September 13, 2026 – Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 130 – Gospel Reflection

September 13, 2026 – Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 130 – Gospel Reflection

by | Sep 13, 2026 | Gospel Reflections, Uncategorized

First Reading: Sirach 27:30—28:7

 

Wrath and anger are hateful things,

yet the sinner hugs them tight.

The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance,

for he remembers their sins in detail.

Forgive your neighbor’s injustice;

then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

Could anyone nourish anger against another

and expect healing from the LORD?

Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself,

can he seek pardon for his own sins?

If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath,

who will forgive his sins?

Remember your last days, set enmity aside;

remember death and decay, and cease from sin!

Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor;

remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults.

 

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

 

R. (8) The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

 

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

and all my being, bless his holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

 

He pardons all your iniquities,

heals all your ills.

He redeems your life from destruction,

crowns you with kindness and compassion.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

 

He will not always chide,

nor does he keep his wrath forever.

Not according to our sins does he deal with us,

nor does he requite us according to our crimes.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

 

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he put our transgressions from us.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

 

 

Second Reading: Romans 14:7-9

 

Brothers and sisters:

None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.

For if we live, we live for the Lord,

and if we die, we die for the Lord;

so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

For this is why Christ died and came to life,

that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

 

 

 

 

Alleluia: John 13:34

 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

I give you a new commandment, says the Lord;

love one another as I have loved you.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

 

Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35

 

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,

“Lord, if my brother sins against me,

how often must I forgive?

As many as seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.

That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king

who decided to settle accounts with his servants.

When he began the accounting,

a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.

Since he had no way of paying it back,

his master ordered him to be sold,

along with his wife, his children, and all his property,

in payment of the debt.

At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,

‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’

Moved with compassion the master of that servant

let him go and forgave him the loan.

When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants

who owed him a much smaller amount.

He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,

‘Pay back what you owe.’

Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,

‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

But he refused.

Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison

until he paid back the debt.

Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,

they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master

and reported the whole affair.

His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!

I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.

Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,

as I had pity on you?’

Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers

until he should pay back the whole debt.

So will my heavenly Father do to you,

unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

 

 

Reflection: Forgiveness

 

Last Sunday, the major theme was looking out for one’s brethren, which obviously included patience and forgiveness for infractions to preserve brotherhood. Today, that theme is continued, which shouldn’t be any surprise for us Christians because we truly are our brother’s keeper. God continues to bless the world with thousands of newly born babies each day because God has not given up on us and has been clear about His plan to become Father to sons and daughters for the Kingdom. Since this is our Father’s plan, it would be best if we all just get with the program of loving one another as commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ.    

 

Remember that aside from giving us His life, the very reason Jesus died on the Cross was to forgive the sins of the world, and He did it because of His undying and unconditional love for mankind. Today’s Gospel is a story of a master who, after much begging for mercy from his servant, forgave the latter’s debt to him. Subsequently, the master found out that this servant didn’t pay-it-forward because he did not forgive the debt of another servant who owed him. The forgiven servant even became violent to his fellow servant-debtor. This infuriated the master and called the servant whom he previously forgave to account for everything that he owed the master. Our Christian faith declares this in the Lord’s Prayer to: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us” – because we truly have been unconditionally forgiven by our Father and will always be forgiven if we are truly sorry for our sins.  

 

Let this be our guiding principle in life because our world today can “use” all the forgiveness it can muster for the enormous hurt that needs healing now—as in, immediately. Let the world realize that it is only by the peace and forgiveness of Christ that our brokenness can be healed, and not by some pill, advice from motivation gurus who sell themselves and their products or “couch sessions” from professionals. Let all the Christian faithful of the world proclaim that Jesus gave us His peace, not the peace that the world brings or gives. It is that peace that nobody else can give but Christ and it is the peace that calms, forgives, heals and assures—an assurance that everything is under the Lord’s power.    

 

To realize during our lifetime that we have been forgiven and that we will always be forgiven if we remorsefully seek God’s forgiveness, should be the most humbling thing and should move us to be merciful and generous to others because our God is a merciful Father who is generous, slow to anger and rich in compassion.

 

 

Gospel: The Parable of the Forgiving Master

 

Saint Peter threw this question at Jesus: “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive?” To which our Lord replied: “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. In other words, we should not impose limits to our forgiveness and generosity because we too have been forgiven by God and Father for our countless transgressions against Him and to others. Our Lord’s answer simply echoes what has already been laid down in the First Reading: “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven” (Sir 28:2).

 

Why the number “7”? Remember that the number “7” has so much significance in the Jewish and Christian faiths, primary of which is the Creation story in Genesis when God creates the universe in 6 days and on the 7th day, God rests. The seventh (7th) day was meant for man to come back to God in worship and communion, and is therefore considered the day-of-rest, and “7” is deemed number of perfection. Our Lord’s expression of forgiveness amounting to seventy-seven times mention the number seven twice and is meant to evoke perfect forgiveness in imitation of our Lord and Father who forgives mankind without limit and without any conditionality. Therefore, to forgive “seventy-seven times” means to forgive without limit and without any condition attached. 

 

Also, to swear an oath when entering into covenants, which invokes the mighty name of God and sacrifice of kosher animals, is called “sheva” or to seven yourself. The lives of the sacrificed animals were intended as replacements for the lives of the parties who are expected to give their very lives for the perpetuation of the covenant, and if one or both of them fail, may they suffer the same death as the sacrificed animals.   

 

In Christianity, the 7th day from Monday, which is Sunday, is indeed the Lord’s Day. When Jesus rose from death, Christians have started to believe that the day of the Resurrection, the day after the Jewish Sabbath, became the new Sabbath because at the resurrection, the whole world was created anew. Remember that all these are necessary to realize God’s salvation plan for mankind. Man has been forgiven out of the generosity, mercy, and the undying and unlimited love God has for man, and the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday gave mankind a new beginning, a fresh start. 

