Daily Reading
First Reading
2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a
One day Elisha was passing through Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for a meal. She said to her husband, “Look, I am sure that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God. Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
One day when he came there, he went up to the chamber and lay down there.
He said, “What then may be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood at the door. He said, “At this season, in due time, you shall embrace a son.” She replied, “No, my lord, O man of God; do not deceive your servant.”
Psalm
Psalm 89:2-3, 16-17, 18-19
I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
they exult in your name all day long,
and extol your righteousness.
For you are the glory of their strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.
For our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one, and said:
“I have set the crown on one who is mighty,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
Second Reading
Romans 6:3-4, 8-11
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Gospel Reading
Matthew 10:37-42
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 the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
Reflection
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus lays down the condition for discipleship: “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. . . . Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Well, let’s perform a little thought experiment. Could you imagine any other religious leader or religious founder saying such a thing?
Could you honestly imagine Muhammad saying it? No! He might say, “Whoever loves father or mother more than the Quran . . .” Could you honestly imagine the Buddha saying it? No! He might say, “Whoever loves father or mother more than my teaching . . .” Could you imagine Moses saying it? No! Perhaps he would say, “Whoever loves father or mother more than the Lord . . .”
But they wouldn’t say, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” This is precisely what Jesus says, which makes all the difference. For he is not one religious founder among many, not one prophet of the truth in a long line of prophets. He is the one to whom all religions, directly or indirectly, point; he is, in person, the truth to which all prophets testify.