16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

July 19, 2026

What are the weeds in our lives? God gives us the chance to slowly grow and bear fruitful lives.

GOSPEL

Matthew 13:24-43

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. 
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn." He proposed another parable to them. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'" He spoke to them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened." All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear."

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

From Living Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits

Parables of the Kingdom (cont’d)

The next parable, which is only found in Matthew, is also about the planting of seed but the concern is quite different and again it reflects the experience of the early Church. A man has sown good seed in his field but, unknown to him, an enemy has come and planted weeds among the wheat. As the plants come up the farmer sees the weeds growing all through his wheat. His slaves want to pull them out but the farmer tells them to wait until the harvest time. The wheat and the weeds are similar in appearance in the early stages and it will be much easier to differentiate them as they mature. In the meantime, let both grow side by side. This is a picture of the Kingdom and also of the Church which is trying to be part of it. For the early Church more distressing in many ways than persecution from outside must have been betrayal and shortcomings on the inside. There would have been a strong temptation immediately to get rid of such people. But wiser heads prevailed. Wait. Let God be the judge and, in any case, people can change. The sinner of today may be the saint of tomorrow. This has been a problem all through the history of the Church and today is no exception. There is always a strong temptation among those who feel themselves more committed to living out the Gospel to adopt an elitist approach to the faith. This can take two forms: either members who are seen as falling short of the Church’s requirements in faith and behaviour are got rid of, or, which may be more common, those who see themselves more committed form a relatively closed group, a church within a church. There has been a certain amount of tension over such situations with the appearance of a number of Catholic movements in recent times. Today’s parable reminds us of something very important, namely, that the Church is and always will be a Church of sinners and for sinners. Our Church is, as Paul puts it, a vessel of clay, leaking and easily broken. At the same time, we have been called to help bring about the Kingdom in our world and we have constantly to try to do that. But we need to distinguish between the vessel and its contents, the weeds and the wheat, to distinguish between the Christian vision and the Church which tries to communicate it. Some have been disturbed by so-called ‘scandals’ and some have left the Church because of them. This, I feel, is not to understand today’s parable. These scandals far from undermining the Christian vision only affirm it. That vision remains a shining ideal. But the Church, which is not to be identified with the vision, is the flawed and fragile bearer of that vision. It has always been so and always will be. The Church is called to proclaim the Kingdom but it has to struggle to realise that Kingdom in itself also. Today’s parable is a call for tolerance, patience, compassion and understanding while not compromising on the vision that comes to us from Jesus.

Reflection

• The Gospel today presents Jesus’ explanation, at the petition of the disciples, of the parable of the wheat grain and the darnel. Some experts think that this explanation, which Jesus gives to His disciples, is not Jesus’ but the community’s. This is possible and probable, because a parable, by its nature, requires the involvement and the participation of people in the discovery of its significance. Just as the plant is already contained within the seed, in the same way, certainly, the explanation of the community is in the parable. And it is precisely this objective that Jesus wanted and wants to attain with the parable. The meaning which we are discovering today in the parable which Jesus told two thousand years ago was already enclosed, or contained, in the story that Jesus told, just as the flower is already contained in its seed.

• Matthew 13:36: The request of the disciples to Jesus: the explanation of the parable of the wheat grain and the darnel. The disciples, in the house, speak and ask for an explanation of the parable of the wheat grain and the darnel. (Mt 13:24-30). It has been said many times that Jesus, in the house, continued to teach His disciples (Mk 7:17; 9:28,33; 10:10). At that time, there was no television, and people spent  the long winter evenings together,  speaking about the facts and events of life. On these occasions Jesus completed the teaching and the formation of His disciples.

• Matthew 13:38-39: The meaning of each one of the elements of the parable. Jesus responds taking again each one of these elements of the parable and giving them significance: the field is the world; the good seed are the members of the Kingdom; the darnel is the members of the adversary (the evil one); the enemy is the devil; the harvest is the end of time; the reapers are the angels. And now reread the parable (Mt 13:24-30) giving to each one of these six elements: field, good seed, darnel, enemy, harvest and reapers, the right significance. In this way the story assumes a completely new sense and it is possible to attain the objective that Jesus had in mind when He told the parable of the darnel and the good seed. Some think that this parable should be understood as an allegory and not as a parable properly so-called.

• Matthew 13:40-43: The application of the parable or of the allegory. With the information given by Jesus, you will better understand its application: Just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send His angels and they will gather from His kingdom all causes of failing and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.”

The destiny of the darnel is the furnace. The destiny of the grain is to shine like the sun in the Kingdom of the Father. Behind these two images there is the experience of the people. After they have listened to Jesus and have accepted Him in their life, everything has changed for them. This means that in Jesus what they expected has taken place: the fulfillment of the promises. Now life is divided into before and after having accepted Jesus in their lives. The new life has begun with the splendor of the sun. If they continued to live as before, they would be like the darnel in the furnace: life without meaning, which is good for nothing.

• Parable and Allegory. There is the parable. There is the allegory. There is the mixture of both which is the more common form. Generally, everything in the parable is a call. In the Gospel of today, we have the example of an allegory. An allegory is a story which a person tells, but when she is telling it, she does not think about the elements of the story, but about the theme which has to be clarified. In reading an allegory it is not necessary to look at the story as a whole, because in an allegory the story is not constructed around a central point which later serves as a comparison. Rather, each element has its own independent function, starting from the sense which it receives. It is a matter of discovering what each element of the two stories tries to tell us about the Kingdom, as the explanation which Jesus gave of the parable: field, good seed, darnel, enemy, harvest, reapers. Generally the parables are also allegories, and a mixture of both.

Personal questions

• In the field everything is mixed up: darnel and grain. In the field of my life, what  prevails: darnel or grain?
• Notice that this parable includes “all who cause others to sin” as well as “all evildoers”. We often just focus on our own sins. Do I focus on what effect I have on others and whether I cause others to sin by what I say or do? Will I think about that, now and during my self-examinations? Have you tried to talk with other people to discover the meaning of some parable?

ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence.  Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me.  May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others.  Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God?  With others in my life? What am I grateful for?  Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret?  I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt.  God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

Opening Prayer

God, you are merciful to me and others. You give us time and space to grow in your love.   Help me to be receptive to your grace and give me the courage to change what needs to be changed and the wisdom to allow myself and others to flourish at your pace, not ours.

Companions for the Journey

From "First Impressions", a service of the Southern Dominican Province, by Jude Siciliano, O.P.

Today we have the parable of the weeds and the wheat—and we need it. We tune in sports events and ask, "Who's winning?" We also tune in the world around us through tv, newspapers, radio and now internet coverage and are tempted to ask the same question, "Who's winning...Good or Evil?"... "The decent people of the world or the violators of innocence?" The twentieth century was the most brutal in the history of the world. Aren't things supposed to be improving as we advance as a people? It gets discouraging; the evidence mounts against optimism. We tend to want give up on the world and wonder where God is in it all. Which is why we need to look at the parables and, in particular, today's parable about weeds and wheat. The early church, the recipients of Matthew's gospel, had to face the mystery of wickedness too. Why is there evil in the world, in the church and in our own hearts? That's a very big question and this parable doesn't give an easy answer. It doesn't explain it at all! But neither does it ignore the problem of evil in our midst. The owner of the field says it quite plainly, "I see an enemy's hand in this." This is not a naive or other-worldly parable. It faces the facts: wickedness is very real, it can't be ignored. It is not an illusion and, like the weeds in the midst of healthy plants, evil drains human life of its vitality and dedication. We see the weeds, not just in the world out there, but "up close and personal." The parable spoke to an early church that had its divisions, arguments and wickedness—why else would they have saved the parable? Our own congregations also have "issues."  Sometimes they feel like they will split us in two—and sometimes they do. Our faith communities have been rocked by clergy scandal; divided along ethnic and racial lines; between original members and newcomers; between traditionalists and those who want to update.  While we are at it, we look into our hearts and examine our own conduct. Weeds are part of the landscape of our personal spiritual field as well. Such vistas of evil, so obvious to us, make us want to get about the business of ripping out the weeds.  They are the work of the enemy, we say and we want to purge evil from our country, church and our own hearts. Of course we have standards to guide us and there are times we must act decisively against the evil we perceive. Yet, the parable cautions us and it advises us about the dangers of rushing to judgment. We could destroy what is good in our attempts to rid the world of the bad. Jesus knew from his own experience that you can't always tell from initial signs how things are going to turn out. In the beginning Judas showed promise, early initiative and administrative skills—he was in charge of the purse. He seemed like excellent disciple material, a "keeper." If you were Jesus, wouldn't  you have thought about eliminating Peter, Thomas or Martha? They didn't show initial signs of discernment and understanding of what following Jesus would entail. They were slow to catch on to Jesus' message. But Jesus was patient, he let the good work itself out in their lives. He gave them a chance to grow and bear fruit. Have you ever had a friend whom you disliked upon first meeting, yet, over time, he or she turned out to be your best friend? The parable says, "You never know." The parable is a story of grace for us. As we look into our own lives and recall the mistakes we have made and the wrongs we have done, aren't we glad we have had some time to change and work things out? Aren't we thankful we had the space to let the wheat grow and bear the rich harvest it has? Suppose we had been judged on the spot. Suppose God moved in quickly to judge and rip up? If we look at our present lives, we can still see what looks like weeds. Rather than being overcome by discouragement, we hear this parable of hope. Time is being given us, to let the good seed planted in us bear its fruit. We can trust the Owner knows what to do, and we can have trust in the outcome. This is a parable of confidence. God is in charge and will help us work things out. We don't give up the struggle to do what is right, even when we feel dismayed at how much still needs to be done. Parables, like pieces of ribbon, don't look powerful—a piece of cloth—a story. But they have power to touch us deeply. One symbolizes our unity through an exterior sign. The other gathers our faith and asks us to put trust in it—especially to trust the One who is telling us the parable right now. We wear the parable on our hearts; the way people wear ribbons—as a reminder. When the world confounds us and evidence seems to mount against our hopes, we look inside ourselves and see today's parable. We play it back so we can hear it again. It reassures us. We repeat it in our assemblies to stir us to action: to return to the struggle; to ignore the odds; to stop counting wins and losses—mostly, not to count our losses! In our struggle against evil, we keep at it, till Someone in charge sends word that it is time for the harvest; till Someone, who knows better than we how to do the sorting, gets around to it. The parable links us together here at our assembly. It stirs us hope in us. We are not dismayed by what still needs doing. There is no doubt in the story: the Owner is in charge. The Owner planted good seed and it is growing towards fruition and there will be a sorting-out—but later, under Someone else's supervision. Meanwhile, we still have time to let what is good grow in our lives. What time is it? The parable says, "There's still time, hang in there!" Thank God!

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Reflection Questions:

In Matthew, a parable is both a riddle and a revelation.   Sometimes, we think the message is obvious until some twist or inconsistency causes us to look more deeply, sometimes without answers. Are these three parables riddles or revelations for you? 

Is it hard to understand why God does not simply remove the “weeds” on our lives?
Are we surprised or even irritated by God’s passivity?
Do I truly believe that God will have the last word?

Are there both weeds and wheat in my own life?  In my own personality?   
Which is prevalent?

What are the “weeds”, or limitations and evils found in my culture? 
In my relationships?
In my religion? 
In my personal make up?

Have I ever been, through word or example, the “weeds” in someone else’s struggle to grow in God’s grace?

Have I become more robust in my faith as I struggle to be strong enough to overcome the weeds in my life?
What is the role of personal humility in this struggle?

An undeniable message of this parable is to refrain from judging myself or others. We cannot give up too soon. Do I really believe that God is not finished with me yet?  
Do I believe that God has given up on someone or some persons in my life, or on certain situations?   
Am I willing to wait for God to complete the solution before rushing to do it myself by excluding or destroying another?

Jesus does not condone what is not of God, yet he seems to acknowledge that different motivations and spirits are at work.  How may I let this spirit of Jesus shape my life? (from “Sacred Space”)

What is my position in this all-too-familiar struggle between good and evil?   
Am I a spectator, an armchair critic, a consumer, or a warrior?  
Do I consider myself a co-worker with God trying to bring about truth, peace and justice?  
If I am a co-worker, what authority to I have to dismiss or punish others?

Has there been a person in my  life whom I saw change from "weeds" to "wheat"?  
Did I stick with him or her through that growth?  
If so, what kept me hanging in there?  
If not, what would I have done differently?  

I try to look at my own "inner landscape" as a field that was sown with God's word at my Baptism.  Where has God's word taken root in my life?  
Do I see any "weeds" (attitudes or behaviors which run counter to the kingdom) choking out that word?  
What are I going to do about it?

Have there ever been projects in my life, personal, academic or professional, which started out small and then flourished beyond my expectations?  
How did that happen?  
What elements were in play: timing, God's help, hard work or luck?  

I recall a time in my life when someone saw my raw potential and gave me the time to develop it.  
Has this happened in the spiritual realm as well?

Closing Prayer

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for.  

Dear Lord, give me the humility to see the weeds in my life; give me the courage to grow my good qualities so that they mitigate the less savory ones.  Give me the compassion to understand the struggles others are going through and keep me from judging others too harshly.  Above all, keep me from destroying in myself others what I perceive as weeds and let God do the weeding.

For the Week Ahead

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions (Adapted from “Sacred Space”, a service of the Irish Jesuits): Sometimes we think that perfection is acquired by becoming aware of our faults and working to root these out.  However, when we become more familiar with Jesus’ attitude to the limited and sinful side of ourselves, we learn to accept our limited and sinful self just as Jesus did with Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).   If we don’t accept this side of ourselves, we tend to become fixated with it and fail to appreciate the fullness of life Jesus has already given us.  Am I frustrated and baffled by the presence of evil in my midst, or in myself? Do I believe that Good will have the last word?   Do I believe that God’s grace is at work in the world and in me?   Can I cultivate patience and tolerance toward myself, and toward others? I sit with Jesus and let Him teach me to let the weeds grow with the wheat in my life. I ask for help to appreciate all that is good and beautiful about my life.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action: People often confuse the phrase "kingdom of heaven" with heaven itself.  Instead, it refers to Jesus' dream of a better, more perfect world in which God's ideals replace human selfishness. We pray for this whenever we say the Lord's Prayer (Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven). We need to remember, however, that the kingdom will not come to be without the efforts of people to change themselves (personal conversion) and without their efforts to change unjust and murderous power structures as well. Pray the Lord's prayer every day this week, stopping for a few moments to reflect on what you are doing personally to bring about God's kingdom on earth. Then pick one or two attitudinal things you can work to change yourself, and at least one action you can take on behalf of those suffering from poverty, systemic prejudice, a flawed justice system. Do it.

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship: Sometimes when we think of God, we have an unconscious fear that God’s mission is primarily to separate the wheat from the chaff. Often religions have emphasized heaven and hell, reward and punishment, to scare us into doing the right thing.   This kind of God is a “gotcha” God, waiting to pounce on our mistakes and consigning us to the eternal fire.  Some of these notions of God are echoed in well-known literary references, such as Dante’s Inferno, which teach us to fear eternal punishment and to trod the straight and narrow. Several fictional characters who have made their way into popular culture reinforce this image: The Queen of Hearts, a character from the 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, is a foul-tempered monarch whom Carroll himself describes as "a blind fury", and who is quick to give death sentences at the slightest offense. One of her most famous lines is the oft-repeated "Off with his/her head!" / "Off with their heads!" Another fictional character to be feared is none other than Santa Claus: You better watch out you better not cry, you better not pout; I'm telling you why: Santa Claus is coming to town! He's making a list; He's checking it twice; He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice:  Santa Claus is coming to town He sees you when you're sleeping; He knows when you're awake; He knows if you've been bad or good; So be good for goodness sake! Too often, in our spiritual life, we forget that we cannot love what we fear.  Obedience out of fear is coercion, and obedience out of love is, well, love!  This parable from Matthew (13:24-30) makes it clear that God has planted us here on earth and is waiting and hoping that we will grow into the kind of person that would want to be with God.  Do I need to readjust my notions of God as the “big narc in the sky”, and look seriously at my motivations for doing God’s will?  Do really desire a loving relationship with God and are my thoughts and actions shaped by this love?  How can prayer help create and intensify my loving relationship with God?

Poetic Reflection:

Too often, we identify with the chaff (weeds)in this gospel, not worthy of God’s love and grace.  Mary Oliver shows us that even the most ordinary person,  a person with a prayer life that others may frown upon, is also a person who just might be included in God’s kingdom.

Praying

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones, just 
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak

—from Thirst

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

July 12, 2026

What words of Jesus have stayed with me, what words have not?