 

Forgiveness is at the core of Christian life. Allow us to restate that: Forgiveness must be a way of life for those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. Our Lord’s words ought to be clear to those who do not sow forgiveness – they will be handed to torturers until there is pay back for the whole debt: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”  

 

Yes, there is truth to the saying that “to forgive is divine” because we need the Holy Spirit to forgive those who wronged us. Without God, we simply won’t have the guidance and the courage to forgive others. But there is also a practical use in forgiving people – it becomes easy on our hearts because we unburden ourselves of the hate and anger for those who wronged us. Forgiveness also begets forgiveness and cancels debts, and because of this phenomenon, it creates an environment of peace, calm and tranquility. Because God’s forgiveness is limitless for people who truly repent, we ought to forgive our brethren without limit and let God do the judging whether there is true repentance on the part of the forgiven. There’s a saying: “Vengeance is not ours, it’s God”, and only God can forgive sins. For those who have no repentance in their hearts because they don’t believe in God’s forgiveness, the path to damnation becomes more pronounced and direct.     

 

 

Characters in Play: The Master & The Forgiven Servant 

 

Let’s start with the principle that Jesus likened the Kingdom of Heaven to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. 

 

This serves as a warning, a motivation and a proof of the Second Coming or when Jesus comes again to judge the living and the dead, when time gives way to eternity. It is a warning because Jesus, the King, will account us for our actions and inactions—if we fed the hungry, clothed the naked among others—or have we been merciful to others because we too have been shown mercy at the Resurrection of the Lord and during our lifetime. In other words, have we been obedient to the Word of the Lord? It is also a motivation because we who believe in Jesus are assured that our faithfulness to Him, and by abiding with Him until the end, shall be rewarded with everlasting life in heaven. Lastly, it is proof of the existence of heaven and everlasting life with God, and proof that whatever we do and say matters—that, because of our sinful and broken state, we can’t arrogate upon ourselves, with certainty and sureness of reaching heaven if we merely believe in the Jesus and proclaim in our hearts that He is Lord without actually living out our faith because sola fide or the belief that ‘once saved, always saved’, is un-Biblical and has no basis in the Christian faith. Our faith can only be made alive if we share it with others through our actions.      

 

Notice that the master is a very exacting person. He wants payment for the money owed by his debtors, and particularly, one servant mentioned in the story. The master, knowing that the servant had no means to pay the debt, wanted him and his family sold into slavery (they were acceptable practices during those times). The narrative says that the debt was substantial and it had to be satisfied or else, innocent people like family members may be made to satisfy the debt by servitude. 

 

However, the master condones the debt only after much begging from the servant. Clearly, the master wrote off the debt out of pity or generosity. He knew that the servant had no means to pay-off the debt and he wouldn’t have any use for additional slaves or money to be generated from the sale of slaves.

 

On the other hand, the servant who was forgiven his debt by his master turns around and demands payment from another servant who was indebted to him. At face value, there is nothing wrong in collecting a debt. But this is about forgiveness and paying it forward, not about collecting money. It is about passing on mercy and kindness to others because we all have been shown mercy and kindness by God.

 

Mankind has been forgiven his sins: past, present and future. It is God who forgave us first for the purpose of healing us and making us whole again for our heavenly destination. Our sins break us up, including our humanity and conscience, and the only thing that can make us whole again is the forgiveness of the Father, the peace of Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. But for this to work, mankind must learn how to forgive each other’s sins. Conversely, each and every one of us must always be careful not to wrong our brethren because we are a holy nation, a righteous race, just how our Father intended it to be.

 

In sum, for healing to spread, forgiveness must be passed on like a basketball; everybody has to touch the ball because we are a team. And like any other team, everybody has to get into the forgiveness game by sowing and pushing reconciliation between or among adversaries because according to our Lord’s command: “love one another”, He loved us first and we too ought to love others like Christ.     

 

 

Points of Emphasis: 

 

Accounting: Jesus likened the Kingdom of Heaven to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. Simply put, the Kingdom of Heaven has a King (it won’t be a kingdom if there weren’t a king and subjects of his domain), and the king will account his subjects for the actions or inactions they made during their lifetime. Jesus is the King and we are His subjects. As subjects, we shall be accounted not only for the things we did or did not do, but also for gifts bestowed upon us—on whether or not we used them wisely or squandered them uselessly.

 

Forgiveness: Notice what the master did to the servant he had forgiven when he found out that the latter didn’t forgive his debtor—the master, in anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.

 

Man can only forgive like Christ if he has Jesus in his heart and only if the basis is the love of Christ. God, who loves us first, forgave us through the salvation of Jesus even if we don’t deserve it: “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). To forgive even if the wrongdoer does not deserve to be forgiven has to be the standard of forgiveness; it is how it must be. Man must love and forgive even is it hurts. This is how the world is healed—to love and forgive like Christ. 

 

 

The Woman Caught in Adultery (John 8)

 

Lastly, we invite you to recall the woman caught in adultery in St. John, Chapter 8. There was a woman, who probably was either a prostitute or simply a concubine of several married men, who was caught in adultery. The punishment for such act was death by stoning. Though there is no mention about the disparity and unfair treatment of the case since there is no mention of the “equally erring” man who the woman was caught with, the story is ripe for the topic of forgiveness and highlights the mercy and genius of our Lord Jesus. Please remember that the crime of adultery can only be committed by the sexual intercourse consummated by two persons, and one or both parties have existing impediments for legal union like marriage.

 

Side Note: Our Lord Jesus was very clear about His position regarding adultery. He said: “…everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt 5: 28). Our Lord Jesus is clear that merely looking at a woman lustfully is already guilty of adultery in his heart. This must be a warning to the male population all over the world. Good and evil are always in a constant battle for our hearts and minds. Therefore, we should be constantly mindful of our intentions and motives because these drive man into action or inaction, and these in turn are adjudged to be good or evil.  

