13th Sunday Year A, 2023

 2 Kings 4: 8-11, 14-16a; St. Paul to the Romans: 6: 3-4, 8-11; St. Matthew: 10: 37-42

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Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous 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 he is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

Dear People of God, those words of our Blessed Lord are words of warning to our world of today: so presumptuous and proud in its understanding of what is “good”: what are good things for persons to do for others, and what is good for people who are in some presumed need.

What are good things to do for others: abortions, of course; but in general, it is good -- our world thinks -- to help people get what they want for themselves, in order to become who they want to be: new selves, able to approve of themselves, now renewed according to their own design or volition.

What is good for people: the greatest good, of course, is freedom.  And here our world bestows such privileged freedom very soon in life, giving children freedom from parental authority; or it bestows freedom later in life with formed characters who are seriously criminal, despite the fact that hundreds of innocent people have been and are being murdered by generously-, lovingly-, freed individuals thanks to panels of good people full of our world’s conviction that it knows what “good” means and how it should to be used, practiced, set up.

All this was anticipated by Our Blessed Lord when thus addressing His Apostles, for He summed it all up with the words:

           

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Modern society in the Western word is given over to finding life for itself and that is why we see, as Jesus warned, the process of life-being-lost rampant around us: immorality everywhere tolerated, even praised, and openly, even blatantly, practiced; because law – apart from temporal criminal law of societies’ occasional making – is unacceptable to those determined to be free.  We see serious lack of essential human dignity in the face of current sexual wishes and excesses, gender disrespect and disassociation.  We see lack of moral fibre, manifest in unwillingness to seriously punish so many crimes,  thereby losing that social unity in peace which demonstrates mutual respect among citizens, and general appreciation for laws balancing crime and punishment.

God is given no place in modern society and now we must glance at Jesus’ words heard earlier:

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.

Those are execrable words for modern deniers of Jesus as our Lord and Saviour; but there is, in truth,  no basis for such an attitude; for there, Jesus simply teaches in a somewhat strikingly different way the whole of what is normal Christian doctrine

 

Those who put father and mother -- son or daughter -- before Me in their spiritual appreciation and obedient service are not worthy of Me.

That however is in no way opposed to human affections for a mother or father -- son or daughter-- being more ardent and impassioned than felt, affectionate, love for God, or Jesus.

And of course, “whoever does not take up his cross …” simply designates those who will not obey God’s commands in the face of human difficulties.

Finally, we have Jesus’ promise to us Catholics and Christians who want to serve God more faithfully and know and love Him ever better:                

 

Whoever receives you (My Apostles) receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent me.

Dear People of God, our world gives nothing ‘to a prophet because he is a prophet’ because it does not recognize prophets; it gives nothing nor does it receive a righteous man or a disciple of God because he is righteous or a disciple, because, again, indeed, our world does not recognize God in anyone or anything.

And yet, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we have received many benefits from our current society and world, and therefore, let us most sincerely pray for all those around us who do not know the truth of life and the God of True Life and Love, but who might, by our prayers and His grace, still be able to open wide their mouths for the Good Who is way beyond and above any good they now know or can imagine, Who is our Good, our God, and our All.