GOSPEL

Matthew 13:1-23

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. "Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

“Did you get it?”  That’s what we ask after we have told a joke, and the punch line doesn’t get the expected laugh.  Why don’t people “get it?”  Well, sometimes the joke teller just can’t tell a joke. Sometimes the joke isn’t funny.  But other times the listener doesn’t get the joke because he or she is from a different background, culture, or generation.  They are not “in” on the joke.  One of the classic comedy routines is the one by Abbot and Costello called, “Who’s On First?” The routine is about fifty years old, but I saw it again recently in a documentary about comedies and comedians. For that routine to evoke a laugh you have to be “in” on the joke, i.e., you have to know at least a little about baseball.  If you don’t – “forget about it!” Today and for two more Sundays in July, we will be focusing on the third discourse in Matthew. His gospel has five major discourses and one way to outline this gospel is around these discourses.  Five discourses also suggest the five books of the Torah – another lens through which to interpret this gospel, which is rooted in Jewish themes and symbols. Today’s passage has three parts.  The parable itself (vv. 1-9); Jesus’ reason for speaking in parables (vv, 10-17) and then an interpretation of the parable (vv. 18-23).  Why don’t we just look at the first two sections.  The third, the allegorical interpretation, seems to have been an added-on explanation by the early Christian community. This third section could be the basis for a preaching all by itself.  We will save it for another time, lest we overload today’s preaching. I wonder if Jesus’ disciples weren’t tempted at times to filter out people in the many crowds they encountered while they were with Jesus.  Why not have Jesus focus on the most likely and receptive candidates, those who looked like they were well disposed to his message?  These “prime candidates” could have been invited to sit up close to Jesus, the way very frequent flyers get to move up to first class on crowded airplanes. Instead, Jesus broadcasts his message to the crowds with their widely diverse personalities and religious types. Jesus is reaching far and wide to convince people that God loves them and is inviting them into a new way of living: what he calls, “the kingdom of heaven.”  From the way he is describing that kingdom you can tell that it isn’t restricted to the few and select. You never know who in the crowd is going to get the message – have a light go off in them that stirs them to accept the fantastic story Jesus is revealing to them. Thus, the parable of the Sower seems, first of all, to apply to Jesus and how he goes about his mission. He is speaking to the crowds and, like the Sower in the parable, he has been sowing the Word freely.  One might even accuse him of being too indiscriminate. Shouldn’t the Sower have been more circumspect and place the seed more carefully instead of cavalierly tossing the seed hither and yon? That might make good sense for a careful and parsimonious Sower.  But when Jesus casts the seed of his word, he just isn’t neat. Anyone who is open to it can receive it. Those who “hear” and “see” through the parables are receiving something they could never have gotten on their own. Jesus says they are “blessed,” they have been given the gift of seeing and hearing the wonderful mystery revealed in the parables.  Today’s parable shows how mysterious God’s ways are.  God reaches out, not only to the well-disposed and upright, but to the “rocky” and the “weedy” as well. All are offered God’s expansive love communicated through Jesus’ extravagant sowing of the Word.  Jesus told this parable to “large crowds” – yet, from the disciples’ perspective, the response to his preaching was minimal. Why wasn’t there a mass number of dedicated disciples in response to Jesus’ sowing? Jesus’ followers must have been discouraged by the seeming small response he was getting. The parable of the Sower is complemented today by our first reading from Isaiah in which we hear the assurance that God’s Word “shall not return to me void but shall do my will achieving the end for which I sent it.”  Isaiah testifies that God’s Word in itself is fruitful, not because of any human achievement, but because it is of God, and so is powerful, alive and at work in the world.  Jesus confirms what Isaiah said and offers assurance that eventually, despite the meager signs of success and his disciples’ disappointment, the harvest will be astounding and surprising.  Those of us who plug away at our ministries without seeing immediate, or impressive results, can take heart in the parable of the Sower. The word we preach, and share is powerful and will eventually bear fruit. What kind of harvest? How big a harvest?  Jesus was a carpenter.  The farmers among his listeners would have thought that he knew nothing about farming since he was predicting a yield of “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” Experienced farmers in Jesus’ audience wouldn’t have expected a harvest beyond seven or, at the most, tenfold. Jesus was suggesting an impossible yield. But he wasn’t talking farming; he was encouraging his disciples that, despite the seeming poor response, the eventual harvest to his word would be extraordinary.  He was giving his disciples hope in the face of discouraging returns. People doing ministry, spreading God’s Word through their words and actions, hear today’s parable and cling to the hope it offers.  At times we can identify with the frustrations in the parable:  the good seed gets tossed on the path and the birds eat it; it falls on rocky ground and dies for lack of roots, or the seed gets choked by thorns.  How discouraging to hardworking disciples who would be helped if they saw concrete results – sooner, rather than later! But Jesus’ disciples have been blessed with eyes that see and ears that hear the parables.  We “get it” – the way people get a joke – we are let in on the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.  So, we refrain from jumping to conclusions about the “success,” or “failure,” of our work.  We may see waste and an extravagance of grace offered in all the “wrong” places.  Yet, as hearers of today’s parable, we know the story will have an improbable ending of “a hundred, sixty, or thirtyfold.”  Some other force is at work here, and faith in the Word encourages us to surrender to it and trust that, “my word shall not return to me void.” The disciples want to know what’s going on.  Why does Jesus speak in parables?  Jesus’ response to them sounds like he deliberately intends that people not hear or understand him.  But Jesus is describing how people react to his words. Some are closed and unreceptive to him. They are hard-hearted and so cannot understand: “They look but do not see and hear, but do not listen or understand.”  In Jesus, God is making a gracious offer to humans: some will be receptive and accept the offer, others will reject it. What makes us receptive to hear and accept God’s Word?  What helps us “get” the story Jesus is telling of an extravagant harvest despite all present signs to the contrary?  Jesus reminds us, through no effort of our own, we are blessed. We are gifted with the eyes and ears of faith that help us accept the mysterious workings of God.  Through the parables we know the mysteries of the kingdom of God:  that we are being offered something good we could never get on our own,  the love of a gracious and lavish God who is not stingy in showing us the signs of that love.

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

“We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even now.” —Romans 8:22

In the above passage, Paul is saying that creation as we know it is like a woman in labor who is about to give birth. We human beings are mid-wives to that birth. The Catholic Church has a long and storied tradition of care of creation culminating in Pope Francis’ clarion call in his document, Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home, wherein he states, “Although it is true that we Christians have at times incorrectly interpreted the Scriptures, nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures. The biblical texts are to be read in their context, with an appropriate hermeneutic, recognizing that they tell us to ‘till and keep’ the garden of the world (cf Gen. 2:15). ‘Tilling’ refers to cultivation, ploughing or working, while ‘keeping’ means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving” (67). Laudato Si’ challenges us to “hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” through ecological conversion, changes in lifestyle and society, and strong political action. What are Catholic Christians to do? I offer the following suggestions: 

1. REFLECT on the miracle of the natural world and your place in it and PRAY that you might be intentional in her care. 

2. LEARN by reading Laudato Si’ for free at:                      . http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

3. USE YOUR HEARING AND SIGHT to respond to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. They are interconnected. The poor have been unjustly subjected to the results of abuses on nature brought by wealthy nations.

4. DISCERN what you can do to change your own way of living to one that is more sustainable for the whole community. This includes reducing water usage, reducing use of plastics and eliminating Styrofoam, switching to LED lighting, planting trees and native plants, and by becoming an eco-consumer doing eco-investing.

5. JOIN with others who believe caring for our common home is a responsibility given to us by God when God asked us to care for the garden in Genesis. Here at HNOJ Cathedral, join the Laudato Si’ Circle, or Cathedral’s Earth Care Community, or the Diocese of Raleigh NC Catholics Caring for our Common Home. For more information or to add your name, contact socialconcern@hnojnc.org.

Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading: But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Reflection: Jesus tells his disciples that they are blessed because they have seen and heard what generations before them could only hope for. The prophets longed for the coming of God's Messiah, but the disciples were privileged to encounter him face-to-face. As believers today, we too are blessed. Through the Scriptures, the sacraments, and the life of the Church, Christ continues to reveal himself to us. Familiarity can sometimes dull our awareness of this gift. Jesus invites us to open our eyes and ears anew, recognizing God's presence and action in our daily lives.

 So, we ask ourselves:

• What blessings from God have I become so accustomed to that I no longer notice them?

• How attentive am I to God's voice in Scripture, prayer, and the people around me?

• In what way is Christ inviting me to see or hear something new in my life today?

Parables

The meaning of most parables is not so obvious, or at least it shouldn't be. If we assume we know what Jesus is talking about, we are probably missing the main point; if we are too familiar with the story (having heard it so often before), we might not think carefully enough about its real meaning. We might think that Jesus spoke in parables to make it easier for people to understand his message. According to the Gospels, however, he surprisingly does NOT expect everyone to understand them! In Matthew, at least the disciples of Jesus understand the parables; but in Mark, even they have a hard time understanding, despite receiving extra instructions in private! Parables are puzzling. Parables do not define things precisely, but rather use comparisons to describe some aspect of how God acts or interacts with human beings. Yet to say "A is like B" does not mean that "A is identical to B in all respects"; so one should be careful not to misinterpret or misapply the parables. Some would say that parables should be treated as allegory, not metaphor or simile. Parables use figures of speech, allegorical language, with more than one level of meaning. Parables can be full stories, like the sower and the seed in Chapter 4 of Mark, or they can be allegorical references like the retort of Jesus to his critics  in chapter 2 when they query why the disciples are not fasting. His answer is definitely an allegorical one. Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? They are not entertaining stories that reaffirm the status quo. They turn the world upside down by challenging presumptions, reversing expectations, and presenting a different view of life. The Parables were meant to catch Jesus' listeners off guard, to make them re-evaluate their normal ways of behaving, and to align their hearts with God's heart. They very often begin with familiar images and situations and then impose e a radical or even unnatural twist that leaves the listener hearing it for the first time a little off-balance. Most parables contain some element that is strange or unusual. They should cause you to say, "Wait a minute! That's not how farmers do their work! Wealthy landowners would not give such astronomical sums of money to underlings with so few instructions!! That's not what normally happens in nature!" And this strange element should cause you to think. Many parables, like the one about the Pharisee and the Publican, or the one about the Good Samaritan, employed elements which were very countercultural, and shocking to the people of Jesus' time. In the story of the talents, the master reprimands the last servant for not investing money and charging interest on it. However, every one of Jesus’ listeners would have known that this practice is forbidden in scripture (Exodus 22:25’ Leviticus 25:35-28). This would be a huge red flag to the listener that something is going on here. In our own case, because we have grown up with them, the details of the parables seem familiar or even ordinary to us, and we don’t experience the shock value of the stories. ( to us who have heard them so many times, we forget which details are shocking; we have heard them interpreted so many times that the joke has been explained before the parable is over).  Often, we need to translate those stories using examples from our own social and cultural situations in order to see how truly counter-cultural they are. These parables, which appear to be simple and straightforward stories, are actually multi-dimensional and complex.  Frequently, we are left with things unresolved and have to make some conclusions of our own.  Does the elder brother ever go in to join the party welcoming the prodigal son home?  How do those in the vineyard who worked much longer hours respond to the words of the vineyard owner?  Does the Good Samaritan return, and what happens to the victim?  Does the Pharisee ever understand his spiritual arrogance?  Once they get inside, do the five "wise" virgins enjoy the banquet, knowing that their sisters are still outside?  Why DID a guest at the wedding feast show up poorly attired and refuse to explain why? Why was a servant actually punished when he did not waste or lose any of the landowner’s money?  How we resolve those issues in our own minds tells us a lot about our own attitudes.  Are they in line with God's or not? If there is some overall wisdom to be gleaned from parables, it is this:  God's ways are not our ways.  Parables tell us that the fight for the kingdom is not played out in palaces and war rooms, but in the everyday events of our everyday lives.  The struggle for the kingdom is carried out in our divided hearts, where we sometimes mutter "Thy kingdom come" without fully realizing that we might have to pray "My kingdom go". (Alan Redpath, British Baptist Preacher). The parable demands that each of us answer the question "What do YOU say? What is YOUR reaction to this story and why? How we answer defines our moral landscape. And finally, the gospel writers were not secretaries collecting the speech of Jesus. They were two generations away from Jesus, and most of the stories circulating about Jesus were as often oral as written. The gospel writers then took some elements of the storytelling of Jesus and fashioned them into parables using imagery and narrative particular to that evangelist. The parables in Mark are few and spare. Why? The shadow of the cross and the rawness of the crucifixion hangs over the entire gospel, including parables. Mark has Jesus moving, being and doing—and his spar style even related these events without embellishment. Luke is a gospel full of very complex and interesting parables. He was the storyteller, the evangelist who was the most creative in the way he wove the message of Jesus. There are some parables that only appear in one of the four gospels. What does that tell us about how creatively the authors used the teaching of Jesus? What is your favorite parable?

Reflections on Matthew 13:1-23 from Sacred Space, a Service of the Irish Jesuits

The words of Jesus do not all bear fruit. Knowing this did not stop Jesus from speaking, but he continued to proclaim good news, truth and life to any who would listen. I take care to review the measures by which I value my actions and words. I pray for the strength to continue speaking and acting – even in the absence of evident encouraging results. Truth is not determined by a majority, but is scattered abroad, being recognised and valued by some. I ask God to help me to hear Jesus’ word for me and to take it to heart, where it can grow. Some scholars consider this parable to be at the centre of Jesus’ message. It is the parable of the optimism of the kingdom. The seed is small and fragile, and not all seeds fall on good soil. But most of them do, and they are extraordinarily fruitful, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. I ask myself whether my faith makes me hopeful or whether I am always complaining at how poor is the response to Jesus’ message. Let anyone with ears listen! This is the challenge Jesus lays down, to listen. In our times this is becoming more difficult, surrounded as we are by so much noise, so many different voices calling for our attention. I pray for an open ear and an open heart, for knowing how to seek and find silence in my daily rhythm. This is certainly the parable for the optimists. However much seed fell elsewhere, the sower would make sure that most of the seed would fall on good ground. Even the poorest yield is thirtyfold! In the Gospel Jesus very often uses the metaphor of the seed to describe the Kingdom and its innate energy. Do I share his optimism, or am I a prophet of doom about the future of the Kingdom in our world? I look at my heart, and see that some parts of my heart are more open to the word of God, others find it more difficult. I follow Jesus’ advice, and listen to what this parable is telling me. Jesus’ explanation of the different outcomes for the seeds sown, follows in our Gospel passage for the day after tomorrow. But, in between, there is added in the Gospel of Matthew a full reflection from Jesus on why it is only the committed disciples who are receptive enough to take in that explanation. For what is required is not just any kind of understanding; but understanding-of-the-heart : there needs to be an initial opening of heart, to make space for Jesus’ message. Jesus even quotes a prophet to describe minds that are closed : “This people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed” – little chance, then, of effective healing – “lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them”. To the disciples, on the other hand, “it has been given [by God] to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven”. These are fortunate – because “many longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it”. This is the parable of Christian optimism: even if the sower was only moderately good, most of the seed would fall on good ground, bringing forth abundant fruit, at least a thirtyfold. Let anyone with ears listen! On the feast day of the grandparents of Jesus and the parents of Our Lady, I pray in gratitude for my parents and grandparents, and for all who have been given this important mission in their lives. Many biblical commentators see this parable as the basic metaphor of the whole Gospel. The seed is the Word, and the sower is God, whose will can never be stopped. The seed falls on different types of ground, but the great majority certainly falls on good ground, and its fruit more than makes up for the seeds that fall on more difficult ground. It is the parable of optimism, something which is often lacking in followers of the Gospel. If I am a normal person, my heart contains all four sorts of ground, being more or less open to the Gospel message. I ask for light to see where the hardness and the insecurity lie, and ask the Sower that my life may bear abundant fruit. Jesus’ parables can heal us to hear and understand how things stand between God and ourselves. They are nuggets of grace that test our heart’s willingness to surrender to the generosity of God. 'Let anyone with ears listen'. This means me! When I come to pray, do I have the soil of an open heart toward Jesus and his teachings? Am I willing to allow his Word to break into my closed heart? Jesus made the boat his pulpit, announcing the word of God from this unlikely place. The word of God has been scattered in my life - sometimes flourishing, sometimes seeming to fade away. I think of where I am strong and consider how I might give witness to God’s goodness from that place, just as Jesus chose the best place from which to make his voice heard. As I think of myself as the field in which the word of God is scattered, I may recognise the barren places, the dry patches and the fertile parts. To which do I pay attention? I take some time to appreciate where God’s word has found a root in me and I ask God’s help to remain open to such seed as may be scattered again today. The different kinds of ground on which the seed falls represent the different ways in which the word of God is received. The degree of receptivity depends on the individual person and the particular circumstances of his or her life. The parable provides hope and encouragement, in that the sower succeeds ultimately in producing a crop from the seed that fell on ‘good soil’. Such crowds gathered to see and hear Jesus that he had to preach from a boat. They were hungry for spiritual nourishment and for leadership. Lord Jesus, I pray for the Church and for all believers today. Make of us a community of disciples, all looking to you. The words of Jesus do not all bear fruit. Knowing this did not stop Jesus from speaking, but he continued to proclaim good news, truth and life to any who would listen. I take care to review the measures by which I value my actions and words. I pray for the strength to continue speaking and acting – even in the absence of evident encouraging results. Truth is not determined by a majority, but is scattered abroad , being recognised and valued by some. I ask God to help me to hear Jesus’ word for me and to take it to heart. I allow my imagination to dwell with the scene that Jesus presents, picturing the growth, identifying threats to it. I take care not to allow the weeds and barrenness to dominate but accept that God pictures a flourishing harvest and never gives up that hope for me. I think of how I might remain on the alert for anything that threatens the Word that is given to me: the life that Jesus offers can be leached away by sceptical attitudes, cynical comments, despairing attitudes or unkind words. Any person who lacks the basic understanding-of-the-heart to take in Jesus’ message, in one sense can hardly be said to have ever even heard ‘the word of the kingdom’ – much less to have had it take root in his heart : more like, the seed (of the word) fell ‘on the edge of the path’, and in this case the birds got there first. The terrain of Palestine is rocky – and for this reason alone seed often fails to take root. So a person can be overjoyed at receiving ‘the word of the kingdom’ – but when faced with persecution, such a person yields, and is found to have no real depth of faith. But persecution may not even be required – temptation alone can cause an initial believer to fall away. Temptation could take the form of ‘the worries of the world’: we recall Jesus’ story of the people first invited to the wedding-feast who all proved to be too busy with their own affairs, to accept. Or temptation could come through ‘the lure of riches’ : we recall the rich young man who might have followed Jesus, but who drew back when he found that he would first have to rid himself of his wealth. Finally, persons who accepted the word deep in their hearts – the several categories of them – are foregrounded here, one might say, in order to off-set or compensate for those others who fell by the wayside. The whole parable is concluded in a manner designed to console and encourage faithful disciples. We get so used to hearing Jesus’ parables that we may fail to appreciate how full of wisdom they are, a wisdom that is beautifully expressed in a language anyone can understand. In an earlier extract in Matthew we heard Jesus talk about how “the queen of the South will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! (Matthew 12:42)  As you read today’s Gospel let yourself dwell on Jesus’ wisdom as one of his most attractive characteristics. The parable of the sower explains how the Word of God is received. Jesus knows that there are different levels of receiving the Word - allowing it to flourish and bear fruit or not giving it sufficient attention so that its effect diminishes. The Word of God is given to me as a gift. I pray that I may allow allow its goodness to take root in my life and yield a fertile harvest, leading me in the ways of truth and love. Is ‘the word of the kingdom’ sufficiently important to me as to make it a precious treasure in my life? Or do distractions and concerns edge out the primary importance of God’s word? What voices and noises of this world drown it out? Lord, make my heart silent so that I can hear you! Jesus tells me here that ‘understanding’ is essential for the word to take root in my heart and to be effective in my life. Reflective and unhurried listening enables it to speak to my heart. Lord Jesus, may your living and life-giving word always be a priority for me. May I put aside some time each day - like now! - to listen to it and to put it into practice. The Word of God is sown in my heart day after day through Sacred Space. How would I describe my heart? Is it part hard, part rocky, part thorny? I ask the Lord to till the soil of my heart so that it becomes fresh and fertile. If I were challenged in court to explain my faith, what would I say? Would I talk about what I know about God, or rather that I try to live according to the command of love? Would there be much evidence available to support my statements? Jesus speaks of the word of God as something organic and growing. Let me think back to seeds that have grown in my heart: probably happenings rather than preachers’ words. I saw a kindness, a courageous stance, an example of honesty that cost the honest man dearly. That was the seed. It stayed with me, and was active in my heart. In the same way I sometimes find, to my delight, that others have noticed something I did or said, and it became a seed in their heart, yielding good fruit over the years. Jesus explains the story of the sower and the seed. He knows that we have different levels of hearing and responding to him. Maybe this story can throw some light on the desires in our heart to bear fruit; or on what may prevent me from heating fully the word of god. There are thorns in all of us; with Jesus we can remove them so that we may bear more fruit.

ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence.  Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others.  Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God? With others in my life? What am I grateful for? Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret? I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt. God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

Opening Prayer

Dear Lord, open the eyes of my heart so that I both see and know how to find your wisdom and your hope in my everyday life. Help me to make space in my heart for the word of God. May I always seek your advice, even when my life is crowded with distractions and worries. Teach me the secrets of your Kingdom. Teach me how to be your disciple. Amen.

Companions for the Journey

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is portrayed as the New Moses, who has come to fulfill the law and the promise of the Jewish scriptures. There are five distinct teaching segments in the gospel, designed to make a direct reference to the five books of the Jewish Torah. The term Five Discourses of Matthew refers to five specific teaching occasions by Jesus within this gospel, and these discourses are used by Matthew to retell the entirety of the Old Testament, demonstrating that Christ is the fulfillment of all that was promised therein. The five discourses are listed as the following: the Sermon on the Mount (5-7), the Missionary Discourse, (10) the Parables of the Kingdom Discourse (13), the Discourse on the Church (18), and the Discourse on End Times (23-25). The parabolic discourse demonstrates how Jesus uses parables to get his message out to those who will hear. The following commentary for preachers on today’s section of chapter 13 is from Elizabeth Johnson, Professor at Lutheran Seminary: It is not difficult to find contemporary examples of the various responses to the word depicted in Jesus' parable. Having the word choked out by "the cares of the world and the lure of wealth" seems to be a particular problem in North America. One should be careful, however, to avoid equating the various types of soil with a particular person or group, and especially to avoid equating oneself or one's community with the good soil. If we are honest with ourselves, we can probably find evidence of several kinds of soil in our lives and in our congregations on any given day. It is noteworthy that Jesus does not use the parable to exhort hearers to "be good soil," as though we could make that happen. If there is any hope for the unproductive soil, it is that the sower keeps sowing generously, extravagantly, even in the least promising places. Jesus' investment in his disciples shows that he simply will not give up on them, in spite of their many failings. We trust that he will not give up on us either, but will keep working on whatever is hardened, rocky, or thorny within and among us. We trust in his promise to be with us to the end of the age. As those entrusted with Jesus' mission today, we might consider the implications of this parable for how we engage in mission. Too often we play it safe, sowing the word only where we are confident it will be well received, and only where those who receive it are likely to become contributing members of our congregations. In the name of stewardship, we hold tightly to our resources, wanting to make sure that nothing is wasted. We stifle creativity and energy for mission, resisting new ideas for fear they might not work—as though mistakes or failure were to be avoided at all costs. Jesus' approach to mission is quite at odds with our play-it-safe instincts. He gives us freedom to take risks for the sake of the gospel. He endorses extravagant generosity in sowing the word, even in perilous places. Though we may wonder about the wisdom or efficiency of his methods, Jesus promises that the end result will be a bumper crop.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Reflection Questions:

What kind of heart/mind does it take to understand the parables?

Are there parts of my heart that are open/welcome to God’s word?
Are there parts of my heart that find certain parts of the word of God more difficult?

Are there some teachings that I just cannot get on board with?

Has there ever been a teaching/command of Jesus that took a long time to grow in my heart?

Have there ever been projects about which I was enthusiastic initially, but languished after I got bored or distracted?

Do we sometimes get so tired of hearing the same old things from friends, family, God that we eventually stop listening?

Do I feel fortunate to have been exposed in a deeper way to the teachings of Jesus, either through prayer, or through a reading or discussion group?

Who have been the moral advisors in my life?
Have I ever dismissed them out of hand?
Have I responded by taking their words to heart?  
Have I outgrown their teaching/world view?

What does it mean to me to have “ears to hear”?

How receptive is my heart at this moment to learn, to grow, to change?
Which is the hardest to do?

Has there ever been a time when I heard the message of Christ, but let it lie on the edge of my consciousness where it withered?
Did I say that I had “outgrown” it?

Do I share Jesus’ optimism about the Kingdom?

Do I get discouraged when my words do not bear fruit?
How does “herd mentality” affect my decisions?
Have I ever planted a seed of wisdom in someone else’s heart and help him/her with discernment?
How did it make me feel?

Have the four stalking horses of defeat (skeptical observations, cynical comments, despairing attitudes or unkind words) ever caused my faith or my optimism to wither and die? Have I ever spoken in such ways and thus discouraged another’s optimism or faith?

Closing Prayer

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for.  

Dear Lord, this is a message of hope for us all. Our hearts contain all  four sorts of ground, being more or less open to what your told us so long ago and what you are telling me now. We need to focus on all of the places in our hearts and the hearts of others where your word has taken root. Keep me from discouragement when I see that your words have not borne fruit, either in my own soul or in the world at large. Give me the eyes to see where good things are happening and  help me to be optimistic about the future of my own life and the life of this planet.

For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization (taken from the gospel for today's session): Whoever has ears ought to hear.

Meditations:

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions: This parable contain the four outcomes of the breaking of God’s word in our lives. Sometimes,  God’s message gets destroyed by our culture or our own selfishness so that it never had a chance to thrive. When in my life have is simply brushed off the teaching of Jesus  before really listening because it did not fit my world view or my lifestyle? Other times, God’s message  falls on rocky ground, where the roots are not strong enough to sustain it. How many times have I embarked on a promise or obligation, but did not follow through because my heart was not really into it? Again, God’s message could also fall among thorns which choke out God’s words. How often have my own  good intentions gotten lost in the din of the conflicting messages the world has to offer? And finally, God’s word fall on deep rich soil, where they take root and grow into something truly wonderful. When in my life have I experienced the satisfaction and joy of seeing my life or that of another completely turn around because the message of Jesus got through and actually blossomed? Think of a time in which God was speaking to you in the events of your life. Were you aware of it at the time? How did you respond? What words of Jesus have actually taken root in your life, and which are struggling to survive?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship: (From Sacred Space: A Service of the Irish Jesuits) I read this passage slowly as if I am looking at the mirror of my heart. I probably discover that I have at different moments all the four reactions Jesus describes in the parable. I ask myself how I can grow in my freedom to accept God’s word to me, precisely where the challenge is greatest. Yet I also notice how fruitful the word has been in my life, surprising even myself with its power to bear such abundant fruit – a hundredfold, sixty, thirty times. I look at my life in gratitude for the abundant fruit that the word sown in my heart has produced, in my relationships, in my freedom and openness to God and others, in my sensibility to suffering around me. Especially to the place Jesus has in my life. I also look at the margins of my heart, those areas where the word finds it difficult to bear lasting fruit, and I ask for light and freedom to remove these obstacles and distractions.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination: (From Sacred Space: A Service of the Irish Jesuits) I allow my imagination to dwell with the scene that Jesus presents, picturing the growth, identifying threats to it. I take care not to allow the weeds and barrenness to dominate but accept that God pictures a flourishing harvest and never gives up that hope for me. As I think of myself as the field in which the word of God is scattered, I may recognize the barren places, the dry patches and the fertile parts. To which do I pay attention? I take some time to appreciate where God’s word has found a root in me and I ask God’s help to remain open to such seed as may be scattered again today. I read this passage slowly as if I am looking at the mirror of my heart. I probably discover that I have at different moments all the four reactions Jesus describes in the parable. I ask myself how I can grow in my freedom to accept God’s word to me, precisely where the challenge is greatest.

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship: Psalm 65 is a great hymn of praise, marveling that God hears our prayers, that God answers our prayers, and that God's grace is visited upon the earth resulting in abundance. Think of things you have prayed for. Have your prayers been answered?  In the way you expected or in some greater way?  Then look at the world around you. What examples do you find of God's enrichment of the earth? Take a walk, just concentrating on the beauty of God's ongoing care for the natural world.  Write your own psalm of thanksgiving, using the insights you have gathered from your meditations.

Poetic Reflection:

Here, in a poem by Father Ed Ingebretzen, S.J., is a commentary/meditation on the parables of Jesus:

Jesus Prayers II
Jesus taught in parables
and made geography
our greatest—
the precise placing of God
astride the master boat
disarming the wind
riding the road into tock
shaping the one word
needed to free death.

In parables
of ropes, nets and fish,
in the tangle of catching
and feeding, in sowing,
in graces of going
to hear stones sing lakeside—here
Jesus took our name
and wore it
like a fine love.
This, his
major parable.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

July 5, 2026

God will help us with the burdens we carry in this life.

Matthew 11:25-30

At that time Jesus exclaimed: "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him." "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart;and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

MATTHEW CHAPTER 11 FOR CONTEXT

When Jesus finished giving these commands to his twelve disciples,* he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns. When John heard in prison* of the works of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to him with this question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. Then why did you go out? To see a prophet?* Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.’ Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence,* and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law* prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear. “To what shall I compare this generation?* It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.” Then he began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.At that time Jesus said in reply, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,* and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano

In today’s gospel we have some of the most tender words in the Scriptures:  “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” These words are not spoken from a distance. They are not a command, advice, or instruction. They are an open invitation—not for a select few, but for anyone. Jesus opens a door and invites all who are in need to enter. And when someone responds, they are not handed a list of rules or a book of instructions; they are given Jesus himself. Notice to whom the invitation is directed. Not first to the successful, the self-sufficient, or the spiritually accomplished, but to the burdened and weary. And honestly, who among us is not carrying some burden? Illness, financial strain, wounded relationships, difficult decisions. Others carry burdens not visible from the outside: regret, anxiety, exhaustion, shame. Jesus does not begin by telling people to fix themselves before coming to him. He simply says, “Come.”There is a surprising contrast in today's Gospel. Jesus thanks the Father because these things are hidden from “the wise and learned” and revealed to “little ones.” We have a long tradition of scholarship and theological reflection in the Church, so Jesus is not being anti-intellectual. His words are a spiritual diagnosis. Some people possess knowledge that has become closed, self-assured, and self-protective. They are convinced they already understand everything. In contrast, there is a kind of openness that still knows how to receive, how to listen, and how to be surprised by God. The “little ones” Jesus speaks of are not necessarily naïve or uneducated. They are those who have learned  – often through suffering – that life cannot be mastered or controlled. They have discovered their limits. And, hard as it may be to believe, that is often where revelation begins. I am a city kid. When Jesus speaks of a “yoke,” I have to admit I had never seen one up close. Years ago, when I was preaching in Virginia, our community lived near Washington’s Birthplace. There was a reproduction of a colonial farm on the grounds,  much like one from Washington’s day. A guide showed us two oxen yoked together, pulling a wagon. They were joined to one another; where one went, so did the other. What one would not be able to do, both could. Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” A yoke is not a symbol of ease. It is a tool of labor, joining two together to pull a load. Yet Jesus offers a yoke that is “easy” and a burden that is “light.” Much of our exhaustion comes not only from the weight we carry, but from trying to carry it alone. Jesus is not promising a life without responsibility. He promises his presence within our responsibilities. We are yoked to him and he to us. To take up the yoke of Christ is to allow our life to be joined to his. The “rest” Jesus promises is not inactivity. Discipleship asked much of his followers. Rather, it is the rest that comes from trust – a rest that no longer needs to prove everything, control everything, or justify everything. “I am meek and humble of heart.” This is the only direct description Jesus gives of his own heart in the Gospels. Notice what he does not say: “Learn from my power” or, “learn from my wisdom.” Instead, he says, learn from my gentleness and humility. Our world often rewards force, speed, and dominance. No surprise there for those who watch the evening news or follow sports. But Jesus points to a different center of gravity: a heart that does not crush what is fragile and does not demand more than love can carry. The self-examination today's Gospel invites is simple: Where am I carrying what Jesus is asking me to put down? What burden am I trying to bear alone? What would it mean, concretely, to let my life be joined more closely to his – my decisions, my failures, my hopes, and my fears? The promise is not that life becomes weightless. The promise is that we do not carry its weight alone. And that makes all the difference. Today we also hear another section from Paul's Letter to the Romans. We have been listening to this letter week after week as it unfolds. Some preachers try to weave all the readings together. But the epistle readings, except in rare cases, are not chosen because they share a common theme with the other Scriptures. Often they do not fit neatly together. For that reason, I sometimes pass over the epistle. Today, however, let's pause and listen to Paul. He speaks with striking clarity about what makes the Christian life different from every other form of moral effort. It is not primarily about self-improvement but about the indwelling of God's Spirit. The Christian life is not moral athleticism or sheer willpower. The question is whether we are living from the life God has already placed within us. Paul does not deny our struggle; he names it honestly. There is a way of living “according to the flesh” – organizing life around ourselves, our fears, our cravings, and our need for control. Paul is blunt: that way leads to death. Not necessarily dramatic death, but a slow interior shrinking of the soul. But there is another way to live: according to the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead and now dwells within us. The Spirit is the promise that our own lives can be raised even now – in hope, courage, and love. There is a harmony between Paul and the Gospel. Jesus speaks of a revelation given not to the wise and learned, but to the childlike. He says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Paul describes what that rest looks like. It comes when we stop trying to live through anxious self-reliance and begin to live from the Spirit dwelling within us. Many people hear the Christian life as one more burden – more obligations, more demands, more strain. Paul and Jesus both challenge that misunderstanding. The Christian life is not heavier. What makes it possible is not our ability to carry more, but the presence of God's Spirit within us.

Quotable

“Artificial intelligence can be a construction site of history... if technical progress learns to serve human life.” —Pope Leo XIV (Magnifica Humanitas)\

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love. The Lord is good to all, compassionate to every creature. —Psalm 145:8-9

This passage from today’s psalm got me thinking a lot about how we are made in the image of God. If we truly believe this, then we might re-work the words to read as follows: The Christian is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love. The Christian is good to all, compassionate to every creature. The issue of immigration calls us to exercise these attributes of grace, mercy, consideration, compassionate love and goodness. Our broken immigration system has grown more stressed. As a response to a climate of fear, anxiety, and vilification surrounding immigrants in the United States, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a Special Pastoral Message on Immigration on November 12, 2025. This message represents a particularly urgent communication from the bishops and was approved by nearly 97% of the Fall Plenary Assembly. The bishops emphasize that nations have a responsibility to regulate borders and maintain a just immigration system, but this must be balanced with the Church’s foundational concern for the human person, created in the image of God. They highlight the priority of care for the most vulnerable, including widows, orphans, the poor, and strangers (Zechariah 7:10; Luke 10:30–25; 2 Corinthians 8:9). The key principles are solidarity with immigrants; opposition to mass deportations; protection of families and sensitive locations such as places of worship, schools, and healthcare facilities; promotion of safe and legal pathways; and advocacy for meaningful reform. The USCCB launched the “You Are Not Alone” initiative (You Are Not Alone), encouraging dioceses, parishes, schools, and Catholic organizations to provide accompaniment and support to immigrants & families affected by enforcement activities. This initiative focuses on solidarity through prayer, public witness, pastoral care, and community support programs by becoming “Keepers of Hope,” promoting active engagement in immigrant support and advocacy. Here, at HNOJ Cathedral, parishioners can join Justice for Immigrants.This crisis calls every Christian to respond with grace, mercy, consideration, compassionate love and goodness.  This 4th of July weekend, as we celebrate the birth of our national family--a family of immigrants and Native Americans--let us be open to welcome the immigrant and refugee.

Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book”is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Psalm Response: Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth: you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom. R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Reflection: Jesus praises the Father because the deepest truths of God's kingdom are not grasped by power, status, or intelligence alone, but by hearts that are humble and open. Like little children, we are invited to trust God and receive his wisdom as a gift.

So, we ask ourselves:

• Do I approach God with humility and openness, or do I rely only on my own understanding?

• What "mystery" of God's love have I discovered through simple faith?

• How can I become more childlike in my trust of God today?