 

The story tells us that people brought the woman before Jesus to asking if the stoning should proceed according to the Laws of Moses. Some people also did this to trap Jesus. If our Lord did not conform to the Laws of Moses, He would have been declared a traitor to the Jews and a false prophet. If, however, He did agree to the stoning, he’d be reported to the Roman authorities for ordering or agreeing to the execution of the woman, an act which should be only carried out by Roman authorities.

 

Jesus does not speak and bends down to write on the sand or on the ground. Scriptures do not mention what He wrote on the ground. Pressed for an answer by the crowd, our Lord stood up and said: “He who has not sinned, cast the first stone.”

 

And the story goes on saying that one by one the people left, starting with the elders. When the crowd left Jesus and the woman alone, our Lord asks the woman: “Where are your accusers?” “Has no one condemned you?” The woman said in reply: “No one Lord.” Our Lord said to her: “Neither do I. Go but sin no more.”

 

In today’s world of social media, when bashing seems to be fashionable because it allows people to simply vent their frustrations on others or simply play the role of the know-it-all, we can learn a lot from this story by looking at ourselves first and not be too quick to draw the gun because of the damage it brings. Jesus has forgiven us first. Let us then forgive those who wronged us because this is the only way that the hurt of world can be resolved. 

 

We have been forgiven. Therefore, we must also forgive and sin no more.

 

 

A blessed Sunday to everyone.

– Gospel reflection by Kuya Rommel Cecilio of SLRP Bible Apostolate Ministry

 

August 30, 2026 Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 124

August 30, 2026 Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 124

by | Aug 30, 2026 | Uncategorized

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 124

 

First Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-9

You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped;

you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.

All the day I am an object of laughter;

everyone mocks me.

 

Whenever I speak, I must cry out,

violence and outrage is my message;

the word of the LORD has brought me

derision and reproach all the day.

 

I say to myself, I will not mention him,

I will speak in his name no more.

But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,

imprisoned in my bones;

I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.

 

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

 

R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

 

O God, you are my God whom I seek;

for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts

like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.

R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

 

Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary

to see your power and your glory,

for your kindness is a greater good than life;

my lips shall glorify you.

R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

 

Thus will I bless you while I live;

lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.

As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,

and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.

R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

 

You are my help,

and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.

My soul clings fast to you;

your right hand upholds me.

R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

 

 

Second Reading: Romans 12:1-2

I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God,

to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.

Do not conform yourselves to this age

but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,

that you may discern what is the will of God,

what is good and pleasing and perfect.

 

 

Alleluia: cf. Ephesians 1:17-18

 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

enlighten the eyes of our hearts,

that we may know what is the hope

that belongs to our call.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

 

Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27

Jesus began to show his disciples

that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly

from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed and on the third day be raised.

Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,

“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

He turned and said to Peter,

“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.

You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

 

Then Jesus said to his disciples,

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,

take up his cross, and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world

and forfeit his life?

Or what can one give in exchange for his life?

For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,

and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”

 

Foreword

 

By way of foreword, allow us to present this note about our Lord’s call to deny one’s self for the sake of Jesus, which is another way of saying that the denial of self is for the Kingdom of God. People who heed to our Lord’s call to deny self for the sake of the Kingdom are the happiest people in the world. They swear by the formula which postulates that giving-sharing with others to better their lives equals and results to happiness.

 

People who give to others, particularly the marginalized, oppressed and neglected, find more fulfillment in life and they are those who deny themselves for the sake of others and the Kingdom of God. This is what our Lord attended to, aside from proclaiming that arrival of the Kingdom, during His public ministry some 2000 years ago and this is what Jesus calls us to for action.  

 

 

Reflection

 

Today, allow us to focus on these themes: strength amidst adversity and perseverance in the faith. In the First Reading, the Prophet Jeremiah is complaining to God for designating him herald to his countrymen when the consequence for it was threat to his life and even death of many Jews. For a proud Jew like Jeremiah, seeing the Kingdom of Judah invaded by a foreign power is painful and a sign of God’s declining love for Israel. Israel, particularly the southern kingdom of Judah, where the thrown of David was, will eventually be invaded by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC. Because of the unfaithfulness of Judah, from the Jews to their kings David, Solomon and Rehoboam, God allowed His people to be invaded by a foreign power as punishment and chastisement. 

 

It was not God’s love that diminished. God, who is pure love, will never stop loving mankind. It is man who slips into stupidity because of weakness due to sin. When man fails to trust God, it is a sign that man has trusted himself more than God and that’s when things get really bad.

 

Jeremiah was probably at that point of giving up on his prophetic mission and that is why we hear him say: “You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me” (Jeremiah 20:7). He’s practically saying that God tricked him into doing something which caused him to look foolish. How many times have we avoided doing God’s will because obeying God makes us look foolish? And when we follow His will and consequently get mocked by others for doing what is right, we act like Jeremiah – blame God for making us obey His Commandments which make us look foolish. The approval of men is more important to us than being holy. 

 

Whenever we have a goal which we desperately want achieved in life, we’ll do everything to meet it and if we make salvation as our main life goal, we should even work at it with our all and get at it until the end of our mortal existence, for our sake and the sake of those we love.

 

The question is: How important is everlasting life to us? How important is it for us to obey God even in the face of ridicule or even hostility from men who disagree with your faith?     

 

We are not saying that our present existence in this world is not important. In fact, God created life to be good, beautiful and meaningful. It is in living the life that God wants us to live that makes this world beautiful and worth living. It is in doing God’s will that makes life wonderful and admittedly, challenging.

 

However, doing God’s will includes holding on to the faith even if the world is pressuring us not to. The world seems to be beset with evil but all that can’t overcome the light which is in the world—Jesus, the Light of the World. Our job as baptized Christians is to keep that light burning by making it shine in us so that we can bring it to those who are in darkness. 

