1Reflection for Sunday June 28, Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Matthew 10:37-42

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."

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Reflection:

The story is told about a poor boy who would always pass by a store in their neighborhood to ask for food that he could bring home to feed his sick father. He would always do this every day for the simple reason that the store owner was kindhearted.

After a few days had passed the store owner was wondering how come the boy was not passing by his store anymore? So, he asked those around the neighborhood about the boy and he was told that the boy’s family transferred to the city to stay with a relative to earn a living.

After twenty years the store owner was now old and sickly thus he already closed the store because no one would tend to it anymore. One day a rich man was looking for the old man who owned the store. So the rich man was brought to the former store owner's house.

There he introduced himself to be the boy who would ask for food that he could bring to his sick father. The eyes of the sick man glowed and teary eyed he asked: "Why are you here?" The rich man said: “I am here to give back your goodness.” He therefore brought the sick man to the hospital and paid for all of his hospital bills. After the sick man was discharged he invited the old man to stay with him for good.

In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus talks about giving back to those who do good to his followers. What does this mean? This simply means that whatever good that we do to those who follow Jesus we will receive back in so many ways a hundredfold.  

Of course we all know that Jesus doesn’t want us to limit our acts of goodness to His followers alone. Jesus wants us to do good to anyone who is in need today caused by the Covid-19 pandemic: To the poor and jobless who are somewhat imprisoned in their homes because of the lockdowns and quarantines. To the beggars asking for anything that we can give them. To a relative who doesn't ask for help yet we know deep in our hearts that he/she is in need of our help and the like. 

We do good not because we want something in return someday. We do good because we simply want to obey Jesus. Do we still remember the last time we did good to somebody in need? – Marino J. Dasmarinas