and death. And we hardly discover that in that cross embedded the immense love of God for us, life and salvation.

And so the genuine expression of our profound experience of God is manifested in the total giving of oneself; a love that leads to an apostolic commitment for those who need our love as well on behalf of Christ. And the love of God and neighbor completes the work of God in man.

Then, we also ask: "What does Christianity have to offer that is worth giving up everything else, including family and self, just to follow our Lord Jesus Christ?"       

Well, Jesus offers His followers a priceless treasure, which is true happiness, peace, and joy unending with our everlasting Father in the heavenly kingdom.  Because in losing everything else for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel, we will surely find eternal life.

St. Paul says to the Romans: "If then we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him." (Rom 6:8)

Jesus' parting words are our rewards: "Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." (Mt 10:40)

Today is also St. Peter's Pence Sunday (Obolum Sancti Petri).  Peter's Pence is the financial support offered by the faithful to the Holy Father as a sign of their sharing in the concerns of the Successor of Peter for the many different needs of the Universal Church and for the relief of those most in need. Mass collections will be forwarded to Rome to be used for the apostolic and charitable ministries of the Holy Father.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!