by Fr. Jose “Joesum” Sumampong, Jr.
June 27, 2021
(13th SUNDAY in OT – A):
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Kindly open your Bible and Read Mt 10:37-42
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Points for Reflection: I am sharing to my dear readers these stories which I have collected to help you reflect as the Universal Church celebrates the 13th Sunday in OT -A. Here they are:
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# 1. At long last the winter was over and spring had come. A warm sun shone brilliantly from a clear blue sky. All along the street the people rejoiced. They drew back their curtains and opened up their windows. Fresh air, sunlight, and warmth poured into their homes bringing gladness to their hearts of all inside. Even the very old felt that it was good to be alive, and exclaimed, “Thanks God for spring! Thank God for the sunshine!”
Just then a beggar appeared at the end of the street. He was quickly spotted through the open windows. Then, one by one, down the length of the street, the windows were quickly closed, the curtains silently drawn, and the locks put back on the front doors. The old beggar was a patient man and had plenty of time to spare. He knocked on every door on the street, but no one door opened to him. No one invited him inside to drink a cup of tea. No one even bothered to come out and exchange a friendly word with him. When he reached the end of the street, he turned away and made for the next street to try his luck there.
No sooner had he disappeared that the curtains were pulled back again, and the windows opened up once more. And again the sunshine and fresh air poured in, and all the people rejoiced. Soon the locks were removed from the front doors, and here and there neighbors came out to exchange friendly greetings, for they were a very clannish lot, and prided themselves on this fact.
Strange when you think about it. Our homes are always open to receive God’s sunshine and fresh air, but alas not always open to receive the stranger, especially if he or she comes dressed in shabby clothes. Yet, even in this case, he or she is still a child of that God who lets his sun shine on each one of us, irrespective of whether or not we deserve it. (Flor McCarthy, SDB) ++++
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# 2. A rich man complained to his friend, “People don’t like me. They say I’m selfish and stingy. And yet in my last will and testament I have donated all that I own to a charitable institution.”
His friend said, “Well, maybe the story of the cow and pig has a lesson for you. The pig came to the cow and complained, ‘People always talk about your friendliness. Well, it’s true: you give them milk. But they get much much more from me. They get ham and bacon and lard, and they even cook my feet. And yet – no one likes me . .. to all of them I am just a pig, a hog. Why is that?’
The cow thought it over a bit and then said, Perhaps it’s because I give while I am still alive.'” (Willie Hoffsuemmer, THE STORY OF THE PIG AND THE COW) ++++
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# 3. Behind every winning basket there is that important pass, where some unselfish player passed the ball to the point-maker. Without that pass, there would be no score, and no heroes. While their names are seldom listed, they are important factors in success. Wise is the hero who never forgets them. (TEAM SPIRlT: SELFLESSNESS IN SPORTS, Christopher Notes) ++++
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# 4. There’s a sad scene in the movie American Anthem. It shows a young man who cannot accept the fact that he’s lost a leg in an accident. He refuses to leave his room. And he tries to keep everyone out of it, including the girl he once admired and loved. Instead, he keeps the blinds pulled down and passes his time in semidarkness, playing music.
Contrast that sad scene with another scene, reported by Robert Bruce.
One day Bruce was walking down a crowded city street. Above the noise of the traffic, the honking horns, and the talking people, he suddenly heard the sound of someone singing cheerfully and beautifully. It wasn’t a boisterous kind of singing, but rather a soft, peaceful kind of singing, like someone singing to himself.
When Bruce located the source of the sound, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The sound was coming from a young man in a wheelchair, who was pushing himself along by the only useful limbs he had: his arms. (Illustrated Homilies) ++++
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# 5. Viktor Frankl, one of the great psychotherapists of our time, addresses this question in his best-selling book Man’s Search for Meaning.
Frankl was a prisoner of the Nazis during World War II. He experienced firsthand the brutal climate in concentration camps, which turned some prisoners into animals and others into saints. He experienced firsthand the evil that drove some prisoners to despair and hatred and others to hope and love.
Frankl says the deciding difference between those prisoners who became animals and those who became saints was faith.
It was faith that their lives – and thus their suffering-had ultimate meaning. This faith put them in touch with a power that helped them maintain their humanity even in the face of incredible inhumanity. (Mark Link S.J.) ++++
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# 6. This is the message that Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin Roosevelt, used to carry in her purse: “Our Father, who has set a restlessness in our hearts and made us seekers after that which we can never fully find, keep us at tasks too hard for us, that we may be drawn to you for strength.“ (Illustrated Sunday Homilies) ++++
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My brothers and sisters in Jesus, during today’s readings, we heard the Holy Spirit calling out to us to walk in the newness of life.
In the Name of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we have received the Church Sacrament of Baptism. Through faith in Jesus and the Sacrament of Baptism, we died with Jesus, we were buried with Him and we resurrected with Him. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we received a new heart and spirit.
Through Jesus, now indebted to Him for ever for the promise of the inheritance of the Kingdom of God, we are called to walk in the newness of life.
Having died with Christ, we are called to be dead to sin. Accordingly, we are not supposed to be as we were before. When we were born, we were contaminated by the original sin. Consequently, we were called to be deprived of the eternal glory of the children of God. Through Christ, in the blessed hope of eternal life in the heavenly Kingdom, we received a new heart and spirit of the “godly seed.” [1 Jn. 3:9] Through our new nature, we now long for what is righteous. We seek to “worship the Father in spirit and truth.” [Jn. 4:23] We seek to shine in the “fruit of the Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. [Gal. 5:22-23]. We seek to humble ourselves in service to the Lord God. We seek to do all what is good and pure as a child of God.
Above this great gift of the new creation within us, we have received the indwelling Holy Spirit. Through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we now have the power to renounce mortal sins. We now have the power to say, “no” to all sins. As such, let us not allow sinful passions the power to have control over our mortal bodies.
My brothers and sisters, through the gift of new life, we have found the spiritual meaning of living our faith in Christ. We have learned that we must love God first, with our whole soul, our whole heart and our whole mind, [Mt. 22:37] for He is the provider of all things. “This is the greatest and first commandment.” [Mt. 22:38] We must love God more than anyone else, even more then our parents, our spouse, our children and all our wealth of this world. If we love God any less than that, we are not worthy of Him. If such love makes others jealous, then that is the cross that we must bear. It is better for us to suffer a little bit now and to lose a parent, a spouse or a child than to lose the love of God and the gift of eternal life that awaits those who persevere in their living faith. None of them, our parents, our spouse or our child has the power to secure our salvation.
The second commandment is that we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves. [Mt. 22:39] There are no greater commandments than these two.