 

Like Jeremiah, we too complain when times get tough. Some of us even start to complain at the slightest hint of difficulty. Amazingly, Jeremiah told the Lord God that he was duped by the Lord himself into “accepting” the job of being a prophet. He was probably thinking that if he did a good job at preaching, God wouldn’t allow his nation of Judah to be invaded by the Babylonians because of His infinite mercy. But it was God who used the Babylonians to conquer Judah to render divine judgment on Israel for their transgressions against the Lord (see Jeremiah Chapter 21). It wasn’t just an issue of mercy. It was also an issue about divine justice and insofar as our all-knowing God is concerned, mercy and justice converge into His power and wisdom that they produce the intended result, according to the divine plan. Israel was judged because, like their ancestors before them, they broke the Covenant with God with their sins.    

 

Being mocked for prophesying God’s Word and seeing his country get invaded by a foreign power, Jeremiah was jolted to his core. But it was God’s grace that kept him going and he had the sole privilege of saving the Ark of the Covenant by hiding it in a cave in the desert, away from enemy hands. For a period of about 500 years, the Ark was never found until it resurfaced in the person of our Blessed Mother Mary, who is the Ark of the New Covenant. 

 

Some say, if God seems harsh on you, know for sure that He loves you because the lessons we learn from the difficulties in life should bring us closer to Him who surely provides us with the way out of any difficulty when we call upon His most holy name.

 

Let us learn from the story of Jeremiah. Obeying God can get difficult but the reward is everlasting life. Never question God’s perfect wisdom. For convenience and expediency, blind obedience to God’s will is required of every Christian. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gospel: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

 

We enjoin you to note these words in sequence: DENY, TAKE UP and FOLLOW. 

 

First and foremost, one must will it in his heart to come after Jesus because only Christ can give us the power to deny ourselves and take up our crosses for the sake of others. Those who deny themselves by putting others first or taking up one’s cross for the sake of Jesus is a sign of love for Jesus and others, and love identifies us as disciples of Christ. It is one thing to believe that Jesus is God and Messiah, the one sent by the Father to save mankind. It is another thing to believe, come after Christ and follow Him until the end. 

 

In this world of ‘give-and-take’ or “I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine”, one who is contemplating of denying himself and taking up his cross for the sake of others might ask: What’s in it for me?

 

This appears to be a valid question if the standard you apply is what this world uses, which is the hedonistic and materialistic perspective. But in our Christian faith, the simple answer to this question is everlasting life—the fulfillment of a divine promise for being faithful to Christ, for being steadfast to the causes of good, justice and mercy. In other words, at the end of a life of denying self and taking up one’s cross for the sake of the Kingdom of God is life without end in the company of Jesus Christ. Jesus and a life with Him in Heaven is the reward and nothing comes close to it. 

 

In fact, the way to everlasting life is Jesus Christ himself (John 6:14); a life of abiding in Him who seeks nothing else but to have communion with us. This is the reason why we say that to come after Christ, we need to deny ourselves and take up our crosses because this was what Jesus did to save mankind. He was an innocent victim but He agreed to the crucifixion out of His undying love for mankind. The Crucifixion is the ultimate sign of denying self and taking up one’s cross – literally, dying on the Cross. Ironically, the Cross of death also became the Cross of life because from the Cross, Jesus gave us His life. And for those of us who truly believe that Jesus is Lord, this is the life He is daring us to live. To be true followers and disciples of Christ, we must follow His example of selflessness and love for others. It is in this way that God is glorified.

 

Denying self and taking up one’s cross is about charity, mercy and kindness. Therefore, one who wishes to follow Christ must learn and live out a life of charity, mercy and kindness. Absent these virtues in living out one’s life, following Christ becomes a mere show, a membership in some organization which aims at social interaction, not one which builds family relations and communion with our Lord.         

 

Looking at today’s Gospel in the backdrop of Jeremiah, the Lord Jesus is daring us to make a leap of faith, one that does not falter, fade or doubt. It is an all-or-nothing deal because what is at stake is everlasting life. Everlasting life is indeed a reward of a lifetime and something really worth dying for.

 

 

Second Reading

 

Saint Paul reminds us about Jesus’ dare to come after Him by denying ourselves, taking up our crosses and following Him. He said: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.”

 

To put ‘redemptive value’ on our sufferings, the suffering which pleases God, we must offer our ‘bodies as a living sacrifice’. We may have our individual bodies to offer in doing holy things which are pleasing to God but in reality, there is only one body of sacrifice to offer to God because all our holy efforts are united to Him who bridged the gap between God and man, our incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. We are one Church and Body of Christ. Therefore, all our holy deeds are united with Him who is Head of the Church – Jesus. 

 

How can we be righteous? Here’s Saint Paul’s tip from today’s Second Reading: “Do not conform yourselves to this age…” To be pleasing to God, one must act based on truth. By “truth” we mean conformity to the teaching of Jesus and the Church. In other words, we must conform not to what this world says but to the Word of God.

 

Conformity to this age is seeking acceptance from men instead of doing God’s will even if it goes against the norms and wishes of men. If our conformity is geared towards acceptance from or by people who we perceive as important, even if what the principles they espouse are against Christian morality and the teachings of the Church, then St. Paul’s caution was true all along—it was true before and still true today. Should we to be pleasing to people just to find acceptance in their group over being holy and pleasing to God? The answer to this question is a no-brainer.

 

Lastly, St. Paul says: “…be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

 

It is only by having the mind of Christ in us that we can be transformed like Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. This does not happen overnight. It is a lifetime of prayer so that whatever we do and say is infused with holiness and redemptive value. This is what daily conversion is all about – to persevere until the end with Jesus by our side, and in the end we find that Jesus is also our destination and reward of everlasting life.

 

 

A blessed Sunday to everyone. 

– Gospel reflection by Kuya Rommel Cecilio of SLRP Bible Apostolate Ministry

 

June 28,2026 -Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 97 – Gospel Reflection

June 28,2026 -Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 97 – Gospel Reflection

by | Jun 28, 2026 | Uncategorized

First Reading: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a

 

One day Elisha came to Shunem,

where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her.

Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine.

So she said to her husband, “I know that Elisha is a holy man of God.

Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof

and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp,

so that when he comes to us he can stay there.”

Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.

 

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.”

 

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 89:2-3, 16-17, 18-19

 

R. (2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

 

The promises of the LORD I will sing forever,

through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.

For you have said, “My kindness is established forever;”

in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

 

Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;

in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.

At your name they rejoice all the day,

and through your justice they are exalted.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

 

You are the splendor of their strength,

and by your favor our horn is exalted.

For to the LORD belongs our shield,

and to the Holy One of Israel, our king.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

 

 

Second Reading: Romans 6:3-4, 8-11

 

Brothers and sisters:

Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus

were baptized into his death?

We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,

so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead

by the glory of the Father,

we too might live in newness of life.

 

If, then, we have died with Christ,

we believe that we shall also live with him.

We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;

death no longer has power over him.

As to his death, he died to sin once and for all;

as to his life, he lives for God.

Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin

and living for God in Christ Jesus.

 

 

Alleluia: 1 Peter 2:9

 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation;

announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

 

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.”

 

 

Reflection

 

How much do we put our trust in God? 100%, 50%, as needed, enough, on and off? Putting our total trust in God takes a lifetime to learn, hoping that we can indeed endure until the end. Life throws us curveballs and it is during these moments, or moments which shake our very core that will tell us that we need God more to be with us. 

 

In the First Reading, the Prophet Elisha, a man of God, declares to a humble couple in Shunem which has been kind to him but having difficulty in having a child, that they will have a child a year from his visit. For the childless couple, to accept and believe such a bold prediction, even from a man of God, takes courage and faith. It was a most welcomed prophecy, no doubt, one which creates feverish anticipation for the couple but at the same time, teaches us to put our total trust in God.

 

In the Second Reading, Saint Paul teaches with the force of doctrine that all who are baptized in Christ are also baptized into His death. This means that we died with Christ so that we can live with Him forever. In other words, if Christ gave away His life to save mankind, we who are His followers have been bought by Christ with His blood and are therefore owned by Him in Covenant relations. We, in turn, are duty bound to die to our self and serve others, just like what our Lord did. 

 

Death may be a natural physical consequence of life, which needs to be accepted and faced upfront. But no one in his right mind and under normal circumstances would willingly and hastily march to his death, if there are chances to prolong life. Why do you think people seek the services of doctors—to get cured, no doubt! Therefore, being Christian means that one must die to self for Christ so that we can live for Christ and be with Him forever. Please note that there is no dying to one’s self in heaven. The “dying” is all done on earth while we’re still alive and it is done for the service of others through Christ. We simply have to trust that in dying to one’s self, we shall be with God forever, and that there is truly life after death.

 

And in the Gospel, Jesus tells us to seek first communion with Him. Everything else will follow. We must put our trust in God all the time and make Him center of our being. We cannot attend to the concerns of the day if we do not put God first in our lives.        

 

So, for the believers in God, do we trust Him enough and if so, how much do we trust Him? Who is God in our own lives? Is He just some deity looking down on us from a distance or is He real and actively participating in everyday life? 

 

If He’s not God, or someone who cannot be trusted completely, then there is really nothing to hope for and there simply is no sense in what Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14: 2-3).

 

 

First Reading

 

“This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.” (2 Kings 4:16)

 

The verse quoted elicits so much theology but prominent among them are these:

 

First, life is a gift from God. God alone is the author of life. Man and woman are made instruments of procreation as a gift for those who commit to each other in spousal and covenant relations. In other words, a marriage blessed by God should always be intact and let no man cast it asunder. Outside of spousal and covenant relations, the sacredness of procreation is set aside and demeaned. The birth of a child should always be looked upon as a gift or reward for a couple who swears love to each other for life. It must also be seen as proof that God has not given up on us and the world because He is still bringing in more life into the world.

 

Between a man and a woman, sexual intimacy may just be a satisfaction of urges and appetites. However, taken in the context of marriage and without artificial contraception, it is elevated into an act of worshipping God because it is His will for human life to flourish. Therefore, what is supposed to be an act of worship, if done outside the very intention of it becoming holy, is an act of desecration and mockery of God; in other words, sinful.

 

Second, God is a Father who fulfills His promise and He never reneges on them. His word is always efficacious and realizes the very intention of the words. When God speaks, it is always for the sake of man and God speaks through His Word, Jesus. Therefore, when He utters His word, it will surely come true, as it is written: “…so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). In fact, God’s plan has already been completed the moment Jesus uttered those life-saving words from the Cross, after sipping the cheap wine from the hyssop branch: “It is finished” (John 19:30). Our Lord’s blood and death on the Cross seals the New and Covenant and the guarantee is no less than His very own life.

 

Third, the message of hope cuts through the story of Elisha and the couple from Shunem because the birth and coming of a child always signifies hope for mankind and Jesus is our hope for everlasting life. This means that mankind can hope because of Jesus. All these stories of hope in the Bible with prophecies of the coming of a child must point us to the arrival of our only hope for salvation and everlasting life – Jesus, who said that in His Father’s house there are many rooms and that He ascended to the Father to prepare the rooms for those who have hoped in Him. 

 

The Prophet Elisha promised a child to the couple who had been showing him much generosity and care. The story tells us that a couple had a difficulty in having a child. With God’s providence and countenance, the said couple was rewarded with a son because they have shown generosity and care for a messenger of God. At this point, allow us to immediately get into the connection with the Gospel when it says: “Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward…” (Matt 10:41). The childless couple was rewarded with a bundle of joy – a child, something they have been privileged to bear and have been waiting for throughout their lives. God truly rewards those who love and trust Him until the end: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7: 7-8).

 

We can certainly draw from the experience of Abraham and Sarah when God promised them a child who shall play a big part in the arrival of the child of promise, Jesus: The LORD said, “I will surely return to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife shall have a son” (Genesis 18:10). Abraham, at an old age and married to a woman who was way beyond menopause, was still dealt with a miracle of fatherhood with Isaac. Because of this, Abraham became ancestor and father-in-faith of Jews, Christians and Muslims. This is proof that God can make anything out of nothing and His will can never be thwarted. God’s will is for all men to be saved and live a life in communion with Him forever.  

