XIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
DISCIPLES CARRYING OUR CROSS
By our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jiménez
This thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time continues in the line of send-mission. As I write for a bilingual community, I clarify the term mission, it is not a type of retreat, with a talk and spiritual growth, but “to be and go out”, as Pope Francis has proclaimed many times. So, mission is the act of going out and announcing the Good News.
After clarifying that term, I will also clarify that the disciple’s mission has its radical demands, but also its rewards. Therefore, to assume our baptismal commitment -the apostle Paul reminds us- puts before us a decision and an option. It is necessary to give it a try, to take positions and clear options, one must learn to “make a mess”, like Pope Francis said to the young people in Brazil.
“Later Elisha asked, ‘Can something be done for her?’ His servant Gehazi answered, ‘Yes! She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years.’ Elisha said, ‘Call her.’ When the woman had been called and stood at the door, Elisha promised, ‘This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.’” (2 Kings 4: 14-16a) In the Bible, the late motherhood has always been interpreted as a blessing, since popular religious traditions regarded sterility as a divine curse. Elisha, different then Elijah, is a less charismatic man of God, even though he performed many miracles. These stories are gathered to show that God always acts mysteriously and contradicting what men think or project outside Him. If we read the whole story of that woman, we can highlight the commitment and confidence that she puts in the one who brings her the ‘word of God’. She does not despair in adversity, but she seeks confidently the man of God to assist her.
An important point in this story is the hospitality of that woman, first herself, then she involves her husband and together they make a special place for the man of God. A very typical ministry of the church in the United States is the ministry of welcome (ushers). In that woman’s attitude, we find an example of how we should welcome our brothers and sisters to celebrate the divine mystery in the Holy Mass. It was she who welcomes, who takes the initiative to build a small dwelling place for the man of God. And in the Bible, someone who welcomes a man of God, welcomes God himself, and the gospel tells us we will not be left without 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.” (Mt 10: 42)
In the Gospel that we hear this Sunday, we hear the demands of a missionary disciple: “And he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10: 38). To be a disciple is to break certain traditions that bind us, even some family traditions. It is not about breaking family affections, but breaking the ties that do not leave us free. The Christian follower of Jesus, lover of the truth of the gospel, must love their father, their mother, their brother, their sister, but he should never, on account of them, yield to hatred, to spite, to violence, to curse, as usual happens in our times: my parents’ fight, is my fight! No! The Christian is called to a much larger chain of solidarity, even giving a drink of water to anyone, even to our enemy or our family’s enemy. This sounds very strong, but true: when there are enemies or we create them in our minds or in our hearts, we are far from Jesus, from his cause of the gospel and from God himself. Whenever and wherever there is hate, the gospel dies.
If we follow Jesus, we must renounce ourselves and our own possessions. Whoever accepts the gospel must do it of his own free will, for honor, and for personal enjoyment. Anyone who accepts these radicalisms should not do so against his will and his freedom.
We have our parish mission statement and it says: our mission is to make disciples of Christ. That means that I, a parishioner of Saint Michael in Sebree, am already a disciple. It is good to ask ourselves: do I live the demands of discipleship? Do I welcome all, do I truly love them and is there no hatred in me?
Today God’s word brings up a question about our ability to convey and welcome the person of Jesus and his Gospel. May those same words encourage us to live out our baptismal promises and to be witnesses of true discipleship of Christ.