13A SUNDAY HOMILY, MATTHEW 10:37-44 June 28, 2026
1. STORY
Three-year-old
Mary's uncle asked her to choose a gift on her birthday. He offered her a choice to select one of two ten-dollar
bills. She noticed one was bigger than
the other and was about to select the larger one when she paused and asked her
mother for help. Her mother told her to
select the smaller one which she did. Her
mother than explained to her that the smaller one was a US ten-dollar bill
worth much more that the larger one which was a Hong Kong one. Mary made the right choice.
2. GOSPEL,
MATTHEW 10:37-44
A) CHOOSE JESUS
Jesus told his
apostles that he was more important than anyone else including the members of
his family. They must be willing to leave
them in order to follow him.
B) WELCOME THE
DISCIPLES OF JESUS
Jesus tells us
that when a disciple of Jesus is welcomed by anyone, it is the same as
welcoming Jesus himself and one will be rewarded by Jesus for such a welcome.
3. APPLICATION TO
LIFE
A) WHY WE SHOULD
CHOOSE JESUS
We should choose
Jesus for two reasons:
i) Jesus will
remind us that it is our duty to love our parents and family members. He will remind us of the importance of the
fourth commandment, "Honor your father and your mother."
ii) Jesus will
give us the strength to carry out this command. Though we may be burdened with many other responsibilities
such as caring for one’s own family, or working long hours, Jesus will help as
we pray, hear his Word and by receiving the Eucharist.
B) HOW TO WELCOME
THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS
We welcome Jesus'
disciples in two ways:
i) When we
welcome a priest, a nun or a Catholic we welcome Jesus.
ii) When we help
a needy person, we welcome Jesus. He
also tells us that by doing this we will be rewarded because we are following
his example. He will bring us peace, joy
and happiness.
4. CONCLUSION
In the story Mary
was able to make the right choice of selecting the US dollar bill because of
her mother's help. Jesus in today's
gospel helps us to make the right choice of selecting him above all others
including members of our family. In
doing so we actually love them more because Jesus reminds us of the importance
of honoring our parents and family and he gives us the strength to do so no
matter how many obligations we may have. We welcome Jesus into our lives by welcoming
his disciples such as priest, nuns, Catholics and the needy. For this we will be rewarded with peace, joy
and happiness. We thank Jesus for his
instructions and ask for his help to carry this out in our lives.
