THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

27 JUNE 2026

 

          During these past few Sundays, we have been hearing from Saint Matthew’s Gospel.  Jesus has chosen twelve of his disciples and sends them out to bring the Good News of the kingdom of God first to their fellow Jews, and then eventually to the entire world.  In sending them out, he tells them that they will receive grateful welcome and lots of rejection.  Preaching a gospel of repentance will not always be perceived as a welcoming Gospel.  In the ancient world, blood relationships are key to understanding a person’s identity.  But Jesus includes them as members of his family, more important than their membership in their blood families.

            Today, he tells them that whoever welcomes them will welcome him.  Whoever welcomes them welcomes the Father, the One who sent him.  The twelve are not messengers carrying information.  They are bearers of divine presence.  That is remarkable for an ordinary group of fishermen, tax collectors, and zealots.  The mission is never about the messenger, but about the One the messenger embodies.  He then promises that whoever welcomes a prophet, a person who speaks the truth, will receive a prophet’s reward, just as Elisha received welcome and hospitality from the couple in the first reading.  He also says that whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of his disciples will surely receive a reward.  At the time of Jesus, giving a cup of cold water involves a lot of work:  going to the well, drawing the water in a heavy jar, and then serving it immediately to a guest.  In a world of rejection and persecution, Jesus emphasizes these rewards of hospitality and kindness to his new family on mission.

            You and I became part of the family of Jesus Christ when we passed through the waters of Baptism.  That is what Saint Paul talks about in his letter to the Romans.  Ancient baptismal fonts (and many fonts in modern churches) allow for baptism by immersion.  The person is buried in the waters of baptism, just as Christ was buried in the tomb.  Then that person emerges from the waters to be one with Christ, as Christ was raised from the dead.  Every time we live our baptismal promises, we share a little bit more in the dying and rising of Christ.   Ironically, putting Christ ahead of our human family invites us to a deeper relationship within our own human families, especially if there are tensions and difficulties. 

The Lord gives us a chance today as his family to reflect on our mission of proclaiming the kingdom of heaven in our world.  First, we know that being a follower of Jesus Christ is not always easy.  We live in a secular culture that is hostile to the sacred and spiritual.  Our world is a mess these days.  Our culture prefers division and judgment over reconciliation and acceptance.  If we live the love of Jesus Christ, we will experience some kind of rejection, even within our own blood families.  Second, rejection is not the whole story.  We know that we are careful to welcome visitors and those who join us for the first time at Saint Augustine.  We will also be welcomed by some as we live our baptismal promises as members of Christ’s family.  Third, we carry Christ’s presence into the world.  We do not need to perform dramatic actions.  We carry Christ’s presence when we feed the hungry through our soup kitchen or when Vincentians bring food to hungry families.  When we knock on a neighbor’s door or visit the sick, we bear Christ’s presence with us.  Every time we speak a kind or forgiving word, we are carrying Christ’s presence.  Fourth, we don’t need to preach like prophets.  We bear Christ’s presence in the small acts of kindness.  Finally, we regard hospitality as a mission.  Saint John Chrysostom once wrote: “If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will not find him in the chalice.”  The Lord sends us out on mission, and we eagerly look for little ways to be hospitable and gracious.  We are members of his family, the Body of Christ.

 

TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

20 JUNE 2026

 

          The Prophet Jeremiah had a difficult job.  God called him to tell the truth to his people.  They wanted to believe that all would be well with them.  Just as God had delivered their ancestors from the invasion of the Assyrians two hundred years previously, God would save them now from the assault of the Babylonians.  God would protect them, because they have the temple, the king, and the priests as signs of their identity.  But Jeremiah tells them the truth that they must change their ways and return to the Covenant established by Moses.  They accuse him of being a traitor and treats him badly.  Their rejection is very painful to him.

            We hear him complaining in the first reading.  He tells God that his former friends are whispering about him and plotting vengeance on him.  He does not hesitate to pour out his pain in his prayer.  In his prayer, he says that God is with him like a mighty champion.  Then he prays a prayer of petition, begging God to take vengeance on his enemies.  Finally, he praises the Lord for the many times God has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked.  His enemies would eventually take his life.  Yet the truth of his words remains so strong that the Book of the prophet Jeremiah guides us many years later.

            In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus sent his apostles on a mission to proclaim the presence of the kingdom of heaven.  He gave them authority over unclean spirits and to cure every disease and illness.  Today, he warns them that they would not be accepted by some and that they will be rejected, as Jeremiah had been rejected for speaking the truth.  Despite the dangers and the hatred that will come for them, they should not be afraid.  They can complain in prayer, as Jeremiah had done.  Jesus assures them that the Father loves them so much he knows how many hairs are on their heads.  He urges them to pray for those who persecute them and to trust that truth and love will prevail in the midst of lies and hatred.  He tells them that their enemies have the power to kill their bodies, but cannot kill their souls.

            Most of them were killed in their efforts to proclaim the truth of the Gospel.  John may not have suffered a violent death.  But he endured persecution and exile to the Island of Patmos.  Over the centuries, disciples have suffered persecutions and death.  Recently, we celebrated the Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions.  In the mid nineteenth century, he and his young companions were sent to a prominent tribal chief in Uganda to learn leadership skills from him.  Instead, he forced himself on them and insisted that they deny their faith.  They were brutally murdered.  They trusted that the chief could not kill their souls.  My friend, Father Larry Kanyike emailed me to report that a million people were present for Mass at Namugongo, the shrine of their martyrdom.  The faith is flourishing in Uganda because of their faith and courage.

            Hopefully, we will be spared such a brutal end, which many Christians around the world are suffering today.  However, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we will ultimately suffer rejection and misunderstanding when we witness to the truth of the Lord in our lives.  Fathers, how many times have your children reacted negatively to your honest efforts to be a good father and correct them?  How often have you engaged in daily acts of love, without receiving any kind of thanks or gratitude?  Those reactions go along with the vocation of being a father.

            When we hear the whisperings of many who are gossiping about what we have done or said, we react with hurt and pain.  We can complain to God in prayer and renew our trust that the Lord loves each of us.  More importantly, we can recall the ways we have misjudged others or gossiped about them. The Lord shows us his mercy and calls us to extend that mercy back to him, present in those who have trespassed against us.

 

ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

14 JUNE 2026

 

          All three of today’s readings remind us that God has always loved us, along with God’s desire to be in relationship with us.  In the first reading, Moses reminds his people that God is like a mother eagle, bearing her babies up on her wings to teach them how to fly.  God has shown his loving kindness, his strength, and his protection to the people he has chosen as his own.  Saint Paul focuses on Jesus Christ, who willingly died for us, even when we were still sinners.  We can boast of the love of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.  In the Gospel, Jesus is moved with pity for the crowd who has been hearing about the Kingdom of God which he tells them is in their midst.  They are troubled.  The Roman occupation and the difficulties of their lives have burdened them.  Their religious leaders have abandoned them.  He is the shepherd who cares for his beloved sheep. In showing heartfelt pity and compassion from his heart, he chooses twelve of his disciples to join him in spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  He gives them authority to do what he has done.  The harvest is ready, and they are the laborers charged with bring it in.

            These twelve have no formal training.  They have no particular talents, except that they have been with Jesus, heard his teaching, witnessed his miracles, and have left everything to follow him.  Simon Peter is impulsive, bold in one minute and cowardly in the next.  He is quick to speak and quick to stumble.  His brother Andrew is quieter, known more for bringing others to Jesus instead of leading himself. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, have earned the nickname “sons of thunder.”  They are hot tempered, ambitious, and ready to call down fire on their enemies.  Philip struggles to grasp the identity of Jesus, even at the Last Supper.  Bartholomew is skeptical, wondering if anything good can come out of Nazareth.  Thomas carries doubts and questions and insists on touching the wounds of the risen Lord before he could believe.  Matthew is a tax collector, collaborating with Rome and profiting from his own people’s oppression.  He is despised by his neighbors.  Simon the Zealot comes from a radical nationalist movement intent on overthrowing Rome by violence.  Imagine how these two get along!  There is also James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus (sometimes called Judas son of James).  They are almost anonymous.  We know nothing about them, except they serve in quiet faithfulness without recognition.  Finally, there is Judas Iscariot, who would betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

            This is the group sent out by Jesus to go first to the Jewish people, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and eventually to the ends of the earth.  They are the workers sent to bring in the harvest. These are fishermen, hotheads, skeptics, collaborators, revolutionaries, quiet unknowns, and a traitor.  Not one of them is a rabbi.  Not one is a scholar.  None of them is a political insider.  And yet, they have succeeded, spreading the Kingdom of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Gathering the harvest does not depend on perfect people, but on empowered people – harvesters energized by the Spirit of God.