Closing Prayer

Loving God, thank you for revealing your love to humble hearts. Teach us to trust you more deeply, to listen with openness, and to receive your gifts with gratitude. May we walk as your children and rejoice in the mysteries of your kingdom. Amen.

What is a Yoke?

A yoke is a wooden frame fitted on working animals to evenly balance the load on each individual animal and allow them to work as a team. Jesus wears the yoke and we are yoked to him. A teacher read to her class the text, “My yoke is easy. “Who can tell me what a yoke is?” she asked. A boy said, “A yoke is something they put on the necks of animals.” Then the teacher asked, “What is the yoke God puts on us?” A little girl said, “It is God putting His arms around our necks.” Jesus’s yoke helps us to lay-down unnecessary burdens; to illustrate: Dr. George McCauslin was a very effective YMCA director. But some years ago, he was selected to serve at a particularly challenging YMCA in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. And that western Pennsylvania YMCA was losing membership, had financial difficulties and a multitude of staff problems, so George McCauslin found himself working 85 hours a week. He found himself getting little sleep at night. He took little to no time off. And when he was not working, he was worrying and fretting about the problems at his job. He went to a therapist who told him he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He realized that he had to learn somehow to let go and let God into his problems. He didn’t know quite how to do that. So George McCauslin took an afternoon off, took a pad and paper, and took a long, unhurried walk in the western Pennsylvania woods. As he walked through the cool woods, he could eventually start to feel his tight body and his tight neck start to relax. He kept walking, and eventually sat down under a tree and just sighed and breathed deeply. For the first time in months he felt relaxed. He got out his pad and paper, and he decided that although he would keep his job, he would release his mental “over-control” in trying to manage every detail. He wrote God a letter. He said, "Dear God, today I hereby resign as general manager of the universe. Love, George." Then, with a twinkle in his eye, George McCauslin said, "And wonder of wonders, God accepted my resignation." George McCauslin stopped his obsessive work habits. One lesson George teaches us is that if our religion is primarily about obsessively or fearfully meeting religious duties and other obligations, then it is indeed a hard yoke and heavy burden. Jesus wanted to free us from the burdensome religious and legal interpretations of the scribes and Pharisees, and our own. It is an act not of juggling balls on a stage, but of carrying eggs from a barn. Make no mistake: it is sometimes the act of carrying a cross. But it is "light" in the sense when our purpose and priorities in life are clear. Regarding George’s case, sometimes, among devout or practicing religious people, there can be a resistance to self-care because of fear of putting “self” at the center, as in self-centeredness. They would make the argument that we’re not the priority: the people we serve are. Yet, this concern may reflect an individualistic understanding of “self” shaped by the dominant culture. Self-care is not self-absorption or isolation, and self-care emphasizes the importance of relationships and community in the way we do self- care. The purpose of self-care is to put vitality back into one’s ministry and vocation over time. Like a woman who said that she used to obsess over her daughter’s mental illness, believing that the right combination of labels would lead to her daughter’s healing. The daughter now is hopefully receiving treatment, and the mother is hopefully leaving the labels or diagnosis to doctors so she can just concentrate in loving her daughter as a labor of love. The difficulty is when we take up the labor before love. When we get it right, the work of love is hardly work at all. What other “yokes” need to be broken today besides workaholism , and over-functioning by care-givers? The greatest yoke is the oppression and slavery of sin. It’s like “you used to hold the Yoke but now the Yoke holds you.” I am speaking of those who are tired and weighed down with the burden of self, those who want to be rid of the load but can’t. It’s a tiredness of spirit. It’s a call to those who are trapped in the prison of self by sin but know no way out. It’s okay to be absolutely powerless over self. This is where we join the human race. There is the help of grace that comes through powerlessness, because we are yoked to Jesus who is our highest power. Notice that, like George McCauslin, we first must come to the admission of powerlessness over our afflictions and powerlessness over our defects. E.g. Our Second Reading speaks of being freed from being “debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.” The word in Greek is “sarx” which means the whole fleshy existence of persons, including all the human passions and emotions, which can range from greed, prestige to jealousy, and any kind of temptation such as the list given in Galatians 5:19. In that verse, St. Paul is telling of his response to God from his sin-enslaved “I” who cried for deliverance, and God’s intervention. Such a cry is the point where self-honesty begins to grow, e.g. in our Opening Prayer, we hear through the humiliated God, who was an “abasement,” a fallen world was raised up. So too with us, it is only by the humility of heart to make an admission of powerlessness over what afflicts us and then receiving victory through the grace of God, will we feel yoked to Jesus as our higher power. It is only by the Spirit, not raw willpower, that the deeds of the body are put to death or quieted. Galatians 5:22 is very enlightening: among the gifts of the spirit is love, generosity, self-control. It is true that spiritual warfare is part of our daily Catholic faith simply because fighting temptation and striving for virtue are themselves forms of spiritual warfare. Thankfully, God promises in Ezekiel 34:27, “I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them.” The enemy is constantly trying to force his own yoke upon us—a yoke of slavery and bondage of sin. In the Aramaic tradition, "yoke" and "lordship" were seen to be synonymous ideas. Jesus’ yoke helps us hold our tongue or choose encouraging words, to be giving to a person in material need, keeping holy the Sabbath by the Sunday Mass obligation. An easy yoke means we are not afflicted by an onslaught of greed, envy, greed, etc.; it’s the joy of a quiet conscience.

Poverty in Galilee

The social and economic policy of the Roman Empire could well be summarised in a phrase: 'the Roman system of inequality' (Garnsey & Saller 1987:125).1 Governing the entire Mediterranean world, Rome maintained its domination through judicial institutions developing legislation concerning property ownership and labour control - and through the use of brutal force. The whole system was based heavily on the inequality of people, which was thought to be either natural or at least inevitable, in order to secure peace and stability in the society.

For the Roman State, the provinces were a main source of revenue through taxes. A small number of Romans made large fortunes as provincial governors, tax collectors and moneylenders in the provinces, in the imperial service under the emperors. There were rich Romans who acquired extensive domains in the provinces, which they normally held as absentee landlords (Finley 1999:158). Most of the population of the empire lived either in rural areas or small towns. Only 10% - 15% of the population lived in cities that had more than 10 000 inhabitants. This means that some 80% - 90% got their living from agriculture and that any large-scale commercial or manufacturing activity was rare. There was no middle class at all. The majority of people in an agrarian society like the Roman Empire were peasants, living in villages that surrounded a city. The ancient city was largely parasitic on its surrounding villages. Cities extracted agricultural surpluses through taxes and rents. The benefits they supplied were cultic services and administration (Kloppenborg Verbin 2000:234).2

According to Bruce J. Malina, the first-century Mediterranean world is:

a nearly perfect example of what anthropologists call classic peasant society: a set of villages socially bound up with administrative preindustrial cities. … The term 'peasant' in the phrase 'peasant society' refers to persons, regardless of their occupation, who have been enculturated in and continue to be members of peasant society.

Malina speaks of:

a 'peasant mentality' of peasant society typical of beggar and king, of smallholder and large landowner, of prophet and scribe. This 'peasant mentality' is a societal characteristic, not a status or occupational feature. (Malina 2001:81)

Douglas E. Oakman (2008) summarises some definitions of a peasant:

A peasantry is a rural population, usually including those not directly engaged in tilling the soil, who are compelled to give up their agricultural (or other economic) surplus to a separate group of power holders and who usually have certain cultural characteristics setting them apart from outsiders. Generally speaking, peasants have very little control over their political and economic situation. In Mediterranean antiquity the overlords of the peasants tended to be city dwellers, and a culture-chasm divided the literate elite from the unlettered villager. (p. 167)

In agrarian society wealth was based on the ownership of land. Most land was controlled by a small number of wealthy, elite families. The landowners rented the land for tenant farmers, who - together with their families and possibly slaves - actually worked the land. The wealth and status of the elite families ensured their influence in politics, so that they were able to control both local and regional governance and also profit from taxation. The same families quite often controlled public religion as well (Friesen 2008:19).

These elite families, the 'urban elite' (Rohrbaugh 1993:383), consisted of the rulers and the governing class. According to Gerhard Lenski, agrarian societies3 consisted usually of following classes, the four first-mentioned forming the privileged elements of an agrarian society (Lenski 1984:189-296):

· the rulers and the governing class, consisting rarely more than 2% of the population

· the retainer class (perhaps some 5%), consisting of a small army of officials, professional soldiers, household servants4 and personal retainers

· the merchant class, that seems to have evolved slowly from the ranks of peasants, many of whom remained poor, but the leading members might have been wealthier than the lesser members of the governing class

· the priestly class, whose size and prosperity varies a lot among the agrarian societies

· the peasant class, constituting the substantial majority of the population, and having the biggest burden of supporting the state and the privileged classes

· the artisan class (3% - 7%), that was economically quite close to the peasant class, but often with lower income

· unclean and degraded classes who occupied a position in society which was clearly inferior to that of the masses of common people

· the expendables, at the bottom of the class system, consisting of petty criminals and outlaws, beggars, underemployed itinerant workers and people who lived solely by their wits or by charity.

According to Lenski (1984:210), typical to agrarian societies is the fact of marked social inequality. In these societies the institutions of government are the primary source of social inequality

The rulers were the heads of the empire and the centralised states, whereas the governing class formed the local administration. Together these privileged elite, very few in numbers, drew its wealth from the products of peasants and herders, craftsmen and traders. These products funded a lavish lifestyle for the ruling class and its priests, scribes and bureaucrats, as well as palaces, temples, fortifications, monuments and a forceful army. Members of the imperial ruling class enjoyed a comfortable and privileged standard of living without engaging in any productive labour on behalf of society and with no obligation to those they ruled other than to assure that they were able to produce sufficient wealth to sustain the rulers in their privilege (Gottwald 2008:10-11).5 It has been estimated that at least half of the annual production went to the urban elite, no less than a quarter to the ruling class and approximately the same to the local governing class (Lenski 1984:220). However, as the land and its products was the main resource for wealth in agrarian society, there were continuous tensions between the rulers and the governing class, sometimes even struggles on the distribution of the income (Lenski 1984:241). Religion was needed for authorising this oppression system, therefore also the priests belonged usually to the few privileged, but of course there might have been great regional differences concerning the social strata of the priestly class in the mighty empire. However, the priestly class tended to function as the preserver of the ancient redistributive ethic of primitive societies (Lenski 1984:266).

In the Roman Empire only the governing class and some of its retainers were literate. Most men and some women of the urban elite aristocrats could read, although they often had educated slaves to read to them and write letters and other documents for them. But literacy was not used in most social and economic interaction, certainly not among the ordinary people. The culture was predominantly oral (Horsley 2008:28-29, 89-92; Oakman 2008:300-303).

The state granted 'use ownership' of the land to the peasants, but it claimed entitlement to tax the villages, first in the form of payments in kind and second in the form of conscription to public labour or military service. Often the tax quota was laid on an entire village and the local officers had to raise the demanded amount. Internal corruption occurred when tax gatherers and village headmen took possession of goods and produce over and above the quota assigned them by the central government. The taxation was double: Rome demanded taxes from its provinces in order to sustain the government and the army and to build roads which were essential to the empire. The local vassal kings took their share in order to sustain their own privileged life and to build palaces, new cities and monuments dedicated to the Caesar.

The taxes were extracted at the time of the harvest and transported to the city. In times of poor harvests this meant that the farmer was left to suffer or even starve (Garnsey & Saller 1987:97). Besides direct taxation, villagers were subject to a variety of other impositions, including forced labour and the requisitioning of carts and animals for transport. This further impinged on the viability of economically marginal farming operations. In addition to imperial levies, cities derived revenues from capitation, rents, tolls, salt taxes and sales taxes (Kloppenborg Verbin 2000:235).

Many peasants, already living at the margin of subsistence, were further impoverished and driven into debt by harsh annual exactions. They had to take out loans at staggering amounts of interest offered by money-lending merchants and absentee landlords. The debtors were obligated to pay back the value of the loan from the forthcoming harvest, plus the value-added interest. Repayment of loans depended on good harvests, which often failed because of drought, floods, disease and the ravages of warfare. Foreclosure on debts could force peasants into debt servitude, one-sided client relationship with their patron creditors, or outright loss of land that turned them into day labourers or beggars (Gottwald 2008:10-11).6

Poverty was widespread both in rural and urban areas. According to Friesen, biblical scholars tend to underestimate the overwhelming poverty that characterised the Roman Empire. Therefore, he developed a poverty scale that, more accurately than Lenski's quite general one, provides seven categories for describing economic resources especially in the ancient city of Rome (Friesen 2008:19-20):

1. imperial elites: consisting of 0.04% of the population: imperial dynasty, Roman senatorial families, a few retainers, local royalty and a few feedpersons

2. regional or provincial elites (1%): equestrian families, provincial officials, some retainers, some decurial families, some freedpersons, some retired military officers

3. municipal elites (1.76%): most decurial families, wealthy men and women who do not hold office, some freedpersons, some retainers, some veterans, some merchants

4. moderate surplus resources (7% estimated): some merchants, some traders, some freedpersons, some artisans (especially those who employ others) and military veterans

5. stable near subsistence level with reasonable hope of remaining above the minimum lever to sustain life (22% estimated): many merchants and traders, regular wage earners, artisans, large shop owners, freed persons and some farm families

6. at subsistence level and often below minimum level to sustain life (40%): small farm families, labourers (skilled and unskilled), artisans (especially those employed by others), wage earners, most merchants and traders, small shop or tavern owners

7. below subsistence level (28%): some farm families, unattached widows, orphans, beggars, disabled, unskilled day labourers and prisoners.

The percentages in Friesen's scale are based on data from urban centres of 10 000 inhabitants or more. In rural areas poverty was even worse: although super-wealthy elites (categories 1-3) made up about 3% of an urban population, they were only about 1% of the total imperial population (Friesen 2008:19; Stegemann & Stegemann 1999:81-85).7

So, according to Friesen, the wealthy elites formed only 1% - 3% of the whole population of the empire. Friesen does not, for some reason, include the priestly class in his table at all, but I assume that the priestly class would have belonged to all three groups that formed the elite. In some areas, like Jerusalem, though, the number of the priests (some 20 000 together with the lower clergy, the Levites) was so high that the majority of them belonged most probably to categories 4 and 5.8 Also, Friesen does not explicitly mention the scribes, who served the regional administration, but according to his stratification they must have belonged either to category 2 as regional or provincial elites, or to category 3 belonging to municipal elites (Friesen's 'retainers' includes probably the scribes mentioned in the New Testament). In Lenski's social stratification there is a social class called 'retainers', which consists of some 5% of the population just below the urban elite on the top of the society (Lenski 1984:243). In Friesen's stratification that would form the categories 3 and 4.

Those who had no problems with sustenance were altogether at most 10%, whereas in continuous problems of sustenance were living some 90% of the population, more than two thirds of them in severe or extreme poverty.

Naturally, poverty is a more complicated phenomenon than the mere possession of financial resources. However, in the early Roman Empire financial resources were, according to Friesen, probably the single most influential factor in determining one's place in the social economy, but not the only one. Other factors would have included gender, ethnicity, family lineage (common or noble), legal status (slave, freed, of freeborn), occupation and education. Patronage relationships were especially important in one's economic survival, for a patron gave one access to restricted resources that were otherwise unavailable (Friesen 2008:20-21).

In Ancient Mediterranean culture wealth was not, however, the most important value. Even more important, the fundamental value was honour and the public reputation of the family and its members. It has to be remembered that the culture was not individualistic; therefore the honour of the family and the kin was superior to that of an individual. Honour was achieved by being born in an honourable family or gained with some honourable deeds. It was challenged all the time and could be lost quite easily. Honour was a limited good related to control of scarce resources including land, crops, livestock, political clout and female sexuality. Honour determined the position of the family in public and granted access to a better life. The counterpart of honour is shame. Being poor and especially falling to extreme poverty was never just the matter of survival of the economic crisis; much worse was the lost honour and becoming publicly despised. It was rare for the poor to be publicly respected, and very difficult to gain back honour that was once lost.9

The state did not show much concern for the poor. The city of Rome appeared to be an exception, because feeding the populace became a political necessity from the time of tribune Gaius Gracchus (154-121 BCE),10 but similar generosity shown by the officials to the poor is not recorded in ancient sources elsewhere. In the ancient world, generosity was directed rather to community, not to the needy, who were rather despised more than pitied. Liberty was highly valued: the ideal person is a free man in the sense that he is independent economically from others. 'The condition of the free man', wrote Aristotle (Rhetoric 1367:a32), 'is that he not live under the constraint of another', and it is clear from the context that his notion of living under restraint was not restricted to slaves but was extended to wage labour and to others who were economically dependent (Finley 1999:40-41). In Greek language, an independent person was called plousioi, which means 'wealthy'. Such a man11 was rich enough to live properly on his income that was derived from the property, most often from owned land that was hired to tenant farmers or worked by slaves or wage labour (Finley 1999:41). Following the stratification by Friesen, these  plousioibelonged to categories 1-3 forming only a maximum 3% of the total population.

In the Roman Empire there was not an actual middle class, but between the plousioi and the destitute, ptokhoi, were peneis, the 'working class' that were not free because of their ties to toil and were compelled to devote themselves to gaining a livelihood. A penes did not necessarily lack property and was not considered poor. Such a person could even own a farm or slaves and have some monetary savings. These people belonged to Friesen's categories 4-6, thus forming approximately 70% of the population. The ptokhoi were the lowest class of people, who had no resources and whose daily life was a continuous struggle between life and death (Finley 1999:41). They were beggars, robbers, bandits, prostitutes and other despised people. The number of these destitute was, according to Friesen, remarkably high, some 28% of all.

