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
June 27, 2026 Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time / Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church Gospel: Matthew 8:5–17
Today is Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time. The Church celebrates the optional memorial of Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.
The Roman Martyrology tells us: Saint Cyril (c. 376–444), born in Alexandria, succeeded his uncle as Patriarch of Alexandria in 412. He devoted his life to refuting heresies and played a leading role at the Council of Ephesus in 431, where the errors of Nestorius were condemned. In 1882, he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.
In today’s Gospel passage from Saint Matthew, we hear of the encounter between Jesus and a centurion after entering Capernaum. I would like to offer some reflections on this text.
In the time of Jesus, centurions held considerable authority. Yet the centurion described by Saint Matthew, though powerful, sets aside his rank because of concern for his servant and approaches Jesus with humility. When our Lord, moved by compassion, offers to go to the centurion’s house to heal the servant, the officer responds: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Mt 8:8–9). What remarkable faith! He is certain that Jesus can heal his servant—a striking contrast to the self-centered attitude often found in our own prayers. Ironically, such humble trust was more common among outsiders than among many of the Jews of Jesus’ day, who, as God’s chosen people, often presumed themselves exclusively entitled to divine favor, looking down upon the uncircumcised Gentiles as unworthy of God’s gifts.
Consider the centurion’s servant and Peter’s mother-in-law: both received healing through the grace poured out by Jesus (cf. Mt 8:13, 14–17). And what of us? Through water and the Holy Spirit, we have been reborn in Christ. Thus, the Lord Christ, rich in mercy, fulfills the word of the prophet Isaiah: “He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases” (cf. Mt 8:17; Is 53:4). By His mighty right hand, He heals us, cleansing us in the “rivers of living water” flowing from the Sacred Heart of Jesus (cf. Jn 7:37–38), washing away the stain of sin and the death inherited from Adam and Eve, and raising us to live in the light of Christ, the true Light of the world.
Grant, O Lord, that we may always revere and love your holy name, for you never deprive of your guidance those you set firm on the foundation of your love. 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
June 26, 2026 Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time Gospel: Mt 8:1-4
Today is Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time. The passage from the Gospel of Saint Matthew recounts what took place as Jesus descended from the mountain after concluding the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew tells us that a leper came forward, knelt before Him, and said, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” (Cf. Mt 8:2)
In the time of Jesus, those afflicted with leprosy were regarded as unclean. Leprosy, like present-day Hansen’s disease, was highly contagious. Thus, in the Book of Leviticus, the Lord instructed Moses: “The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall have his garments torn and his head bare; he shall shield his mustache and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ As long as the score is on him, he remains unclean. He shall dwell apart; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” (Cf. Lv 13:45-46) Consequently, for the Jews of Jesus’ time, anyone suffering from leprosy had to be separated from family and social ties, resulting in complete isolation from the community. Therefore, this leper who approaches Jesus today clearly represents someone marginalized by society.
Today, this leper—who overcomes every obstacle to courageously come before Jesus—is us. Living in this valley of tears, and due to original sin, our souls, ever since we left our mother’s womb, are like this leper, covered with the sores and festering wounds caused by sin.
Christ the Lord, rich in mercy, upon hearing the leper’s plea for cleansing, not only healed him immediately but also transcended the limitations of the Old Law: “Whoever touches the unclean thing shall itself be unclean, and whoever touches it becomes unclean until evening.” (Cf. Nm 19:21-22) He stretched out His hand, touched the leper, and said, “I will do it. Be clean.” (Cf. Mt 8:3)
When we gather the courage to seek God’s healing through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the merciful God comforts us through the ministers He has chosen. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, He washes away our original sin in the Precious Blood of Christ and, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, makes us His children. Though we sin again and again, He continues to forgive us, ensuring that nothing separates us from His love.
Furthermore, He helped the man return to his community. According to the Law of Moses, a person with leprosy remained unclean as long as the disease persisted. (Cf. Lv 13:46) Only after the prescribed rites of purification could he return to his former dwelling. (Cf. Lv 14:1-32) This leper, once isolated due to his illness, was now sent by Jesus to comply with the Law: to present himself to the priest and offer the prescribed gift, thereby undergoing ritual purification and being readmitted into Jewish society.
Today, when we become aware of the leprosy of our soul, we too approach the confessional to seek God’s healing. The priest seated within represents Jesus and, by virtue of the power to forgive sins received in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, absolves us of our faults. Thus, we are reconciled with God and all creation and restored once more to the family of God’s children.
Grant, O Lord, that we may always revere and love your holy name, for you never deprive of your guidance those you set firm on the foundation of your love. 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
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