Catechism Links[1]
CCC 2232-2233: To follow Christ is first vocation of a Christian
CCC 537, 628, 790, 1213, 1226-1228, 1694: Baptism, to die to self, to live for Christ
CCC 1987: Grace justifies through faith and baptism
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| “Christ Carrying His Cross” by El Greco, 1580’s |
Readings and Commentary:[4]
Reading 1: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a
One day Elisha came to Shunem,
where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her.
Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine.
So she said to her husband, "I know that Elisha is a holy man of God.
Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof
and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp,
so that when he comes to us he can stay there."
Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.
Later Elisha asked, "Can something be done for her?"
His servant Gehazi answered, "Yes!
She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years."
Elisha said, "Call her."
When the woman had been called and stood at the door,
Elisha promised, "This time next year
you will be fondling a baby son.
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Commentary on 2 Kgs 4:8-11, 14-16a
The passage provides a picture of the itinerant nature of Elisha, who travels about providing prophetic guidance to the people from his base at Mount Carmel (2 Kings 2:25). The woman of the story shows deference to Elisha, recognizing his status as being sent by God. In return, Elisha repays her generosity seeking God’s help in providing her material support in the form of a son.
"The main thing to be learned from this passage (as also from 1 Kings 17:6) is the power of the prophet's prayer and indeed anyone else's prayer when done with faith. But we also learn that when God gives a gift, no matter how surprisingly and unexpectedly (such as the gift of a son to this woman), he also gives the grace to conserve it and make it bear fruit. The Lord does not leave us to our own devices when he gives us, for example, personal talents, or a vocation even if we may not have sought one." [5]
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. (2a) Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
The promises of the LORD I will sing forever,
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your
faithfulness.
For you have said, "My kindness is established forever";
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
R. Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.
R. Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
You are the splendor of their strength,
and by your favor our horn is exalted.
For to the LORD belongs our shield,
and to the Holy One of Israel, our king.
R. Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 89:2-3, 16-17,18-19
Psalm 89 is a communal lament. The first strophe recalls God’s faithfulness expressed in his unbreakable covenant with King David. The focus next moves to the people of God: “in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.” The righteous are upheld by the Lord. The passage concludes reiterating God’s promised help and protection.
CCC: Ps 89 709
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Reading 2: Romans 6:3-4, 8-11
Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.
As to his death, he died to sin once and for all;
as to his life, he lives for God.
Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin
and living for God in Christ Jesus.
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Commentary on Rom 6:3-4, 8-11
This reading from Romans reminds the Christian that all who have been joined to Christ in baptism are also joined to his death. Without the inevitable death of the body, there is no resurrection. St. Paul teaches that, since Christ came so his followers could be absolved from sin, the great promise is that those baptized in the faith will rise with him, free from all sin.
CCC: Rom 6:3-9 1006; Rom 6:3-4 1214, 1227, 1987; Rom 6:4-5 790; Rom 6:4 537, 628, 648, 654, 658, 730, 977, 1697; Rom 6:8-11 1987
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GOSPEL: Matthew 10:37-42
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 up his cross
and follow after 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 the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet's reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is a righteous man
will receive a righteous man's reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because the little one is a disciple—
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward."
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Commentary on Mt 10:37-42
This passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel parallels Mark 8:34-35 and Luke 9:24-25 (also cf. Luke 14:26-27; 17:33) in directing the Christian disciple to place their faith above everything else in their lives, including family. The author softens the language used in St. Luke’s Gospel from “hate” to “love less,” indicating the kind of divisions that may occur when the Gospel of Christ is proclaimed in families. The disciple is enjoined to “take up his cross” in the sense that the Christian discipline requires the follower to take positions in society which are frequently unpopular and will cause discrimination and persecution. A more accurate translation of this instruction is to take of the Cross of Christ (as was demonstrated in the Passion of Simon of Cyrene) and follow “after” Jesus. The disciple is instructed to take up the mission of Jesus and carry it forward.