            Last week, the United States Bishops dedicated our country on our 250^th anniversary to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  It is through his Sacred Heart that Jesus shows pity and compassion to the crowds gathered to hear him.  It is from his wounded heart on the cross that the Sacramental life of the Church flows – water for Baptism and blood for the Eucharist.  We, the baptized followers of Jesus Christ, are here because we believe the witness of the Apostles.  We too believe that he has conquered sin and death, bringing us into his kingdom.  We are harvesters of the Kingdom of God when we imitate the compassion and pity of the Sacred Heart extend the gifts of love and mercy, especially to those who are burdened by so much of life.

 

THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

7 JUNE 2026

 

          In today’s first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses tells his people to remember their forty-year journey in the desert from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  God did not take them through the desert to punish them, but to test them.  He allowed them to face hunger and thirst to see if they would remain faithful to the Covenant God had entered into with them at Mount Sinai.  He fed them with manna, the mysterious bread from heaven, to show that he remained faithful, even when they had not.  God fed them with this bread so that they must live by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord.  They must rely solely on the Lord once they become more comfortable in the land promised to them.

            Centuries later, Jesus spends time near the Sea of Galilee with a large crowd.  Like their ancestors, they are living under difficult conditions.  The Roman rule is crushing them, and the corrupt religious leaders had abandoned them.  He teaches that the kingdom of God was at hand.  He heals many of the sick and feeds five thousand people with five loaves and two fish.  When they try to make him a king, he flees to the mountain to spend time in prayer.  Then he crosses the Sea of Galilee – his disciples in a boat, while he walks on the water.  Still the crowd presses on him, and that is where we encounter him in today’s Gospel.  Reminding them of the manna in the desert, he insists that he is the living bread come down from heaven.  The bread that he will give is his flesh for the life of the world.  When the crowds react with horror and accuse him of cannibalism, he doubles down.  Not only is his flesh true food and his blood true drink, but whoever eats this bread will live forever, unlike their ancestors who ate manna and still died.

            It is at this point in the Gospel of Saint John that many walk away from him, because they cannot believe what he is saying.  Jesus turns to Peter and asks if he is also leaving.  Peter responds, “Lord, where can we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  Peter remains, not because he understands what Jesus is saying, but because he trusts his words.  After the Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, Peter and the others will receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  They will have a better understanding that the Lord is present in the Sacramental life of the Church, especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.  They will affirm what Saint Paul describes at Mass in his letter to the Corinthians.  The cup of blessing that we share is a participation in the blood of Christ.  The bread that we break is a participation in the body of Christ.  Not only is the Lord’s Real Presence given to us under the form of bread and wine.  But, as Saint Augustine said, we become what we eat.  Our participation in the Eucharist is not just a pious individual action.  Our participation forms us just a bit more into who we are:  The Body of Christ, given to strengthen us to humbly serve others as the Lord’s Body when we are dismissed.

            Ironically, this Sacrament of Unity has caused divisions in the Church over the centuries, just as Christ’s words caused divisions in those who had been his followers.  Not all Christian denominations understand the Eucharist in terms of the Real Presence.  That is why we can give the Eucharist only to those who are in full Communion with us.   We will never fully understand how the Lord is truly present in the Eucharist.  We must rely on faith.  As a suggestion, read the Sequence in the missalette assigned to this Solemnity.  It was written by Saint Thomas Aquinas.  To quote a short passage: “Here beneath these signs are hidden priceless things to sense forbidden; signs, not things are all we see.  Tantum Ergo:  Let faith provide a supplement for the failure of the senses.”  In faith, we trust that we who eat this bread and drink this cup will be strengthened to be humble servants to wash the feet of others, as Jesus did at the Last Supper.  More importantly, we trust that we who eat this bread and drink this cup will live forever!