 

 

Second Reading

 

“We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). 

 

This verse is one of the most significant statements in Pauline theology: that baptism saves us because we are incorporated into the Body of Christ and therefore, we too must die in Christ in order for us to rise into new life with Him. If St. Peter declares that “baptism saves you now” (see 1 Peter 3:21), we really need to put a premium on the importance of baptism in the life of every Christian and follower of Christ. What St. Paul said becomes really significant—that before we live in the newness of life in Christ, we should die with Him first so that we could resurrect with Him on the last day. 

 

Our baptism means that we must die to ourselves and totally surrender our lives to our Savior. He is the only one who can give us new life because He is life personified: “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25). If and when we die to ourselves in fulfillment of our baptismal vows, we shall surely be resurrected into new life because God’s words are true.

 

Dying to ourselves means that we empty ourselves of things and concerns that prevent us from being closer to Jesus; in other words, living the holy life by not sinning because at every temptation, we pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The process is to empty ourselves so that we can free up “our space” for Jesus because He is our life principle and everything that He said and taught must be what a “constitution” is to all democratic countries – an organic law from which all laws emanate from.

 

Remember, to follow Christ also means to stand on being a Christian in our world which unfortunately chooses to become secular every day, a world which chooses to push God out of the equation. As Christians, we are called to spread the Gospel in this world which is getting hungrier each day because it does not feed on the Word of God.

 

 

Gospel

 

“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” (Matt 10:37-38).

 

Our Lord’s declaration in the quoted verses is shocking and earthshaking but doctrinal, to say the least. On the human plane, Jesus may even sound selfish here because he is telling us that if we really love Him, we should love Him more than our own parents. This seems to make no sense because He was also the one who gave us our parents and told us to love our neighbor like we love ourselves (Mark 12:31). And, there is the New Commandment of: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). So why does Jesus give us the instruction to love Him more than we love our own parents?     

 

The simple answer is: Because Jesus is love personified; Jesus is the source of love and true love can only come from Him because He already gave us His very life in the greatest act of love the world has ever witnessed. 

 

In order for us to love and give love, we must first tap from the only source of true love – Jesus. The principle is – we can’t give what we don’t have; in other words, we can’t share Jesus with others if we don’t have Jesus with us.

 

Jesus is not saying that we should love Him more for His sake or just because He is an egoistic or narcissistic God. He is saying that we should love Him more because it would to our best interest and benefit if we did so. 

 

Admittedly, there are different kinds and levels of love. But the love that conquers all, the love that heals all wounds and the love we truly need more of now is the unconditional type of love (known as “agape” in Greek). Yes, this is the kind of love shown by Jesus on the Cross because He died to payoff sins which were committed against God. He had no sin but it was He who had to pay the price with His life in order for man to be saved. This is a case of injustice dwelt upon a just man in order to save the unjust. If this does not spell unconditional love from our Lord and God towards mankind, we wouldn’t know what true love is.

 

In Jesus’ words, unconditional love means “carrying your own cross daily.” Otherwise, we can forget calling ourselves His disciples if we don’t learn and practice carrying our crosses daily.

 

Let

us end this with Jesus’ own words: “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

 

 

A blessed Sunday to everyone. 

– Gospel reflection by Kuya Rommel Cecilio of SLRP Bible Apostolate Ministry

 

June 21, 2026 – Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 94 – Gospel Reflection

June 21, 2026 – Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 94 – Gospel Reflection

by | Jun 28, 2026 | Gospel Reflections, Uncategorized

First Reading: Jeremiah 20:10-13

Jeremiah said:

“I hear the whisperings of many:

‘Terror on every side!

Denounce! let us denounce him!’

All those who were my friends

are on the watch for any misstep of mine.

‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,

and take our vengeance on him.’

But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:

my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.

In their failure they will be put to utter shame,

to lasting, unforgettable confusion.

O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,

who probe mind and heart,

let me witness the vengeance you take on them,

for to you I have entrusted my cause.

Sing to the LORD,

praise the LORD,

for he has rescued the life of the poor

from the power of the wicked!”

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35

R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.

For your sake I bear insult,

and shame covers my face.

I have become an outcast to my brothers,

a stranger to my mother’s children,

Because zeal for your house consumes me,

and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.

R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

I pray to you, O LORD,

for the time of your favor, O God!

In your great kindness answer me

with your constant help.

Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness;

in your great mercy turn toward me.

R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;

you who seek God, may your hearts revive!

For the LORD hears the poor,

and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.

Let the heavens and the earth praise him,

the seas and whatever moves in them!”

R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

Second Reading: Romans 5:12-15

Brothers and sisters:

Through one man sin entered the world,

and through sin, death,

and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—

for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world,

though sin is not accounted when there is no law.

But death reigned from Adam to Moses,

even over those who did not sin

after the pattern of the trespass of Adam,

who is the type of the one who was to come.

But the gift is not like the transgression.

For if by the transgression of the one the many died,

how much more did the grace of God

and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ

overflow for the many.

Alleluia: John 15:26b, 27a

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord;

and you also will testify.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Matthew 10:26-33

Jesus said to the Twelve:

“Fear no one.

Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,

nor secret that will not be known.

What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;

what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;

rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy

both soul and body in Gehenna.

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?

Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.

Even all the hairs of your head are counted.

So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Everyone who acknowledges me before others

I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.

But whoever denies me before others,

I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

Reflection

Problems are all part of life. Obviously, this is not something unbeknownst to people who have reached puberty or adolescence and beyond. Except for the exceptionally blessed, no one is spared from them, not even the holiest characters in the Bible were not spared from problems nor were the mighty saints of the New Testament able to escape them, starting with St. John the Baptist. Pragmatism teaches that the sooner we discover the root of the problem and the quicker we accept and confront it, may afford us the best situation to look for solutions.

