June 28, 2026
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 10:37-42

Today is the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. According to ancient ecclesiastical tradition, this evening we celebrate the Vigil Mass for the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. For pastoral reasons, we offer reflections on both these liturgical celebrations this year.

The Gospel reading for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time is taken from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. In this passage, Jesus speaks to us about a reordered love. I describe it as a reordered love because the love Jesus demands of us stands in stark contrast to our common understanding of love.

We often live according to our own perception of God’s will. To us, it might seem that Christ the Lord, rich in mercy, is instructing His disciples to foster enmity with their own kin, creating strife and discord simply to appear set apart from this world—to make a public display of singularity before society.

But Christ the Lord, rich in mercy, teaches His disciples: “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.” (Matt 10:37-39) This does not mean Jesus requires His disciples to sever ties with their families. Rather, He calls them to embrace His worldview and to see the world through His eyes.

Jesus’ worldview differs radically from ours. Our perspective prioritizes love for parents, relatives, and benefactors—extending love to those outside our biological bonds only if surplus affection remains. The worldview Jesus imparts places love for Him above all. To love Him means accepting His vision: loving not only parents, relatives, and benefactors but also those outside biological kinship—the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the marginalized. They too are our kindred. To love them is not merely to offer comforting words, but to listen to them, just as Jesus remains ever at our side—in the tabernacle, in the Sacraments—accompanying us, listening to us, and granting our petitions with His infinite mercy.

As I compose this reflection, my thoughts turn to those clerics who abandoned promising futures in this passing world, left behind warm family homes, caring parents, and the comforts of heart and kin to embrace religious consecration. Following the Savior’s command, they chose to love the flock entrusted to them by our Lord Jesus Christ. Some among them have borne witness to Christ even unto the shedding of their blood. I further recall those brothers and sisters who generously opened their homes to these ministers of God, loving Him to such an extent that they offered all they possessed. Though the Precepts of the Church require only proportionate support for its needs, their giving exceeded all prescription. I think especially of the families of those living consecrated lives—families who rejected worldly expectations, never demanding that their consecrated children marry and bear offspring. In return, God grants them spiritual children born of the faithful labors of those same consecrated sons and daughters. Surely, this is the reward promised by Jesus to those who follow Him.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! This evening, we shall celebrate the Vigil Mass for the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Now, let us pray with devout hearts:

O God, who through the grace of adoption chose us to be children of light, grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped in the darkness of error but always be seen to stand in the bright light of truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica