13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
02nd July 2023 (Sunday) Readings and Reflection
Psalter: Week 1
Reading of the Day
First Reading: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a
One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.” One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there. And he said to Gehazi his servant, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” He said, “Call her.” And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. And he said, “At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.”
Psalm 89:2-3, 16-17, 18-19 (R. see 2a)
R/. I will sing forever of your mercies, O Lord.
Second Reading: Romans 6:3-4, 8-11
Brethren: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Alleluia
V/. Alleluia R/. Alleluia
V/. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel : Matthew 10:37-42
At that time: Jesus said to his apostles, whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
The Reflection by Fr. Thumma Mariadas Reddy MSFS{alertWarning}
Highlight: God - The highest priority!
Indicative: It is a simple natural law and principle that we receive back as what we give, we reap as we sow. Therefore, if we do good, it will certainly be accounted and rewarded by God{alertSuccess}
1. The Lord constantly invites us to be his disciples because that alone is the meaning and fulfilment of our life, our vocation and mission. But this is not an easy task. This is very demanding, especially in a world that is inclined to false values and wrong ways.
2. Now, what it means to be a follower of Christ? What are some essential conditions or salient features of an authentic follower of Christ? In the light of the Word of God, we can enumerate some of these conditions and features.
3. They are namely: Priority to God and highest love for Him, sacrifice and detachment, holy resignation and surrender, perseverance and commitment and finally sensitivity and generosity toward other disciples. This is what Jesus pronounces in the gospel with a tone that is clear, strong, absolute and uncompromising.
4. God should be our topmost priority and love for Him should be the first, best and the highest. It should surpass even the love for one’s own family like for mother or father, for son or daughter: “Whoever loves father or mother, son or daughter is not worthy of me”.
5. One may wonder and argue, ‘but these are the ties and relationships that are quite natural, valid and recommendable’! True. That is why, let us understand this demand in the right perspective.
6. Let us not take this demand of Jesus as unrealistic or unfair or going against the very natural and healthy principle of love and bonding within the family. This in no way means that we should not love our families. Also in no way, it should make one neglect one’s responsibility toward the family.
7. Rather, we should focus on the central point and issue: nothing and no one should be more than God, should come before God, or should stand on the way of God. This invites us to seriously and sincerely check and see whether we give priority and first place to God in our heart and in our life.
8. Whether our love for God and service to Him are at times conditioned, hindered and even abandoned because of our other loves and commitments? Whether we are into undue attachments to our families to the extent of being negligent and unfair in our spiritual and fraternal obligations.
9. It is from this priority and love that all the rest proceed. Be ready and willing to sacrifice everything, even legitimate and natural, even the very life that is so precious to all.
10. In a world where ego and self-interests are central to life, where a spirit of greed, grabbing and accumulation is rampant, where undue attachments and deviations reign high, where there is every tendency for comfort-seeking and thus to avoid and escape from all what is inconvenient and discomforting, especially when it is something for God and good, where complacency and undue autonomy are the order of the day, where disloyalty and mediocrity become more frequent and normal,
11. Jesus urges us quite emphatically to detach and to sacrifice, to suffer and to surrender, to persevere and to commit, and to support and encourage those who are journeying as good disciples.
12. In other words, in the words of Paul to Romans, it means, “to live the newness of life, being dead to sin and alive for God”. Certainly this journey is a hard struggle. But it is not futile. It is enormously rewarding.
13. The woman of Shunem was so hospitable and caring toward Elisha and so she would be richly rewarded with a child. And those who follow the Lord despite and amidst all the challenges and adversities too will be abundantly rewarded here on earth itself with the firmest strength, clearest light, deepest joy and irremovable peace, and then eternal life, after death.
Practice: Following the way of God, in being disciples of the Master, in being good and doing good may be a hard road often, while the way of evil and world seems gratifying and rewarding. But the lasting joy and fulfilment of life come only from good life rooted in God {alertSuccess}