On the other hand, fear is often felt because of “the unknown”. What is unknown to us is usually a cause of worry and fear. We always like to control things in our life not because we are control freaks but we prefer surety of outcomes or results. Achieving our goals as a result of careful planning and preparation provides us with the feeling of success knowing that our efforts were not wasted.   

Rules, standards or parameters are enacted and enforced in society precisely to create order and prevent excesses. In fact, when excesses occur in society, or when people are abused or placed in positions of disadvantage due to the overreach of others, which are usually to benefit only a select few, stricter rules are laid down immediately so that the excesses are contained forthwith.

What are we trying to say? Even before the fall in the Garden, God was already a law giver when He laid down a proscription for man to follow—that they may eat from any tree except of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This prohibition that God gave, which Adam and Eve disobeyed, in itself speaks volumes and invites man to practice and conduct themselves with restraint, self-control and temperance, not for God’s sake but for mankind sake. In life, we simply can’t do anything (specially the bad deeds) that our hearts desire without suffering consequences for ourselves and for others. We were meant to be accountable for our actions or inactions because we ought to think about others too and not only ourselves. Imagine an earthly life of absolute boundlessness, when people escape responsibility because there are no rules to enforce. Conversely, imagine a world filled with people who think about others a lot. What a world that would be.       

However, we shouldn’t cower in fear of what society imposes or regards as norms or standards for living life. Not everything you hear especially in social media is what it seems and worth trusting. We always have to go back to basic standards of humanity like truth, justice, equality and freedom. In fact, we are even called to fight for these standards because they have been proven to benefit mankind in the atmosphere of defending liberties and freedoms. Truth, justice, equality and freedom are principles which are subsumed into Christianity because it believes and teaches that man should be free and not be afraid, and recognized as equal by another in freedom and truth.   

First Reading

The first part of the reading pictures the Prophet Jeremiah somewhat expressing fear of persecution from the enemies of God’s Word or those who can’t accept God’s commandments because to obey God requires abandoning illicit pleasures. In other words, a life of debauchery and hedonism will always run counter with Christian principles which preach things like temperance, discipline and charity. Christianity is about giving one’s life for the beloved.

Like many prophets, Jeremiah (whose mighty name translates to “the Lord exalts”) was tasked to preach a message of repentance and hope to the people of Judah, the Southern Kingdom. Other prophets might have brought God’s justice upon Israel’s enemies but no matter how you look at it, all prophets were destined by God to do one basic thing: to gather the lost sheep of Israel and bring them back into covenant relations with God. Jesus was the final prophet in the list. 

God kept on sending prophets to Israel because they kept on sinning. The biggest sin of them all was the sin of idolatry, which was unthinkable due to Israel’s close and personal encounter with the God of the universe. After having been constituted as a nation and after having been rescued from Egyptian bondage for over 400 years, and after having been propelled to international status under King Solomon, with strong diplomatic relations with other kingdoms, they still kept on courting false gods—which was an abomination and truly unexpected for a nation who was handpicked by God to be His nation, to the exclusion of others.

Sending of prophets is one of those underrated things about God’s mercy and love for Israel. Imagine if God didn’t ordain a select group of men and women to speak on behalf of the Lord? He sent prophets because He simply wants us to go back to him by hearing His message from those He sends. Being with God here and in the next life is what life is all about. Man refuses to get closer to God because we keep on pursuing lesser things in life—things which only feel good and temporarily satisfying for our material needs but are really lesser in value in terms of living the holy life and salvation.   

Our world is and will always be filled with temptations which make us veer away from truth and charity. However, like the Israelites and Jews of old, we can always push temptations aside by listening to God’s word and praying. Life on earth is a test of our resolve because the forces of evil are constantly seeking the ruin of our souls. We will all be tested and we will all be judged on whether or not we trusted God until the end. Listen to Jeremiah’s prayer in the First Reading: “O LORD of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart…” (Jeremiah 20:12). 

If God put His prophets and saints to the test when fulfilling their missions, who are we to be spared from testing? Being born into the earth and living one’s life is the mission. The key is to ask God what our mission is for the sake of the Kingdom and our salvation.   

The standards for life have been set before us but God is not forcing anyone to side with Him, not even the prophets and saints. Our free will allows us to choose what we want to stand on and God won’t force us to any side. However, those who choose evil or those who reject God will find out in the end that they made the wrong choice and what awaits them is everlasting suffering. 

When the Bible says that God avenges the death of those who obeyed him at the hands of evil men, we shouldn’t use human standards and imagery in finding out how they were avenged because God is divine and does not act like humans do. But God does avenge the death of those who obey His will with the assurance that they would be rewarded with everlasting life in God’s company – and this is all that matters.  

Even a prophet like Jeremiah prayed for the fall of Israel’s enemies when he petitioned God in this way: “…let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause” (Jeremiah 20:12). Unfortunately, God’s punishment was for Judah and was already set in motion. Jeremiah even witnessed the fall of Jerusalem into the hands of the Babylonians. Because of this invasion, Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant in a cave, never again to be seen by human eyes until the arrival of Blessed Virgin Mary, when St. Gabriel the Archangel announced that she would become the “Theotokos”, the God bearer. The Blessed Mother is the new Ark of the Covenant.  

The lesson: Away from God, there is death; in God and with God, there is life. Let us find comfort in today’s verse in the First Reading: “Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!”

Second Reading

In today’s Second Reading, St. Paul reminds us about the Father sending us the final and definitive prophet, in the person of His only begotten Son Jesus, who is the Word of God. The Father did not spare His only begotten Son from the mission of saving mankind. There will be no other prophet or messenger who will come after our Lord Jesus. Let us not be deceived about those who claim that they were sent by the Father and are here to draw people into their flock, preaching things which are not according to the Catholic faith. 

Let’s not forget that Christ is also the one who was sent to undo the sin of Adam. If Adam sinned by eating from a forbidden tree, Jesus conquers sin by dying on the Tree of Life—the Cross. This is the reason why St Paul mentions: “Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law.”