However, ptokhoi is not used only referring to the destitute as the lowest social or economic class. In ancient Mediterranean culture it was very important to maintain one's honourable status. It was rare that somebody could get a higher status in the society, because people tended to think that all the resources of life were limited - so it was not possible to get more wealth without deprivation from others, which was condemned as greed - and as such shameful. Normally people did not even try to get higher positions in their life and career. The landless tenant did not become a landowner; a craftsman selling his productions did not become a wealthy trader. One's status in life was thought to have been inherited by birth. It was not reasonable and honourable to try to achieve a higher status. But losing one's status was shameful. Those people, who lost their status, were also called poor, ptokhoi, independent of their earlier or comparative status in life. The status could be lost when people became incapable to pay their debts, were imprisoned, lost their inherited land or got severe illnesses, for example. Being classified as poor was the result of some unfortunate turn of events or some untoward circumstances. Consequently, the poor would not necessarily be a permanent social standing but a sort of revolving category of people who unfortunately cannot maintain their inherited status. Thus day labourers, landless peasants and beggars born into their situation were not always considered poor persons in first-century society (Malina 2001:99-100).

Poverty in Galilee

In order to understand the activity of Jesus and the early Jesus movement, it is essential to know the social and economic context where Jesus and his followers came from. The principal literary source in first-century Galilee is Josephus, who provides a very incomplete glimpse of the political and economic character of Galilee and his account is both tendentious and self-serving. From a much later period, rabbinic literature gives a rich view of political and economic life in the Galilee, but between the first century and the time of the rabbis, the face of the Galilean society changed dramatically, because of the failure of the Second Jewish Revolt (132-135) and the large-scale displacement of Judaeans in the Galilee following it. The archaeological evidence is also quite fragmentary and still open to debate (Kloppenborg Verbin 2000:215). First-century Palestine was, besides being an advanced agrarian society, shaped by several dominant forces: the Israelite tradition (linguistic, cultural and religious heritage), the Roman Empire (political control) and Hellenism (the pervasive cultural influence over the whole Mediterranean and Middle East) (Hanson & Oakman 1998:7). Most probably the forefathers of Jesus migrated like many other Judeans from Judea to Galilee at the time of the Hasmoneans in the last third of the second century BCE, when Judea got independency after the harsh domination of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes. 13 Contrary to Judea there was plenty of fertile soil available in Galilee to cultivate. The area had been virtually uninhabited from the eighth to the second century BCE. 14 The Hasmonean regime made it not only possible for the Judeans to immigrate to Galilee. In 104 BCE, having conquered Samaria and destroyed its temple on mount Gerizim, the Hasmoneans took over Galilee and required the local inhabitants to live according to the laws of Judea. Galilee was thus brought together with other Israelite people under the Temple and high priesthood, with the taxation system connected to the temple (Horsley 2008:25). It is not clear whether all the inhabitants of Galilee, at that time, were already originally from Judea, or if some other people were there as well. Horsley seems to count on the latter possibility, because he claims that these people now became under Judean domination for the first time. Horsley's view is based on Josephus' note that Aristobulus (104-103 BCE) 'compelled the inhabitants, if they wished to remain in the country, to be circumcised and to live in accordance with the Laws of the Judeans' (Ant. 13.318-319). However, Josephus might have been exaggerating commonalities between Judaea and Galilee for his own apologetic reasons (Kloppenborg Verbin 2000:221-223). When the Romans occupied Palestine in 63 BCE, radical changes happened in landowning in Galilee. After the Roman civil war in 40 BCE, the whole territory was placed under the dominion of Herod, a vassal king of the Roman Emperor. Herod, later called 'the Great', had the power to distribute the land however he wanted and to whomever he wanted. He was known as a cruel ruler who did not tolerate any opposition and even had his own family members executed. Herod's kingship was approved and enlarged by Octavian in 31-30 BCE. He executed Jewish high priest Hyrcanus 2 in 30 BCE and his own wife Mariamme 2 in 29 BCE, together with some of his own sons, whom he feared to settle against him for the kingship. 15 According to Josephus, he first 'secured' Galilee by capturing the Hasmonean garrison town Sepphoris and from there began to root out all opposition to his rule (Crossan & Reed 2001:55). However, his domination seems not to have brought only violence and destitution. Under his reign Judea grew economically because of his large construction projects that brought employment. His building projects included the reconstructed ancient capital of the Northern Kingdom, Samaria - now called Sebaste, the new harbour city Caesarea Maritima, the inaccessible fortress palaces at Masada and Jericho, and in Jerusalem the Fortress Antonia, a Royal Palace and a massive extension of the Temple. On the one hand, these projects increased the economic value of the whole territory to Rome, which was certainly also the purpose of Herod. On the other hand, the economic growth did not correlate to improved working and living conditions of the poor, especially not for the Galileans, because all the building projects were somewhere else. Herod himself got the biggest profit of all the growth. It must be remembered that the building projects were also aimed to Romanise the territory, because all the new cities were named to honour the Emperor and housed pagan temples to the goddess Roma and Augustus. Herod was also tolerant of the Jewish religion, which can be seen above all from his largest building project: the restoration of the temple of Jerusalem. He even lived as a Jew and defended Jewish worship outside Palestine. His tolerance was most probably a way to appease Jewish subjects, keep the peace and ensure the acceptance and compliance of the Jewish aristocracy. Maybe the reason for this was the plan of the eventual takeover of the temple and the assimilation of the Jewish people. He also remitted taxes during times of famine, because he wanted to recover their good will (Josephus, Ant. 15.10.4) - or perhaps to secure the income from Galilee also in the future (Crossan & Reed 2001:194). 16'Peace reigned during his rule, and the economic situation created by him was beneficial to the nation' (Räisänen 2010:23). 17 That peace was, however, achieved and supported only by force and violence. The Galileans at the time of Herod the Great had a threefold taxation system: tribute to Rome, taxes to Herod and tithes and offerings to the Temple and priesthood (Horsley 2008:25; Kloppenborg Verbin 2000:224-226). 18 After the death of Herod the situation in Judea and Galilee soon grew much worse. His kingdom was divided among his three sons. Archelaus became the ethnarch (ruler of the people) of Judea, Samaria and Idumea. His reign was short-lived because his rule was so autocratic and aroused the hatred of his subjects to the extent that, in 6 CE, they sent a delegation to Rome to ask for his removal. Judea became directly under Roman control. The new governor, Quirinius, the Roman legate of Syria, conducted a census for tax purposes as part of the Roman takeover (Brown 1997:60). 19 The census produced a rebellion led by Judas the Galilean. The rebellion was defeated cruelly by the Romans. However, this uprising is the only one recorded in Judea at the first three decades of the Common Era. The Roman prefects of the era were Valerius Gratius and Pontius Pilate, both of whom ruled 10 years, which has often been regarded as an indication of no severe violent uprisings at the time. Also the Roman historian Tacitus (History 5.9) reports that in Judea under the Emperor Tiberius (14-37 CE) 'things were quiet' (Brown 1997:60). However, under the Roman governors, recorded or not, there was plenty of violence in Judea and Galilee. Valerius Gratius (15-26 CE) was the first procurator who arbitrarily appointed and deposed the high priests. Josephus portrayed Gratus as manipulating Jerusalem's temple politics by deposing the incumbent Sadducean high priest Hanan 1 (6-15 CE), as well as three short-termed successors, before finally finding Joseph Kayyafa (Caiaphas), who had a long tenure collaborating with Roman military rule (18-37 CE). 20 He put down two formidable bands of robbers that infested Judea during his government, and killed with his own hand the captain of one of them, Simon, formerly a slave of Herod the Great. 21 Gratus assisted the proconsul Quintilius Varus in quelling an insurrection of the Jews. 22 Pontius Pilate's first serious clash with the Jews took place in his very first year in office when his troops marched into Jerusalem at night with their regimental standards bearing medallions with the emperor's image. Jewish reaction included a large delegation to Caesarea. The very next year, 27 CE, Pilate attempted to have an aqueduct built. The point of conflict seemed to have been around the use of sacred temple money set aside for sacrificial animals for God, for the project. Indignant at this proceeding, the populace formed a ring round the tribunal of Pilate then on a visit to Jerusalem, and besieged him with angry clamour. Pilate took money from the Temple treasury to build an aqueduct for Jerusalem. His disguised troops slaughtered Jewish people in the temple courts during their protest. 23 In 29-30 CE Pilate introduced coins engraved with symbols of Emperor-worship on one side and Jewish symbols on the other. In 32 CE he attempted - again - to bring in golden standards honouring Tiberius into Herod's Palace in Jerusalem. In 36 CE a Samaritan would-be-messiah asked the Samaritan people to go up to Mount Gerizim with him, where he promised to show them sacred vessels hidden by Moses. Pilate blocked their route of ascent with cavalry and heavily armed infantry. In the clash that followed, some were killed and the rest scattered or taken prisoners. Pilate then executed the ringleaders and those who were most influential. Soon after Tiberius, when Emperor Caligula reigned for four years (37-41 CE), things got even worse in Judea. Caligula wanted to show his authority over Judea by attempting to have a statue divinising him erected at the Jerusalem temple. The resistance of the peasants and the untimely death of Caligula stopped the project, anyhow. Galilee, and part of the Transjordan, was given after Herod the Great under the dominance of his son Antipas, who was named the tetrarch (ruler of a quarter-kingdom). This renewal led to many problems. It was not easy to accept the new regime, even though now the Galileans for the first time in their history had their ruler living himself in Galilee. The location of the administration within a view of nearly every village meant greater efficiency in tax collection. Also, now they were no longer under Jerusalem's control (Horsley 2008:26, 46). Many riots occurred in Galilee that were forcefully vanquished. One such incidence happened at Sepphoris, a Jewish town close to Jesus' home town Nazareth, already when the news of the death of Herod the Great reached the people there. Some of the city dwellers believed that Herod's death offered them a fine possibility to found a Jewish government of their own. They rallied against foreign rule and taxation and acclaimed kingship to Judas, son of Hezekiah, but were quickly crushed by the Syrian-based Roman legate. The Romans defeated the riot with force, burned the city and sold its inhabitants to slavery. 24 Sepphoris was subsequently rebuilt by Herod Antipas into Galilee's largest city and the first capital of the lands Antipas inherited from his father. Obviously members of the Herodian family belonged to the elite of the city. At the time of Jesus, Nazareth was in the shadow of Sepphoris and under Herod Antipas's political control (Crossan & Reed 2001:33). No doubt the cruelties caused by the Romans at the era just before Jesus was born were in good memory of local peasants and had an effect on popular life in Nazareth and other Galilean and Judean villages (Horsley 2008:40). As typical for agrarian societies, Galilee was dominated by only a few major families, including most probably the families of Caesar, Pilate and other prefects, Herods and especially Antipas's court officials, high priests and possibly some successful merchants and a few overseers of the collection of taxes and tolls. When peasant families grew larger it was no more possible to cultivate new land for new generations as it was earlier done. In biblical scholarship, it was earlier presumed that Galilee would have had important trading routes for international use because of its location, and that the Galileans themselves would have traded their products to big cities around the eastern part of the empire. This view was based on lively counteractions between Galilean cities and villages, for example, it was argued that Galilean villagers used to sell their products at the markets in Sepphoris and Tiberias. Concluding from some remains of coinage the Galileans were supposed to have had even remarkable trading with olive oil to Syria, especially to its big trading city Tyros. Richard Horsley has, however, questioned the view of Galilee as a relatively lively trading area. Ancient Tyrian coins found from Galilee show most of all what kind of money was normally used in Galilee, and as such it is no evidence from any trade at the area, because the same coinage was used widely in the eastern part of the empire. The other archaeological remains from first-century Galilee refer rather to a remote region, with little influence from Greek-speaking Tyros. For example, the pottery remains show that the pottery distribution was not wide outside Galilee (Horsley 1996:83-85). Herod Antipas, needing to expand his revenues in order to fund his ambitious city-building, developed fishing into an industry. Working through brokers as intermediaries, the king supplied the equipment, especially the costly large (26-foot) boats that required a crew of five or six. 25 Collaborative crews evidently contracted to deliver a certain percentage or amount of their catch to the processing depots in return for keeping the rest (somewhat like sharecroppers). The principal processing centre for the fish was Magdala ('tower of fish' in Aramaic), where people cut loose from their ancestral lands and village communities found work (Hanson & Oakman 1998:106-110; Horsley 2008:48). Recent excavations in Magdala have revealed Roman-type city architecture, but the results of the excavations have not yet been published, so the dating of the Roman type of buildings is still open. Antipas wanted to honour the Emperor by building two Roman cities in Galilee. These cities, that were under the construction process when Jesus was a young man, were Sepphoris and Tiberias, which became the only cities in Galilee with all the pagan buildings like temples and theatres (if the Romanised Magdala is not from the same time period). Sepphoris was rebuilt after the destruction by the Romans, now in a more Roman style as a new capital of Galilee. At the time of Antipas, Sepphoris was, however, not yet totally pagan, which might tell of the carefulness of Antipas not to irrigate the Jewish population at the area - like his father he wanted respect also from the Jews (Crossan & Reed 2001:64; Kloppenborg Verbin 2000:242-245; Reed 1994:203-219). 26 Tiberias was built some 20 years after Sepphoris on the former Jewish cemetery as the new capital of Antipas and named for the emperor Tiberius. As Horsley writes: Both cities, built in Roman style by a king who had been educated in Rome, must have seemed like alien urban culture set down into the previously Israelite rural landscape remote from the dominant high culture. (Horsley 2008:46) The construction projects brought employment for many landless people, but at the same time aroused critics because they were regarded as Antipas's tendency to Romanise Galilee and at least partly funded by taxation. As peasant families could not meet the demands of taxes or became indebted by buying the necessities they used to grow, possession of their land was transferred elsewhere. Estates grew and tenancy increased. Architectural grandeur increased at one end of Galilean society by making poverty increase at the other (Crossan & Reed 2001:70; Freyne 1995:23-46). Both cities were the centres of taxation with collection and storage points for tax revenues and they housed the debt archives. The wealthy inhabitants of the cities differed significantly from those living in villages. This was the substratum for several movements opposing Rome (Freyne 1988:166; Kloppenborg Verbin 2000:235, 237, 246-247; Meier 1991:282-283; Oakman 2008:21, 168-171).27 One of these, and the most influential as it appeared to be, was the Jesus movement. It seems to have attracted especially, like some other anti-Roman movements, the landless: peasant children without inheritance, expropriated smallholders and all kinds of people who were deprived of access to the land. The changed situation from a landowner, a peasant farmer, into a tenant farmer or day labourer was dramatic for many Galileans. The peasant farmers were permanently poor and in continuous danger to fall under the subsistence level. One bad harvest or one serious misfortune might mean the loss of everything, since the new patronal class, already viewed with distrust, could not be depended upon for help. (Kloppenborg Verbin 2000:261) If they lost the essential resources of living, they became destitute. That caused banditry, itinerancy, slavery, prostitution and robbery. Especially Richard Horsley has pointed out that 'social banditry' was typical for Galilee. It was a prepolitical and non-organised form of protest against injustice and resistance to occupation and its deleterious effects. Supposedly many of the bandits were dispossessed peasants, who were supported by the peasantry in Galilean villages (Horsley 1987:38). Crossan and Reed argue that the reason for Jesus' itinerant lifestyle might not have been a voluntary abandonment of normal family life or some ideological reasons or of some crisis in the family relations, but simply a loss of everything because of the harsh taxation, strong indebtedness and bad crop. Only later it became idealistic asceticism (Crossan & Reed 2001:127-128). A distinguishing view is offered by Horsley, who thinks it was just the strongly indebted peasant farmers in danger of losing their ancestral land who formed the Jesus movements. Horsley's description of peasant life in Galilean villages is also quite convincing, but from it one gets the impression that itinerancy was a choice of some followers of Jesus to spread the movement from village to village, not necessarily caused by extreme poverty and loss of land and permanent household (Horsley 2008:46-55). So, first-century Galilee was mainly agricultural, with little fishing industry, and its population was economically strongly dependent on the wealthy elite, the majority of whom lived in Sepphoris and Tiberias, some even in Jerusalem. The elite lived by depriving the Galilean rural population, with no direct connection to the ordinary people. Their agents collected taxes, and usually the villagers had the opportunity to deal with minor legal things themselves in local assemblies, the synagogues. The poverty in Galilee is also reflected by the fact that almost no remains of storage buildings for grain or other products have been found in archaeological excavations in Galilee and no shops at all. The Galileans seem to have consumed all they produced. Having paid the rents, taxes, loan remissions and interests there simply was nothing left to trade with. Literacy was even more limited in Judea and Galilee than in the rest of the Roman Empire. Writing was confined mainly to scribal circles and high priestly administrations. Oral communication dominated at all levels of the society, completely so in the villages (Horsley 2008:29). Horsley notes that [t]his makes the old depiction of the ancient Jews as generally literate and a 'people of the book' highly dubious. So, too, it also calls into question the frequent assumption that early Christians were also literate and quickly also became a 'people of the book.' This means, for example, that Judean texts from around the time of Jesus do not provide evidence for what the Jews in general believed and practiced, but only for the literate circles that produced those texts. (Horsley 2008:29) Even if the Galilean villagers would have had possession of some scrolls, which they most probably did not, they would not have understood it read to them, because they spoke a dialect of Aramaic that deviated from the Hebrew of the sacred texts. They would have known the existence of the sacred scriptures, because it was deposited in the Temple and supposedly to be read or rather recited on ceremonial occasions. Some fragmentary knowledge of the scripture may also have been mediated to villagers through Pharisees and other scribal representatives of the temple-state. Having some knowledge of the scriptures and even the ability to recite them did not, however, mean literacy in the sense of ability to read (Horsley 2008:29, 89-92). Most probably, Jesus could not read or write (Oakman 2008:171). 28 The social stage of Jesus and his family is not easy to determine. All the archaeological evidence from the Roman period points to a simple peasant existence at Nazareth. It also points to a Jewish Nazareth. The size of the village was small. It could have been inhabited by about 200-400 people, which means several extended families or clans (Crossan & Reed 2001:34-35). 29 Many scholars are of the opinion that the poor in Galilee were small farmers with inadequate or barren land, or serfs on large estates. Under heavy taxation and debts they lived continuously at subsistence level or below it. Typical to Mediterranean peasantry, they most probably practiced viticulture, arboriculture and agriculture and had a vegetable diet, supplemented by yoghurt and cheese, and in rare occasions with poultry, lamb or beef. Productivity was relatively low. Excess peasant labour may be devoted to craft specialisation if agricultural opportunities dwindle and tax pressures are high (Oakman 2008:167). 30 Many peasants had lost their ancestral land. Also surplus children of peasant households were often forced to leave the village in search of livelihood (Lenski 1984:278). In Friesen's categories the majority of the farmers would have belonged to groups 6 and 7. It seems to me that in the first-century-Galilee many families moved from group 6 to group 7 and even to slavery. When it comes to Jesus, in the Gospel of Mark (6:3) there is a brief mention of his trade: he was a tekton. 31 This Greek word is traditionally translated as 'carpenter', which is probably because of middle-age paintings. Indeed, tekton basically means a builder of any kind. So, Jesus was not necessarily a carpenter or a 'wood-worker, who made doors or furniture for the stone or mud-brick houses and ploughs and yokes for farmers' (Brown 1997:67). A tekton could have referred as well to a sculptor or - most probably in this case - to a craftsman who works at the buildings made of stone (Batey 1984:249-258). 32 It has to be remembered that there were large building projects in Galilee at the time of Jesus, and an especially important one just a few miles (one hour's walk) from Nazareth, his childhood home town. When the Romans built Sepphoris they certainly used local people, both slaves and waged labourers from nearby villages. If Jesus' family had the same difficulties that almost every family at that time had, they could not afford a large family and some members of the family had to leave farming and find a job elsewhere (Oakman 2008:171). 33 It might as well be that the tekton in Mark 6:3 refers to a stoneworker, city builder, in which case the word gives a slightly negative impression - as it is indeed clear from the context: the people in Nazareth do not accept Jesus, who is a 'tekton', but implies to have more wisdom than the others. It looks like Jesus was despised because he had worked in the Roman building project, constructing a pagan city of Sepphoris. If this were the case, Jesus might not be compared to 'a blue collar worker in lower-middle-class America' (Meier 1991:276-285). 34 Rather, he would have belonged to Friesen's group 6 or 7 (at subsistence level or below it), depending on his skill, as a landless peasant who worked some time as a labourer in the nearby city. 35 The movement led by him promised subsistence in the Kingdom of God (Mk 10:30; Lk 12:22-31/Mt 6:25-33). He spoke about debts, and taught his disciples to pray for the forgiving of debts (Mt 6:12; Lk 7:41-42; Lk 11:4). At least from the beginning, the Jesus movement seemed to be 'a movement of the poor for the poor' (Stegemann 1984:23). The third part of Herod the Great's kingdom, the areas north and east of the Lake of Galilee, including Decapolis, was given to Herod's son Philip. The kingdom of Herod was re-established by Emperor Claudius (41-54 CE), who gave the areas ruled by Herod's sons to Herod's grandson and the emperor's good friend Agrippa. The new governor first appeared tolerant to Jewish inhabitants of the territory, but his rule was to become fatal for the Jesus-believing Jews in Jerusalem: according to Acts 12 he was responsible for the persecution that killed James the brother of John, son of Zebedee. After Agrippa's death the rule of Palestine was again given under direct Roman rule. The procurators of the period 44-66 CE were, however, 'of low calibre, vicious and dishonest, provoking intense unrest by their injustice' (Brown 1997:61). Their misrule gave rise to Sicarii (knife-wielding terrorists, who attacked especially pro-Roman Jewish elites), Zealots (ruthless adherents of the Law), and a major Jewish revolt against the Romans (the Jewish war in 66-70 CE). The Roman legions led by Vespasian marched from Syria to Judea to quell the revolt. When Vespasian became an Emperor after Nero, his son Titus conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and burned the city. Most of the surviving Jews, including the Jesus-believers who did not take part of the armed revolt, had to leave the city (Brown 1997:61). 36 The defeat in the Jewish war and the religious crisis followed by the destruction of the temple made life for Jews everywhere in the Empire difficult. They were now publicly shamed. The war inevitably increased poverty in Palestine. The Jews were obliged to pay a new punitive tax of two drachmas for the support of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome.

ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence.  Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me.  May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God?  With others in my life? What am I grateful for?  Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret?  I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt.  God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

Opening Prayer

I ask, Lord, for the grace to be among the little ones, able to thank you for your greatness and to wonder at your love for me. Give me, as well, the grace to recognize my own arrogance and exaggerated sense of  self-worth based upon what I know or my position in life.  Help me to be open to your invitation to lay down my burdens and rest in the peace of your presence in my life.  Help me to be a place of refuge  for others who are burdened at this time with worry or grief.  Give me your compassionate heart.

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions 2023”. A service of the Southern Dominican Province

There is a tone of mystery in the opening verse of today’s gospel as Jesus praises God for having, “hidden these things from the wise and learned....” What does he mean and why would God do that? Jesus has just finished speaking to his disciples --  the “little ones.” They have received his message and are about to go out to spread it.  The gospel begins with verse 25, but it always helps to check the context from which a passage is taken.  Looking back at the sequence leading up to today’s passage we notice: John the Baptist is in prison (11:2) and  Jesus responds to criticism against himself with the complaint that his generation acts like finicky and self-willed children (vs. 16-19), who want things their way and no other.  Both John and Jesus just haven’t conformed to the people’s expectations about what God’s salvation should look like. So, Jesus accuses them of being  stubborn.  He tells them that they are never satisfied: they didn’t accept a strict John the Baptist, nor a freer Jesus, who opened his arms to sinners and sat at table with those beyond the religious pale. It’s obvious that finicky religious people didn’t just exist 2,000 years ago! People (us too?) never seem satisfied with the way the church and local parish are.  There is always much to criticize and we have plenty of excuses to hold back fuller participation.  It’s possible though, that our closer involvement might help the community and the leadership we criticize become a better reflection of Christian living and worship. Or, are we also guilty of Jesus’ charge against the stubborn generation?  It’s true we don’t have a perfect church, or world.  So, what are we going to do about it? One response, in the light of today’s gospel, is to pray for a deeper commitment and response to Christ and to ask to be open to the revelation he has for us this day. How can we be less stubborn and more fully responsive to his invitation, “Come to me...”? We learn still more about today’s gospel by looking back to what leads up to it. Jesus has met rejection in Galilee by a stubborn generation.  Hostility is growing, particularly from the religious leaders, the very ones who, if they had accepted him, could have promoted his message to the ordinary people. Jesus hoped for a better response to his ministry, how hard it must have been for him to see his project of spreading the good news thwarted.  From this point in Matthew’s gospel those who accept Jesus are fewer in number. It looks like the result of his work is on a downward curve. Nevertheless, what sounds mysterious to us is that he gives thanks to God for those few who are receiving him and his message.  He isn’t focused on the many who are rejecting, but on the few who are accepting him.  They are the ones he calls, the “little ones” -- little in religious and social importance, and little/few in numbers. In his prayer, Jesus shows his acceptance of God’s plan. The episode opens with, “at that time....”  What time is that?  It is the time when: Jesus’ Galilean ministry is facing the population’s rejection and his message (“these things”) is “hidden...from the wise and learned.”  But the “little ones,” who know nothing about the fine points of theology and few things of religion, who are considered unclean and sinners by the establishment -- they get the message. They hear what it offers, God’s grace for them through Jesus, and they accept it.  The sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors, who don’t even know religious law, much less keep it, are the ones to receive forgiveness and welcome at Jesus’ table. There are “little ones” a preacher meets along the way.  Some may be very educated, others may not have much education, or sophistication in religious matters.  But they do seem to have grasped the essence, or heart of Jesus’ teachings.  They possess a wisdom, given them through their life experience which enables them, as if by second nature: to know right from wrong; respond heroically to those in need; make large sacrifices of time, energy and money for their families and community and take the side of the outsider, poor and vulnerable.  Jesus says, “No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal God.”  When we meet a “little one,” we sense they “know” Jesus and his Father in a unique and intimate way.  These are the kind of people over whom Jesus rejoices today, they are the gifts God gave to Jesus in his lifetime and continues to give now. For them, then and now, Jesus is most grateful and filled with joy, even though he has plenty of reason to be disappointed in the response he is getting more and more from his contemporaries. Today we sense the relationship Jesus has with his Father.  When he talks about “knowing” the Father and “knowing” Jesus, he is talking about knowledge in the biblical sense.  While we know topics by studying and though we can even know a person by reading and getting information about him or her, to “know” someone in the bible is to have an experience of them.  So God’s knowledge of Jesus is very personal and direct, as is Jesus’ knowledge of God. Jesus says to his disciples, the “little ones,” by their coming to know him, they now know God. They know, through Jesus, that the Father has the same concern and love for us that Jesus showed.  We too “know” God because of the life Jesus has lived for us and the relationship he offers us.  There is an equality between Jesus and his Father, they know each other intimately and are working “hand in glove” together for our well-being. Religion could be a terrible burden for the unlettered and untutored of Jesus’ day.  So much to know and, for desperately poor peasants, so little leisure time to learn.  For those who were burdened by the guilt incurred by numerous violations of religious law, the “yoke” Jesus offers is his own “yoke.”  It is rest and welcome for the religious outsider. The very ones religion considers unworthy of God are the ones Jesus is reaching out to welcome, “Come to me all who labor and are burdened....Take my yoke....”  What book would someone study who wants to follow Jesus’ way?  What tomes, laws and religious commentaries?  How will they get his way right? Jesus invites the “little ones” to come to him -- to “read” and “study” him.  Matthew’s gospel has a strong wisdom theme, reminiscent of the wisdom books of the Hebrew scriptures. Jesus is a wisdom teacher and today’s reading captures a moment in which he is teaching us wisdom. “Come to me,” he is saying, “and in me you will discover divine wisdom.”  “What must I know?” we might ask. “Know me,” would be his response. It is sobering to realize that Jesus’ wisdom was rejected by those in the know and  yet accepted by the “don’t knows.”  Today’s gospel passage calls us to another kind of wisdom than what mere information and learning give. The wisdom Jesus offers is not a series of teachings, things we must learn or achieve through our own pursuits. The  wisdom he offers is not book knowledge, but a Person -- himself.  We get that wisdom by following and staying close to him; observing his actions ; listening to his words; imitating him and seeing the world from his perspective.  That’s what makes the “don’t knows” wise and those who claim they know, foolish.  What a twist;  but it is a gospel twist: the wise are foolish, and the “little ones” wise; or put in another way,  the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Reflection Questions: 

Do I consider myself one of Jesus’ “little ones”?
What would give me “rest”?
How am I burdened by the unknown?
Do I talk to God honestly about what is worrying me?
Is there resistance in me to sharing this with Jesus?  
What causes this resistance (shame, guilt, pride, stubbornness)?
Being really angry with someone is a deep burden.  Can I bring my troubles and failings in this regard to Jesus?
Forgiving those who  dislike or even hate us is desperately difficult.  Can I pray for the grace to do that?

Do I think Jesus understands weaknesses, struggles or disappointments?   
Did he have any in his life?
What can I learn about better behavior from watching Jesus?

How can prayer give me perspective?
How can prayer lead to acceptance?

What do I really want?  
What are my deepest desires?   
Are they a comfort or a burden to me?

Are there religious or civil rules that are personally burdensome and troubling to me?

What is my personal comfort zone (what situations have to exist for me to avoid stress?
Am I out of my comfort zone often?  Right now?

How does lack of control over the events of one’s life become a burden?
How great is my need for control?

How often am I tempted to use force and intimidation to get my way?

I think of a time in my life when I was "burdened"? 
Did I share my troubles with anyone?   
What happened?

What burden am I carrying that I want to lay at the feet of Jesus?

Do I know of someone who is particularly burdened right now?

Whose burden can I relieve or take away?

Closing Prayer

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for. 

Teach me to go to this country beyond words and beyond names.
Teach me to pray on this side of the frontier, here where these woods are.
I need to be led by you.
I need my heart to be moved by you.
I need my soul to be made clean by your prayer. I need my will to be made strong by you.
I need the world to be saved and changed by you.
I need you for all those who suffer, who are in prison, in danger, in sorrow.
I need you for all the crazy people.
I need your healing hand to work always in my life.
I need you to make me, as you made your Son, a healer, a comforter, a savior.
I need you to name the dead.
I need you to help the dying cross their particular rivers.
I need you for myself whether I live or die.
It is necessary.
Amen.

By Thomas Merton

For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization: (Taken from the gospel for today's session) My yoke is easy and my burden light.

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions: We can divide our human burdens in to three categories. The first is the burden of daily irritations—standing in line at the post office, finding a parking space, being on endless hold listening to bad elevator music, trying to figure out legal forms, watching bad behavior of an out-of-control child, being the embarrassed parent of said child. The list goes on. And the more stressed we are, the more these irritations are, well, IRRITATING! The second burden includes some serious worries like money, illness, job loss, a bad relationship, hurts we can’t heal, anger that won’t go away. Some of these issues may be ours or they may be serious issues for someone we love.  In any event, these things burden us and sometimes, make us a burden to others. The third burden runs the deepest, often because we suppress it. It is the burden of personal identity. Who am I? We live in a world that tells us we are what we have; we are what we do; we are what we look like; we are what degrees we possess; we are what others say about us. We put an awful lot of energy into maintaining our beliefs about identity. It is exhausting. And scary. What happens when I lose what I have, lose what I do, or lose what I look like? What happens when I have shaped my identity to impress or please others? How does this erode my sense of my true self?  Jesus’ temptation in the Desert was basically all about these identity issues.  How did he respond? What difference did it make to Jesus what others said about him? How did his relationship with his father (His ABBA) sustain him in difficult and burdensome times?
Questions:  Which of these burdens is troubling me most right now?
Do I believe that God wishes to lighten my personal burden?
Do I believe I am beloved of God?
Do I believe that what I have or do does not matter to God?
Prayer: I ask God for the reassurance of being blessed I ask God for patience with myself and others I ask God for hope: trust that God is looking out for me.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination: Parables help us to see life from another person’s point of view and, using our imagination, to examine our own lives: The Parable, the Return of the Prodigal Son from Luke, illustrates the burdens of insecurity that we all carry, and how God is there to reassure us that we are the beloved, just as we are.  Father Henri Nouwen reflects on this parable in light of Jesus’ own experience, Nouwen’s own experience, and Rembrandt’s vision: Soon after Jesus had heard the voice calling him the beloved, he was led to the desert to hear those other voices.  They told him to prove that he was worth love in being successful, popular, powerful. Almost from the moment that I had ears to hear, I heard those voices and they have stayed with me ever since.  The have come to me through my parents, my friends, my teachers, and my colleagues, but most of all, they have come and still come through the mass media that surround me.  And they say:  Show me that you are a good boy.  You had better be better than your friend!  Be sure you can make it through school!  I sure hope you can make it on your own!  Are you sure you want to be friends with those people?  These trophies certainly show what a good player you were!  Don’t show your weakness, you’ll be used!  When you stop being productive, people lose interest in you”.  Parents, friends, and teachers, even those who speak to me through the media, are mostly very sincere in their concerns.  In fact, they can be limited human expressions of an unlimited divine love.  But when I forget that voice of first unconditional love, then these innocent suggestions can easily start dominating my life and pull me into a “distant country”. (40-41) The world says: "Yes, I love you if you are good-looking, intelligent, and wealthy.  I love you if you have a good education, a good job, good connections.  I love you if you produce much, seek much, buy much.  There are endless "ifs" hidden in the world's love....The world's love is and always will be, conditional. As long as I keep looking for my true self in the world of conditional love, I will remain "hooked" to the world(42)….I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found….I am constantly surprised at how I keep taking the gifts God has given me--my health, my intellectual and emotional gifts--and keep using them to impress people, receive affirmation and praise, and compete for rewards, instead of developing them for the glory of God. Yes, I often carry them off to a "foreign country" and put them at the service of an exploiting world that does not know their true value. (43) Jesus has made it clear to me that the same voice he heard at the River Jordan and on Mount Tabor can also be heard by me. Faith is the radical trust that home has always been there and always will be. The somewhat stiff hands of the father rest on the prodigal’s shoulders with the everlasting blessing: “You are my beloved, on you my favor rests.” Yet over and over again I have left home. I have fled the hands of blessing and run off to faraway places searching for love! This is the great tragedy of my life and of the lives of so many I meet on my journey. Somehow I have become deaf to the voice that calls me the Beloved, have left the only place where I can hear that voice, and have gone off desperately hoping that I would find somewhere else what I could no longer find at home. Rembrandt’s painting of the father welcoming the son displays scarcely any external movement….(this painting is one of utter stillness.} The father’s touching the son is an everlasting blessing; the son resting against his father’s breast is an eternal peace. Jakob Rosenberg summarizes this vision beautifully when he writes: “the group of father and son is outwardly almost motionless, but inwardly all the more moved….the story deals not with the human love of an earthly father….what is meant and represented here is the divine love and mercy in its power to transform death into life.” “Coming home” meant for me, walking step-by-step toward the One who awaits me with open arms and wants to hold me in an eternal embrace. Reflect on this meditation from Nouwen in the light of this gospel passage. 

