GOSPEL MEDITATION - ENCOURAGE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE
June 28, 2026
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 10:37-42
I still remember the first homily I ever preached as a new deacon. It was at the seminary, and the Gospel was this one: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37-38) Standing before more than 200 classmates and professors, I stumbled awkwardly through my words and realized how strange — almost insane — this teaching sounded. If anyone else said it, we would call it narcissistic or cultish.
And that is the point. I felt the weight of those words in my own heart then, as I still do today. Am I willing to live as though Christ’s claim on my love is absolute? Are you?
Over the years, I’ve learned that the more I do, the more everything else makes sense. Family, friendships, vocation, even my very self: all of it falls into place when my love for Jesus comes first.
That is why he dares to speak this way. Our Lord is not a cult leader hungry for control. He is the Son of God, the source of life and love itself. To put him before everything else is not to lose, but to find…everything, and everyone, in him.
This week, name one thing or one person you are tempted to place before the Lord. Then consciously offer it back to him in prayer.
— Father John Muir
PRAYER – FOR EVERYDAY AND EVERYBODY
Prayer for Those Discerning Marriage
Dear Jesus,
Bless the men and women in our community who are looking for a good spouse. Be their dearest companion through the ups and downs of discernment. Bring them godly partners with good hearts set on you, so that together they might build families equipped to shine your light on the world. Amen.
(PRACTICING) CATHOLIC - RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS
By Colleen Jurkiewicz Dorman
Receiving
I receive a lot of junk mail. I’m on a bunch of people’s asking-for-money lists, and so were the people who owned this house before me, and when you put it all together, it results in quite the pile of paper accumulating on my counter.
I leave it there because, while I have received this mail, I don’t want to receive it. Do you see the difference? To really receive someone or something, you have to look at it, assess it, make space for it. Accept it. Decide it will have a place in your home or your life or whatever, and give it that place.
It’s what the righteous woman did with Elisha. She received him. She had a room all ready, waiting for him, even when he wasn’t there.
But I refuse to receive the junk mail. I don’t have space for it, in my head or on my counter, so after a day or two, I just throw it away without looking through it.
“Whoever receives me receives the one who sent me,” Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew.
But what does that mean, exactly?
It’s easy to receive Jesus, or at least to receive the Jesus presented to us by modern imagination — that laidback hippie who lets anyone sit at his table, no questions asked. But it’s harder to receive the Christ, God the Son, who is consubstantial with God the Father who sent him.
Ah, yes, God the Father — maybe you’ve heard of Him? He’s the one from the Old Testament who says and does a bunch of things that make modern people uncomfortable.
That’s a little more of a challenge, isn’t it? Takes a little bit more thought. A little more assessment. A little more making-space.
Can we do it? Well, we have to find a way. Because for the record, laidback hippie Jesus doesn’t exist. And Old Testament God makes a lot of sense, if you give Him a little thought. If you make a little space.
So make the space. Receive.
New Paragraph
Virtues, Explained! Affability
There was a certain sister in the Carmelite convent who particularly tried the patience of St. Therese of Lisieux.
But instead of avoiding this person, St. Therese instead made a point of smiling at her whenever the two met.
“Charity must not consist in feelings, but in works,” wrote St. Therese. “I set myself to doing for this Sister what I would do for the person I loved the most.” In doing so, she learned to see “Jesus hidden in the depths” of this woman’s soul.
St. Therese was growing in the virtue of affability when she did this. Affability is attached to justice, writes St. Thomas Aquinas, and demands “that we behave pleasantly to those among whom we dwell.” (Sum., II:II, 114, Art. 2)
In being affable, we make ourselves friendly, approachable, and agreeable to those around us, regardless of how they make us feel. “How good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together as one,” writes King David in Psalm 133.
WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO NORTH AMERICAN MARTYRS PARISH
Our Mission Statement:
We, the North American Martyrs Parish, a strong community of faith, Nourished by the Holy Eucharist, Guided by the Holy Spirit and Trusting in the grace of God, Dedicate ourselves to live God’s Word and Let the light of Christ shine through our Community. We strive to provide sound religious formation for people of all ages; To care for the spiritual, social well-being of one another With particular attention to the stranger and the poor in our midst.
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ John 20:21
Upcoming Events
MAKE PLANS TO JOIN US AT ONE OF OUR CEMETERIES ON July 1ST AT 6PM AS WE PRAY FOR THE REPOSE OF THE SOULS OF OUR LOST ONES.
ST ALBERT ------ ST BRENDAN ------ ST PIUS X