In the second section of this passage, St. Matthew reminds the faithful of their own obligation to support others in the Christian community, especially the “little ones,” indicating the Apostles, who depend upon the support of the community to continue their work.
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Homily
Heavenly Father, we humbly pray that those suffering from the coronavirus be returned quickly to full health by the power of your Son’s healing presence, and those in fear be calmed through the Holy Spirit.
In Christ’s name we pray. – Amen.
One of the great life-lessons we all learn is that when we do something in our lives that impacts others, there are consequences. Depending on what we do and with whom, those consequences can be positive or they can be negative. For members of families who interact in a reasonably constant way, these action/reaction exchanges shape our lives. One of things that parents learn early is that, no matter how much they tell their children, no matter how hard they try to convince them of the right and safe things to do, they seem bound to try testing the truth of those rules. Worse than that, it becomes quickly apparent that children, in spite of exhortations to the contrary, will do what they see their parents doing, and behave the way they see their parents behave.
This idea of imitation is at the heart of the theme that runs through the selections of sacred scripture that we have just heard.
From the story of Elisha and the generous and faith-filled woman from Shunem, we are told that the Lord God appreciates and rewards those who follow his law in loving one another. While the Great Commandment of “Love one another” had not yet been uttered by Christ, who would not become incarnate of the Blessed Virgin Mary for centuries, the Shunemite woman recognized Elisha’s God-given mission and provided support in the form of food and lodging.
St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans tells us that the woman’s faithful attitude to the mission of Jesus, who is God, is required of all who have been washed in the bath of baptism. We are adopted by Christ as children of God’s family. As such we die to our greedy and uncharitable selves in baptism, as Christ died in his human body on the cross. As reborn children of God we are called to proclaim God’s love and mercy by imitating him, loving all those we meet.
Having been given this adoption and knowing of God’s great love as a consequence (recall the great gift he gave the Shunemite woman, a son to support her in her old age) we know that the Lord will bless us with his inheritance if we follow the faith we have been given. The Gospel gives us a two-fold message. First, the Lord asks us to keep the love of God foremost in our lives. We do this, again, through imitation.
We are asked to develop what I like to call “the Jesus reflex.” That means that we need to develop a keen sense of what the Lord would do in all of the life situations we encounter. So, for instance, when someone insults us, we do not react in anger or with retribution. Rather, as Christ would, we have sympathy for that person, knowing that they have sinned and carry that stain with them. (This is also what the Lord means when he tells his friends in the Gospel: “whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.”)
When we are approached for charity, we do not respond by guarding our affluence jealously; rather, we act as Jesus would, generously, as the Lord has responded to us. And when we are with others, we do not participate in any activity that would be disrespectful of another person’s dignity.
When we wrap this chain of lessons together we see a clear set of instructions that are pretty much summarized by the Great Commandment: Love God first, and love one another as the Lord has loved us. It is a simple matter of imitation (perhaps simple is a rather understated term).
For children who learn from watching their parents, imitation is a large part of their early education. They see their parents eating with silverware and attempt to imitate. They learn to talk through imitation. Their behavior (God help us) is patterned on how they see their parents and siblings interact. So how do we develop the Jesus reflex? How do we learn to imitate Christ? We can’t be physically with him as the twelve were. We can read scripture and learn from the Lord in that way. We can’t talk to Jesus the way the disciples could, sitting at his feet. We can speak with him in prayer. We also have the sacraments, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: “The Church's first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of people with God.”(CCC 775) We join with God and become one with him in the sacraments by which divine life is dispensed to us.
When we have learned to imitate God and his son, we become the visible sign that the Lord lives in us, and others will know that Jesus is alive in us, his faithful people.
In this strange year where many of us will not be able to receive the Blessed Sacrament or celebrate as a community in our houses of worship, we must be prepared to receive spiritual communion in prayer:
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Pax
On June 28th in other years: Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr
[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2] The picture is “Christ Carrying His Cross” by El Greco, 1580’s
[4] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[5] The Navarre Bible: “Joshua-Kings”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 529.
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