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action: Read the following excerpt from Father Thomas Keating's book Intimacy with God, pp 159-160: Prayer cannot stand alone without action emerging from it. Contemplative prayer without action stagnates, and action without contemplative prayer leads to burn-out or running around in circles. Contemplative prayer sifts our contemplative vision and our ideas about what we should be doing…. We are coming from an inner freedom that more and more without our thinking about it, expresses the mind of Christ in our particular daily lives through the welling up and flowing over of the fruits of the Spirit and the Beatitudes. p. 159-160. After reflecting on the scriptures, what action can you take this week to lift the burden of someone you know--family member, friend, someone in the larger community who is weighed down by poverty, fear, sadness or doubt?  If you do not know anyone personally, get in touch with Catholic Worker House in Redwood City, a group that cares for those who have no one to care about them. In the Franciscan manner, roll up your sleeves and be Jesus for someone in need of a helping hand to carry his cross. 

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship: This Sunday’s psalm is 145. It is a message of hope in these troubled days. Read it to yourself several times, picking out the phrases which have the most meaning for you. Then write your own thank-you note to God for the times you have been sustained when you have felt burdened or troubled:

Psalm 145

I will extol you, my God and king, and bless your name forever and ever.
I will bless you day after day, and praise your name forever and ever.
The LORD is great and highly to be praised; his greatness cannot be measured.
Age to age shall proclaim your works, shall declare your mighty deeds.
They will tell of your great glory and splendor, and recount your wonderful works.
They will speak of your awesome deeds, recount your greatness and might.
They will recall your abundant goodness, and sing of your just deeds with joy.
The LORD is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in mercy.
How good is the LORD to all, compassionate to all his creatures.
All your works shall thank you, O LORD, and all your faithful ones bless you.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign, and declare your mighty deeds,
To make known your might to the children of men, and the glorious splendor of your reign.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; your rule endures for all generations. 
The LORD is faithful in all his words, and holy in all his deeds.
The LORD supports all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The LORD is just in all his ways, and holy in all his deeds.
The LORD is close to all who call him, who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and he saves them.
The LORD keeps watch over all who love him; the wicked he will utterly destroy.
Let my mouth speak the praise of the LORD; let all flesh bless his holy name forever, for ages unending.

Poetic Reflection

This poem from Ed Ingebretzen, S.J. reminds us that God does not wish to burden us, but to comfort and mother us.

From Narrow Places

From narrow places
the strength of our voice
rises:
our every breath 
is prayer,
the great poem of need,
a constant scattering
of praise.
Early
we reach to God
in the claim of our hearts,
while he,
our father,
mothers us 
in his

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 28, 2026

To be a disciple is to identify with Jesus, and to do what Jesus did for others.

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.”

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

When we see someone we have not seen for a while, we often ask, “What’s new?” As we approach today’s Gospel, one we have heard many times, Jesus is asking something new of us – or perhaps something deeper. His words are challenging. He asks us to love him more than father, mother, son, or daughter. Is he serious! Even more, he asks us to take up our cross and lose our life in order to find it. He is not speaking only to new disciples; he is addressing those who have been following him for a long time – like many of us gathered for prayer today. His question to us today may not be new, but it remains very much in the present tense: “After all these years, am I still first in your life?” Most of us have been coming to church for many years. Have we gradually settled in, allowing comfort, routines, opinions, possessions, or even family concerns to take the central place that belongs to Christ? Then there is the uncomfortable question Jesus puts before us: Are we still willing to carry our cross? The cross may no longer be dramatic persecution. It may be putting everything aside to care for a spouse or a dependent adult child; forgiving old hurts or remaining faithful when prayer seems lifeless. Jesus is asking whether we will continue walking with him even when discipleship is costly. And in his name, as his disciples, are we still open to the stranger and the needy? The Gospel passage ends not with heroic deeds but with simple acts of hospitality – a welcome and a cup of cold water. We are reminded that holiness is often found in ordinary kindness and generosity. Here is another question for us older disciples: Do we trust Jesus enough to let go as we grow older, experience losses, face health challenges, grieve loved ones, and eventually surrender our own lives? Jesus says that those who lose their life for his sake will find it. He invites us to place our future in God's hands. For the regular churchgoer, this Gospel is not a call to do more things but to renew our first love – Jesus. He is asking us to trust him and follow him wherever he leads. Hearing his words anew today, I want to ask myself: What currently occupies my heart more than my relationship with Christ? And as I look ahead to the coming week, to whom can I show Christ's love through a simple act of welcome or kindness? This Gospel is not addressed only to new disciples, nor is discipleship something we accomplished years ago. Rather, being Jesus' disciple is a choice we must make again each day. Even though we have been following him for a long time, he continues to say, “Follow me.” When Jesus says, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it,” it sounds like a contradiction. But he is speaking about two different ways of living. The person who tries to “find” life by making self-preservation, comfort, security, success, reputation, or personal advantage the highest goal will eventually discover that such a life is too small. In trying to save oneself at all costs, one can lose what matters most: a relationship with God, love for others, and the deeper purpose for which God created us.By contrast, the person who “loses” life for Christ's sake is willing to place faithfulness above self-interest. This does not usually mean physical martyrdom. For most Christians, it means daily acts of self-giving: forgiving when it is difficult, serving without recognition, speaking the truth when it is unpopular, remaining faithful to commitments, caring for the vulnerable, and following Christ even when it costs something. Jesus is teaching a paradox: life becomes fullest when it is given away in love. The more tightly we cling to ourselves, the less alive we become. The more we entrust ourselves to God and spend ourselves for others, the more we discover the life God intends for us. The saints discovered the truth of Jesus' words. They did not become less themselves by giving their lives to Christ; they became more fully themselves. In God's kingdom, the path to life is not grasping but giving; not holding on but trusting; not self-centeredness but love. Jesus is not asking us to hate life. He is inviting us to stop making ourselves the center of life. When we lose ourselves in love for God and neighbor, we finally find the life we have been searching for all along. What does St. Paul mean when he tells the Roman community that those “who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death”? For Paul, baptism unites us with the saving events of Christ's life, death, and resurrection. We die to our old way of life, dominated by sin, selfishness, and separation from God. Through baptism we are buried with Christ, symbolizing the end of our old existence. With Christ we rise to a new life, already sharing in the power of his resurrection. The power of sin no longer has the final claim on us. As Paul says, we are to “think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.” This does not mean Christians never sin again, but that our fundamental identity has been changed. Baptism is not simply something that happened years ago at the font. It is a way of life. Every day Christians are called to die to whatever diminishes life – resentment, greed, pride, and indifference – and to rise to a new way of living marked by faith, hope, love, mercy, and service. Perhaps Paul is asking us the same question Jesus asks in today's Gospel: Are you following me only when it costs little and is convenient? Or are you willing to die to self so that Christ may live more fully in you? The Christian life is not merely about believing certain truths; it is about participating in Christ's death and resurrection every day. In losing ourselves for his sake, we discover the new life that God has been offering us from the beginning.

Justice Bulletin Board Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

“Justice and judgment are the foundation of your throne; love and loyalty march before you.”—Psalm 89:15

I have been reflecting on three words recently: Compassion, Conscience, and Courage. As we celebrate “liberty and justice for all” this 4th of July, it is fitting we consider them. When I studied civics in school, it was taught that with each of our freedoms comes duties and responsibilities. One of the major Social Teachings of the Church repeats this: we have duties and responsibilities to one another, to our families, and to the larger society. Freedom does not give us the license (liberty of action or thought) to do or say anything we please. Tempering the exercise of freedom with compassion, conscience, and courage will yield a more just life. On compassion, our late Pope Francis writes: “Compassion is to endure with the other, to suffer with the other, to draw near to the one who is suffering. A word, a caress, but given from the heart; this is compassion” (2/8/17). Our freedom must always have a loving, empathic concern for others and their freedom. On conscience, the Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes (16), states: “Deep within their consciences, men and women discover a law which they have not laid upon themselves and which they must obey. Its voice, ever calling them to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, tells them inwardly at the right moment: do this, shun that. For they have in their hearts a law inscribed by God. Their dignity rests in observing this law, and by it they will be judged. . .By conscience, in a wonderful way, that law is made known which is fulfilled in the love of God and of one’s neighbor.” Exercising our freedom means thoughtful examination and balancing others’ freedom with ours. Finally, on exercising courage when compassionate, Pope Leo offers this: “Compassion,” Pope Leo stresses, “takes form through concrete actions,” because in order to help someone, “you cannot stay at a distance.” To be compassionate, you have to get involved and be prepared to “even get dirty, perhaps take risks.” (5/2025 General Audience). And that takes courage. Without courage, we will not step out of our personal box in order to help create a more just, free world. Truly acting with compassion, conscience, and courage will manifest God’s justice and judgment and form our lives as ones of love and loyalty in freedom before the One who created us.

Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s 2nd Kings reading: One day Elisha come to Shunem where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her.

Reflection: During the first part of our celebration today we, like the  Shunemite woman welcomed God’s Word into our “home” – we made room for it in our hearts.  As Scripture reminds us, the Word blossoms there with a promise of new life. God sends prophetic people to speak the Word to us, but remember, prophetic people don’t always fit into official categories; they aren’t always bearing an institutional stamp of approval. Yet, God often comes to us in the other and through people who are strangers.

So, we ask ourselves:

• Who comes bearing the Word of God to me? 

• Do they comfort, or challenge me with their message?

The Five Discourses in the Gospel of Matthew

In Christianity, the term Five Discourses of Matthew refers to five specific discourses by Jesus within the Gospel of Matthew. These five discourses are, according to some scholars, meant to reflect/recall the first five books of the Jewish Scriptures. The five discourses are listed as the following: the Sermon on the Mount, the Mission Discourse, the Parabolic Discourse, the Discourse on the Church, and the Discourse on End Times. Each of the discourses has a shorter parallel in the Gospel of Mark or the Gospel of Luke.

Structure:

The first discourse — Matthew: 5-7

The first discourse (Matthew 5–7) is called the Sermon on the Mount and is one of the best known and most quoted parts of the New Testament.[6] It includes the Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer and the Golden Rule. To most believers in Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount contains the central tenets of Christian discipleship.[6] The Beatitudes are a key element of this sermon, and are often expressed as a set of blessings. Jesus presents the Beatitudes as a list of those he considered "blessed," or "fortunate," (due to his arrival and their subsequent invitation into the "Kingdom of Heaven"), as opposed to Ben Sira's list of "blessed" peoples (Ben Sira 25:7-11). The Beatitudes work as a welcoming statement to this group of people, and as an introduction to the sermon.[7][8]

The second discourse — Matthew 10

The second discourse in Matthew 10 provides instructions to the Twelve Apostles and is sometimes called the Mission Discourse or the Missionary Discourse[5] or the Little Commission in contrast to the Great Commission. This discourse is directed to the twelve apostles who are named in Matthew 10:2-3. In the discourse Jesus advises them how to travel from city to city, carry no belongings and to preach only to Israelite communities. He tells them to be wary of opposition, but have no fear for they will be told what to say to defend themselves when needed: "For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.", as also stated similarly in Luke 12:12.[9]

The third discourse — Matthew 13

The third discourse in Matthew 13 (verses 1-52) provides several parables for the Kingdom of Heaven and is often called the Parabolic Discourse.[5] The first part of this discourse, in Matthew 13:1-35 takes place outside when Jesus leaves a house and sits near the Lake to address the disciples as well as the multitudes of people who have gathered to hear him.[10] This part includes the parables of the Sower, the Tares, the Mustard Seed and the Leaven. In the second part Jesus goes back inside the house and addresses the disciples. This part includes the parables of the Hidden Treasure, the Pearl and Drawing in the Net.[10]

The fourth discourse — Matthew 18

The fourth discourse in Matthew 18 is often called the Discourse on the Church.[5] It includes the parables of The Lost Sheep and The Unforgiving Servant which also refer to the Kingdom of Heaven. The general theme of the discourse is the anticipation of a future community of followers, and the role of his apostles in leading it.[11][12] Addressing his apostles in 18:18, Jesus states: "what things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven", see also Binding and loosing. This power is first given to Peter in chapter 16 after Peter confesses that Jesus is the "son of the living God". In addition to the powers of binding and loosing, Peter is given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and is sometimes considered the "rock" on which Christ built his Church. The discourse emphasizes the importance of humility and self-sacrifice as the high virtues within the anticipated community. It teaches that in the Kingdom of God, it is childlike humility that matters, not social prominence and clout.[11][12]

The fifth discourse — Matthew 23, Matthew 24, and Matthew 25

Although assessments of its scope vary, the final discourse can be taken to include Matthew 23, 24, and 25.  Matthew 24 is usually called the Olivet Discourse, because it was given on the Mount of Olives; it is also referred to as the Discourse on the End Times.[5] The discourse corresponds to Mark 13 and Luke 21 and is mostly about judgment and the expected conduct of the followers of Jesus, and the need for vigilance by the followers in view of the coming judgment.[14] The discourse is prompted by a question the disciples ask about the "end of the age" (end times or end of this world and beginning of the world to come),[15] and receives the longest response provided by Jesus in the New Testament.[16] The discourse is generally viewed as referring both to the coming destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, as well as the End Times and Second Coming of Christ, but the many scholarly opinions about the overlap of these two issues, and exactly which verses refer to which event remain divided and complex. 

Some thoughts on today's scripture from Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits

• Jesus would probably have taught the fifth commandment - Honour thy father and thy mother - in the synagogue. But sometimes when God tries to come into my heart it is cluttered with people and things that I love dearly. I will talk to Jesus about this.

• A cup of cold water’ - a simple example of kindness. Can I learn anything from this?

• If Jesus sometimes uses shocking words, it is to jolt us into realising what he is about. He does not endorse armed conflict, but he warns that we have to struggle to put him first, even before family ties. Divisions will occur according as people are forced to decide for him or against him. I pray that he gives me the courage I need to stand with him despite losing things I hold dear.

• While Jesus warns us about the cost of discipleship, he also promises that even the small efforts we make in following him will have their reward. He knows my weakness, so he asks me to take baby steps – even to give a cup of water to someone.

• The words of Jesus will be a scandal, a stumbling block, to us if we try to understand them on their own. As we keep our eyes on Jesus and see the fullness of his sacred heart, his personality and vision, we understand how he is inviting us to take good care. Help me now, Jesus, to receive your word that saves me and not focus on what might trip me up.

• A sense of gratitude and appreciation for friends and families is a blessing; I take time to reflect on the blessing I am to them and ask for the strength I need to let God work fully in me; I ask for wisdom to know when to speak and how best to witness in their presence.

• Today’s readings contains some of what are called the hard sayings of Jesus: choosing to follow him means some hard choices in life, some involving our closest relationships. In the depth of my heart I know this is true, and I look back at when I paid a high price to follow Jesus and his values, and at other times when I was not brave enough to do so. I pray for a generous and strong spirit.

• Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. Finding and losing my life: can anything be more important for me than this? The experience of the pandemic makes this very clear. Yet I realise there are many levels of finding and losing one’s life. I ask for the grace to know how to lose my life for the sake of Jesus.

• A ‘prophet’, in the Bible, is not principally someone who can foresee the future; rather a prophet is someone who is sent to proclaim God’s message to the people. Inevitably, this will sometimes lead to confrontation : the prophet is not sent simply to confirm people in the life-choices they have made.

• Jesus himself warned his disciples that “if they have persecuted me, they will persecute you” – and he condemned the hostility that led people to kill the prophets in the past.

• Here he warns his disciples that if they give sincere witness to the way of life he is proposing, this could sometimes mean putting their life in danger. It could also mean setting family members against one another. (We recall some family members pointing out that Saint Thomas More was risking mortal danger, by making a stand in conscience against the king).

• When he appeared to Saul (later Paul) as he was rounding-up Christians, Jesus said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting”. But in the same way whenever we welcome a disciple and his message, Jesus can say, “Anyone who welcomes you, welcomes me”.

• This gospel consists of a number of sayings by Jesus on discipleship. He does not directly intend these tensions and divisions in family life, but he wants us to put God first and accept the consequences. The different ways in which the Gospel is welcomed or rejected brings its own pain.

• ‘…whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones’ has eternal significance. This truth highlights the dignity of each and every human being, no matter how lowly or insignificant they are. Lord, help me to see your face in my neighbour, and especially the poor and the needy, and to respond accordingly. 

• These hard words of Jesus can only be understood in the light of our life experience, the times we had to face the dramatic choices Jesus speaks of. We know there are moments when stark choices need to be made to ensure we can still call ourselves disciples of Jesus, moments when we wield the sword of division or separation.

• Do I want to save my life or to lose it? Am I ready to lose it, or do I cling on for fear of losing it? This is perhaps the basic condition for discipleship, and no moralistic or perfect obedience to any law or system of rules can replace it. I ask insistently for the grace of real interior freedom and for courage to be true to myself and to my calling.

• Jesus is speaking about the cost of discipleship and puts before the twelve the challenge of taking up the Cross as a condition of following him. The litany of references to welcoming suggests that it is often through the small things we do – such as giving a cup of water to somebody in need of it, that we can build the kingdom of God.

• Perhaps I sometimes consider the cross as something that weighs me down or as an symbol for the difficulties of modern day life which I can experience. Lord, help me to remember that you carry the cross with me during all of my struggles. 

• Lord, I pray for the grace to go forward in faith with you by recognising your face in the poor, the suffering, the needy and reaching out to them with the same unconditional love that you love me. 

• Being a follower of Jesus is not only about proclaiming and announcing the word: it is necessary also to receive the word graciously. I pray for the generosity I need to be able both to give freely and to receive fully the word of God. I ask God for the humility to listen, to notice, to hear and to receive God’s word.

• This gospel consists of a number of sayings by Jesus on discipleship. He does not directly intend these tensions and divisions in family life, but he wants us to put God first and accept the consequences. The different ways in which the Gospel is welcomed or rejected brings its own pain.

• ‘…a cup of cold water to one of these little ones’ has eternal significance. This truth highlights the dignity of each and every human being, no matter how lowly or insignificant they are. Lord, help me to see your face in my neighbour, and especially the poor and the needy, and to respond accordingly. When did I last buy a beggar a cup of coffee?

