Thirteenth Sunday of the Year

June 28, 2026

Matthew 10: 37-42

A woman of influence...it sounds like the title of the latest novel whose content is questionable! And yet this is where our readings begin this Sunday. But the women we consider today are influential in a different way. 

The common theme of today’s readings is the work God gives us to do as the followers of Jesus: to love God and our brothers and sisters through hospitality, generosity, commitment, and charity. They also remind us of the sacrifice demanded of Jesus’ disciples and the suffering they will endure for their Faith when they bear witness to him. 

In our first reading, we see, in Elijah’s welcome by a childless woman of influence and her husband who lived in Shunem, a radical illustration of all four works. The woman recognized the holiness of Elisha. She showed him reverence and hospitality by inviting him to dine with her and her husband and by setting aside and furnishing an upper room of her house for the prophet to occupy whenever he should come to town. In grateful response, Elisha promised her, "This time next year you will be fondling a baby son." The promise was fulfilled by God.

In today's Gospel Jesus instructs his twelve disciples on the cost and the reward of the commitment required of being a disciple. The first half of these sayings of Jesus details the behavior expected of the disciples, and the second half speaks of the behavior expected of others toward the disciples. Even Jesus’ shameful death on the cross is not too high a price to pay if one is to be a true disciple because the reward is so great. The cross we are invited to carry is actually a sign of hospitality and generosity. The person on the cross embraces to the whole world and offers everyone and each one shelter in the arms of the Father. Jesus also assures his disciples that whoever shows them hospitality will be blessed. Those who receive Jesus receive the One who sent him. So, too, those who help the "little ones" (messengers) will be amply rewarded.

We need to be hospitable and generous: Hospitality means acknowledging the presence of God in others and serving Him in them, especially those in whom we least expect to find Him. We, as individuals and as a community, are to look for opportunities to be hospitable--and, of course, there are plenty of ways of offering hospitality. Maybe hospitality is offered through a kind word to a stranger - or even a smile. A kind smile or a “hello" to someone waiting with us in a grocery line may be the only kindness that person encounters all day. 

`We become fully alive as Christians through the generous giving of ourselves. What is more important than sending checks for charitable causes is giving of ourselves to people, first, in the way we think about them, for from that spring will flow the ways we speak to them and about them, forgive their failings, encourage them, show them respect, console them, and offer them help. Such generosity reflects warmth radiating from the very love of God. Not an easy undertaking! 

Now we get back to women of real influence today. Mother Teresa is an example of selfless generosity and hospitality; it made her a woman of great influence the world over. She reminds us, "The Gospel is written on your fingers." Holding up her fingers, one at a time, she accented each word: "You-Did-It-To-Me." Mother Teresa then added: "At the end of your life, your five fingers will either excuse you or accuse you of doing it unto the least of these.” 

The eighth of November marks the 123rd anniversary of the birth of Dorothy Day , the saint of the homeless, an American journalist turned social activist, and a devout member of the Catholic Church and a Benedictine Oblate. No doubt she got inspiration from St. Benedict on guests and hospitality. She was also an outspoken advocate for the poor. For most of her life she agitated for better treatment of the disadvantaged. The Catholic Worker Movement, which she started in May 1933, was a further extension of her interest in the poor. With the help of her friend Peter Maurin she revived the idea of hospitality once fostered by monasteries. All were welcome: the poor, the downtrodden and losers. She started the first House of Hospitality where she could care for the poor. “Those who cannot see the face of Christ in the poor,” she used to say, “are atheists indeed.” “If I have achieved anything in my life,” she once remarked, “it is because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus instructs Christians on how they should be hospitable and generous.

Can we do less than these women of influence? Hospitality, Generosity, Commitment, Charity: a true disciple indeed – a person of influence.

Fr. John Tran