• If Jesus sometimes uses shocking words, it is to jolt us into realising what he is about. He does not endorse armed conflict, but he warns that we have to struggle to put him first, before family ties. Divisions will occur according as people are forced to decide for him or against him. I pray that he give me the courage I need to stand with him despite losing things I hold dear.

• While Jesus warns us about the cost of discipleship, he also promises that even the small efforts we make in following him will have their reward. He knows my weakness, so he asks me to take baby steps – even to give a cup of water to someone.

• Isn’t it strange that we save our life by losing it? As if we lost all our money by saving it. It’s only when energies go into the good of others, rather than just for our own good that we can preserve and enhance our life. The self-centred person is the one who is caught up in controlling and preserving all for the self. Jesus is the opposite – he makes the best of himself for the betterment of others. Prayer helps this to happen for all of us.

• These are phrases of Jesus put together as part of what discipleship means. The priority of our relationship with him means not putting anything above him. All is enjoyed and experienced within our relationship with him. This may mean losing treasured bonds and taking up the difficulty of the cross.

• The Gospel of Jesus is not only about a way of life founded on love and mercy, but above all about the person of Jesus himself. Today he claims a special place in our lives, more important than our dearest ones. Being a disciple is not a marginal aspect of my life, it is central. I ask for the grace to be a real disciple of Jesus, capable of taking up my cross and following him.

• At the same time, Jesus assures us that even the smallest gesture of mercy to those in need will not go unnoticed. Let me reflect on the many such gestures that fill my life.

• Jesus is stating his message at its starkest: should I have to choose between the claims of God and those of my household, then God comes first. We do not go looking for this sort of confrontation, and pray that it may never come to this. But you, Lord, have first claim on my life.

• We are rarely asked for a cup of water. But the rewards promised by Jesus extend beyond individual almsgiving to those who work for others in a thousand hidden ways, for instance maintaining a city water system, or caring for public hygiene, as civil servants, plumbers, engineers, scientists, street-cleaners or parents of families. We live in a more complex society, but the same care and generosity are found in all walks of life, wherever people devote themselves to the service of others.

• Thank you, Lord, for the opportunities I have to serve others. Please continue to provide me with opportunities to serve others in whatever ways I can.

• beyond individual almsgiving to those who work for others in a thousand hidden ways, for instance maintaining a city water system, or caring for public hygiene, as civil servants, plumbers, engineers, scientists, street-cleaners or parents of families. We live in a more complex society, but the same care and generosity are found in all walks of life, wherever people devote themselves to the service of others.

Matthew Chapter 10 — Full Discourse

Chapter 10 of Matthew is the entire second discourse of Jesus of which today’s Gospel is a part. It sometimes helps to see the context of the Sunday reading.

The Mission of the Twelve
1 Then he summoned his twelve disciples* and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. 2 The names of the twelve apostles* are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; 4Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

The Commissioning of the Twelve.
5 Jesus sent out these twelve* after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. 9 Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; 10 no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. 12 As you enter a house, wish it peace. 13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.* 14Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. 15 Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 

Coming Persecutions
16j “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. 17* But beware of people, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. 19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. 20 For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end* will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 24 No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!

Courage Under Persecution
26p “Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.
27 What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.30 Even all the hairs of your head are counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 32* Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. 33 But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father. 

Jesus: A Cause of Division.
34t “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. 35 For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’

The Conditions of Discipleship
37 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; 38 and whoever does not take up his cross* and follow after me is not worthy of me. 39* Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Rewards

40“Whoever receives you receives me,* and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. 41* 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. 42And 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.” 

Notes on Matthew 10:
* [10:1–11:1] After an introductory narrative (Mt 10:1–4),  this chapter covers the second of the 5 major discourses of Matthew’s gospel. (see separate sheet for the five major discourses in Matthew) this second discourse deals with the mission now to be undertaken by the disciples (Mt 10:5–15), but the perspective broadens and includes the missionary activity of the church between the time of the resurrection and the Parousia (second coming).
* [10:1] His twelve disciples: although, unlike Mark (Mk 3:13–14) and Luke (Lk 6:12–16), Matthew has no story of Jesus’ choosing the Twelve, he assumes that the group is known to the reader. The earliest New Testament text to speak of it is 1 Cor 15:5. The number probably is meant to recall the twelve tribes of Israel and implies Jesus’ authority to call all Israel into the kingdom. While Luke (Lk 6:13) and probably Mark (Mk 4:10, 34) distinguish between the Twelve and a larger group also termed disciples, Matthew tends to identify the disciples and the Twelve. Authority…every illness: activities the same as those of Jesus; see Mt 4:23; Mt 9:35; 10:8. The Twelve also share in his proclamation of the kingdom (Mt 10:7). But although he teaches (Mt 4:23; 7:28; 9:35), they do not. Their commission to teach comes only after Jesus’ resurrection, after they have been fully instructed by him (Mt 28:20).
* [10:2–4] Here, for the only time in Matthew, the Twelve are designated apostles. The word “apostle” means “one who is sent,” and therefore fits the situation here described. In the Pauline letters, the place where the term occurs most frequently in the New Testament, it means primarily one who has seen the risen Lord and has been commissioned to proclaim the resurrection. With slight variants in Luke and Acts, the names of those who belong to this group are the same in the four lists given in the New Testament (see note on Mt 9:9). Cananean: this represents an Aramaic word meaning “zealot.” The meaning of that designation is unclear (see note on Lk 6:15).
* [10:5–6] Like Jesus (Mt 15:24), the Twelve are sent only to Israel. This saying may reflect an original Jewish Christian refusal of the mission to the Gentiles, but for Matthew it expresses rather the limitation that Jesus himself observed during his ministry.
* [10:8–11] The Twelve have received their own call and mission through God’s gift, and the benefits they confer are likewise to be given freely. They are not to take with them money, provisions, or unnecessary clothing; their lodging and food will be provided by those who receive them.
* [10:13] The greeting of peace is conceived of not merely as a salutation but as an effective word. If it finds no worthy recipient, it will return to the speaker.
* [10:14] Shake the dust from your feet: this gesture indicates a complete disassociation from such unbelievers.
* [10:17] The persecutions attendant upon the post-resurrection mission now begin to be spoken of. Here Matthew brings into the discourse sayings found in Mk 13 which deals with events preceding the parousia.
* [10:21] See Mi 7:6 which is cited in Mt 10:35, 36.
* [10:22] To the end: the original meaning was probably “until the parousia.” But it is not likely that Matthew expected no missionary disciples to suffer death before then, since he envisages the martyrdom of other Christians (Mt 10:21). For him, the end is probably that of the individual’s life (see Mt 10:28).
* [10:23] Before the Son of Man comes: since the coming of the Son of Man at the end of the age had not taken place when this gospel was written, much less during the mission of the Twelve during Jesus’ ministry, Matthew cannot have meant the coming to refer to the parousia. It is difficult to know what he understood it to be: perhaps the “proleptic parousia” of Mt 28:16–20, or the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, viewed as a coming of Jesus in judgment on unbelieving Israel.
* [10:25] Beelzebul: see Mt 9:34 for the charge linking Jesus with “the prince of demons,” who is named Beelzebul in Mt 12:24. The meaning of the name is uncertain; possibly, “lord of the house.”
* [10:26] The concealed and secret coming of the kingdom is to be proclaimed by them, and no fear must be allowed to deter them from that proclamation.
* [10:32–33] In the Q parallel (Lk 12:8–9), the Son of Man will acknowledge those who have acknowledged Jesus, and those who deny him will be denied (by the Son of Man) before the angels of God at the judgment. Here Jesus and the Son of Man are identified, and the acknowledgment or denial will be before his heavenly Father.
* [10:38] The first mention of the cross in Matthew, explicitly that of the disciple, but implicitly that of Jesus (and follow after me). Crucifixion was a form of capital punishment used by the Romans for offenders who were not Roman citizens.
* [10:39] One who denies Jesus in order to save one’s earthly life will be condemned to everlasting destruction; loss of earthly life for Jesus’ sake will be rewarded by everlasting life in the kingdom.
* [10:40–42] All who receive the disciples of Jesus receive him, and God who sent him, and will be rewarded accordingly.
* [10:41] A prophet: one who speaks in the name of God; here, the Christian prophets who proclaim the gospel. Righteous man: since righteousness is demanded of all the disciples, it is difficult to take the righteous man of this verse and one of these little ones (Mt 10:42) as indicating different groups within the followers of Jesus. Probably all three designations are used here of Christian missionaries as such.

Cross references to other scriptural texts:
a. [10:1–4] Mk 3:14–19; Lk 6:13–16; Acts 1:13.
b. [10:5–15] Mk 6:7–13; Lk 9:1–6.
c. [10:6] 15:24.
d. [10:7] 3:2; 4:17.
e. [10:9–10] Mk 6:8–9; Lk 9:3; 10:4.
f. [10:10] Lk 10:7; 1 Cor 9:14; 1 Tm 5:18.
g. [10:11–15] Mk 6:10–11; Lk 9:4–5; 10:5–12.
h. [10:14] Acts 13:51; 18:6.
i. [10:15] 11:24; Gn 19:1–29; Jude 7.
j. [10:16] Lk 10:3.
k. [10:17–22] Mk 13:9–13; Lk 21:12–19.
l. [10:17] Acts 5:40.
m. [10:19] Ex 4:11–12; Jer 1:6–10; Lk 12:11–12.
n. [10:21–22] 24:9, 13.
o. [10:24–25] Lk 6:40; Jn 13:16; 15:20.
p. [10:26–33] Lk 12:2–9.
q. [10:26] Mk 4:22; Lk 8:17; 1 Tm 5:25.
r. [10:28] Jas 4:12.
s. [10:33] Mk 8:38; Lk 9:26; 2 Tm 2:12; Rev 3:5.
t. [10:34–35] Lk 12:51–53.
u. [10:37–39] 16:24–25; Lk 14:26–27.
v. [10:39] Mk 8:35; Lk 9:24; Jn 12:25.
w. [10:40] Lk 10:16; Jn 12:44; 13:20.
x. [10:42] 25:40; Mk 9:41.

ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence. Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others.  Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God?  With others in my life? What am I grateful for?  Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret?  I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt.  God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

Opening Prayer

Lord, being disciple is demanding and fulfilling. Help me to receive your word graciously and openly, to give freely and receive fully, when needed. I ask for the humility to listen, to hear, to notice, and to respond to those requests of me as disciple.

Companions for the Journey

Adapted from a commentary in 2014 by Alice McDermott

We all like to be rewarded for our efforts. Gold stars on our school papers as children. Praise from parents and teachers as we get older. Money as payment for our expenditure of our time and talents in our work. Perhaps being recognized publicly with a plaque or round of applause for our community service. We all appreciate recognition and benefits from our actions. Jesus is promising a reward for those who welcome prophets and righteous persons to the community, and for those who offer small kindnesses to the vulnerable in their midst. That reward is participation in the kingdom of God, which has both a present and a future component. This text comes after Jesus' promise that those who lose their life for his sake will find it (Mt. 10:39). It's an answer to the question, "What is our reward for risking the loss of our lives as we know them for you?" Or, as Simon Peter so pragmatically puts it, "Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?" His question and Jesus' answer show up three times in almost exactly the same wording in Matthew 19:27, Mark 10:28, and Luke 18:28. In Matthew 10:42, Jesus refers to "the reward of the righteous." It appears to be a bountiful compensation for the sacrifices we have made in this life, one that has both a worldly and eternal life component (Mt. 19:29; Mk. 10:29-30; Lk. 18:29-30). What are those addressed by this text going to be rewarded for? Since Jesus sends his disciples to act on his behalf, those who receive them also receive Jesus (10:40a). And in receiving Jesus they also receive God, the one who sent him. Underlying this saying is the shaliach conception of ancient Jewish law, according to which a man's duly authorized messenger "is as the man himself." (Hare, Interpretation Commentary on Matthew, 118) The one sent out represents the one who sent him, so that to receive a disciple of Christ is to receive Christ and to receive Christ is to receive God. (Argyle, Cambridge Commentary on Matthew, 83-4) Participation in the kingdom of God is the reward of the righteous person. It is not wholly extrinsic like the gold stars and the round of applause. The righteousness Jesus is talking about in Matthew carries with it an intrinsic reward, one that is an integral part of the action of welcome and kindness. Such righteous acts participate in and point us toward God, toward the Kingdom which is now and not yet. Those who receive the disciples also receive the same benefits or reward they receive, the blessing of participation in the kingdom of God as outlined by Jesus by way of Matthew in the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-10). The Beatitudes have a future, but also a present reference. The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake—all participate in the present in the blessings of divine presence, comfort, wisdom, forgiveness, which are the realities of the reign of God now and forever.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Reflection Questions: 

Have I ever been in relationship that was so all-consuming that I lost myself in the process?

To what/whom am I attached so firmly that it interferes with my relationship God or with others in my life?
Has there been an attachment to a person, a habit, a conviction or a principle that has estranged me from others or my own self?

Jesus does not advocate armed conflict, but divisions might occur when people are forced to decide between the words of Jesus and the words of those we love. When could there be a conflict between our love for another and our love for God?

Are there times, however, when I alienate people I love by rendering an opinion that is unjust or too harsh?
Have I ever assumed I was saying something for someone’s else’s good, but it was really for my personal satisfaction that I spoke?
How do I discern between my opinion/prejudices and God’s?

Have I ever received opposition for my beliefs from someone I loved?   
What did I do?
Have I ever suffered the rupture of a relationship because of my relationship with Jesus?

Do I truly see myself as a disciple of Jesus?   
What is the cost to me for being a disciple?

What is the difference between adherence to a moralistic law or system of rules and the interior freedom that comes for knowing God’s will and doing it?

Am I ever motivated in my actions by the hope of a later reward or is my motivation rooted in a desire to be closer to Jesus right now?

What, exactly, is my relationship with God, my relationship with my fellow disciples, my relationship with the desperate?

What is my role of “welcoming others” that I see in this reading?

Do I think of being disciple as a large dramatic gesture/choice, or can I look at my small efforts to help others and myself as discipleship?
When did I last buy a poor person a cup of coffee?

Do I expect happiness, or at least a cessation of anxiety or unhappiness as a result of doing God’s will?

What does it mean, in the lives of us ordinary saints, to “lose one’s life”?

Closing Prayer

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for.

I ask for grace to be a true disciple, Lord, and to remember that you always have the first claim my life.  Always. When I am overwhelmed b;y my personal cares and the cares of the world, help me to be aware of your comforting presence in my life. Guide me always to do your holy will, knowing that your strength will carry me through.  

For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization — Taken from the gospel for today's session: Whoever receives you receives me. Whoever gives only a cup of water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely jnot lose his reward.

Meditations

A meditation in the Dominican style/asking questions: Participation in the Kingdom of God is the reward of the person who is a true disciple. What follows are some quotes from thinkers who seem to have taken seriously the message of Jesus in this passage. They are talking about giving one's life away for some purpose beyond oneself that, paradoxically, results in a gain. As Christians we would call that the reward of the righteous.  Which of the following do you agree with?   Did any surprise you? Examine your motivations for doing God’s will and making the sacrifices required of that commitment.

The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it—John Ruskin 

Happiness is a virtue, not its reward—Baruch Spinoza 

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed—Albert Einstein 

Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. 

Love, therefore, is its own reward—Thomas Merton

A meditation in the Franciscan style/action: We are rarely asked for a cup of water.  We live in a more complex society, but the same care and generosity to which Jesus calls us in verse 42 to are found in all walks of life. There are those who work for clean healthy water in a thousand hidden ways, for instance maintaining a city water system, or caring for public hygiene, as civil servants, plumbers, activists, engineers, scientists, and street cleaners.   Wherever people devote themselves to the service of others by caring for the environment, by creating safe and good schools, by working toward affordable healthcare and affordable housing for everyone somehow, by making our governmental systems, local and national, ensure safety for all, we are, in effect, giving someone who needs it a drink of water. So verse 42 is a metaphor for doing things for others in the name of Jesus.  And the rewards promised by Jesus are entrance into the Kingdom of God.   Our first job, then, is to be aware of the opportunities and desperate needs that are out there.  But we need to go further.   Undeterred by the sheer enormity of the task, we must start somewhere. . Do I look for the grand gestures instead of offering a simple “cup of water”?  How does giving someone a cup of water play out in practical terms: is it a hug, or a listening ear, or giving someone a ride, or giving a small donation to an agency like CRS? Do I believe that each act of mercy, no matter how insignificant, can make a difference that really matters?  Mother Teresa said that we are not called to do great things, we are called to do small things with great love.  We need to go beyond studying the issues to actually help in in some small way to alleviate the thirst for water, for food, for justice, for safety.   What can I do?   What can I do this week?

Poetic Reflection:

We turn to a tried-and-true reflection written by Thomas Centollela, a former Stegner fellow.   He encourages us to do even more than the minimum of giving a cup of water to “one of these little ones”.  How can you  love more, require less?   What does it mean to love without regard for form? How can you live “further in”?”

At Big Rec
A few hours spent in the dry rooms of the dying.
Then the walk home, and the sudden rain
comes hard, and you want it coming hard,
you want it hitting you in the forehead
like anointment, blessing all the days
that otherwise would be dismissed
as business as usual. Now you’re ready
to lean on the rail above the empty diamonds
where, in summer, the ballplayers wait patiently
for one true moment more alive than all the rest.
Now you’re ready for the ancient religion of dogs,
that unleashed romp through the wildness, responding
To no one’s liturgy but the field’s and the rain’s.
You’ve come this far, but you need to live further in.
You need to slip into the blind man for a while,
tap along with his cane past the market stalls
and take in, as if they were abandoned, 
the little blue crabs which within an hour will be eaten.
You have to become large enough to accommodate
all the small lives that otherwise would be forgotten.
You have to raise yourself to the power of ten.
Love more, require less, love without regard
For form. You have to live further in.