Our faith is clear in saying that all have sinned because each and every person born in this planet inherits Adam and Eve’s sin of disobedience via the ‘original sin.’ It is because of this sin that the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. Without original sin, Jesus would not have come to undo what Adam failed to do. 

In fact, Jeremiah’s petition and expectation to avenge the souls of those persecuted for God was realized by the coming of Jesus our Lord. God fulfilled His promise of saving mankind from the clutches of death out of love, goodness and mercy. In gratitude, we ought to live our lives spreading love, goodness and mercy towards others.

By giving us Jesus Christ, God gave us everything we ever needed and necessary in life – in this life and in the next. No sin is unforgivable if repentance is from the heart.

Gospel

The Gospel today starts out with a bit of a warning saying that God knows, sees and hears everything. Therefore, we shall all be accounted for whatever we do and say on this earth. Those who obey and hold on to God’s Word until the end will be rewarded, while those who do not shall be judged and punished. 

And there is this: “…do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” (Matt 10:28). If this does not scream accounting and judgment for the things we do and say after we die, then God’s justice has been misunderstood. 

There is evil in this world and it is disguised in very attractive wrappings and ribbons. But Jesus, being the Word of God, cuts through all these outer coverings to expose evil for what it really is. In one short phrase, our Lord’s New Commandment is the all-out offensive to counter any evil: “Love one another.” 

It truly becomes a choice between two sides and two sides only – good and evil – when our Lord said: “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

To deny Jesus before others means that we have freely, consciously and even unabashedly done evil and we even justify it to be right and good instead of calling it evil. When this happens, the Father will also deny those who denied His Son. To be denied by God is the end for those who deny Jesus.

Let’s us pray that God never permits us to be away from him now and at any point in our lives. All praise and all thanksgiving to God for being our Father.

A blessed Sunday to everyone and Happy Father’s Day to all fathers.   

– Gospel reflection by Kuya Rommel Cecilio of SLRP Bible Apostolate Ministry

June 14, 2026Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 91 – Gospel Reflection

June 14, 2026
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 91
– Gospel Reflection

by | Jun 13, 2026 | Gospel Reflections

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 91

First Reading: Exodus 19:2-6a

In those days, the Israelites came to the desert of Sinai and pitched camp.

While Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain,

Moses went up the mountain to God.

Then the LORD called to him and said,

“Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob;

tell the Israelites:

You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians

and how I bore you up on eagle wings

and brought you here to myself. 

Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant,

you shall be my special possession,

dearer to me than all other people,

though all the earth is mine.

You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5

R. (3c) We are his people: the sheep of his flock.

Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;

    serve the LORD with gladness;

    come before him with joyful song.

R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.

Know that the LORD is God;

    he made us, his we are;

    his people, the flock he tends.

R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.

The LORD is good:

    his kindness endures forever,

    and his faithfulness to all generations.

R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.

Second Reading: Romans 5:6-11

Brothers and sisters:

Christ, while we were still helpless, 

yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly.

Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,

though perhaps for a good person

one might even find courage to die.

But God proves his love for us

in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood,

will we be saved through him from the wrath.

Indeed, if, while we were enemies,

we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,

how much more, once reconciled,

will we be saved by his life.

Not only that,

but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Alleluia: Mark 1:15

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the Gospel. 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Matthew 9:36—10:8

At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them 

because they were troubled and abandoned,

like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples,

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;

so ask the master of the harvest

to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Then he summoned his twelve disciples

and gave them authority over unclean spirits

to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.

The names of the twelve apostles are these:

first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;

James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;

Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;

James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;

Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus,

“Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.

Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.

Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

Reflection

We’re back to the season called Ordinary Time. However, there is nothing ordinary about salvation or anything which culminates in a soul getting closer to God by following His will. Such an issue does not follow seasons and is not bound by any time or period. Any day is a good day to start seeking God in one’s life. And when one becomes “right” with God or when one gets “closer” to God’s heart, the seasons in our faith’s liturgical calendar become rich with meaning and begin to offer clear historical perspective and theological depth. To be closer to God should be a lifetime mission for anyone who declares his love for God and is willing to dedicate his life to the mission of spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth. One cannot do the latter without the former and vice-verse. Remember, to spread the Gospel to the ends of the world may be as mundane being a good member of the family or as significant as being God’s messenger like a bishop or Moses in the First Reading.

To be closer to God presumes that we value our salvation because in the end, that is all that matters. We are all called to work on our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), not because Christ’s salvation is incomplete or sold at a price, thereby opening the opportunity for man to buy his way to heaven. We need to heed Saint Paul’s advice of working for our salvation with fear and trembling because the enemy is strong and cunning in his ways of snatching souls away from God. It is in this context that we need to be with God always, making sure that we never leave his side by falling away from grace. 

For most Catholic Christians, we are called to simply offer our daily life to God by doing the ordinary routine extraordinarily and with holy purpose so that doubters and unbelievers can see that Jesus is truly alive in us.

First Reading

In our First Reading, God gives a message to Moses to be heralded to the House of Jacob a.k.a. House of Israel: “…if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”

To be a people “close” to God’s heart, such a nation should listen to His voice (“hearken to my voice”) and obey Him (“keep my covenant”). These acts of listening and obeying God should not be your average daily item BUT must be the highlight that governs one’s very core of existence. The Word of God must be our principle concern in life but because we must do God’s will first and foremost. Nothing else should please us than to be pleasing to God. 

In the Old Testament, God’s voice has always been revealed directly or relayed through the prophets and holy persons who have been ordained to serve God and his people. These people acted like ambassadors for God and some of them had to go through tremendous suffering for God’s plan to be fulfilled. Some of them were not even from the House of Jacob. It is both a privilege and a responsibility to be a messenger from God. In the same way, being God’s chosen people is both a privilege and a responsibility. Keeping the Covenant with God is, in itself, a great responsibility because God’s will is to bring everyone into covenant relations with Him. God’s relationship with man has always been and will always be through forging covenants.

The verse quoted also emphasizes that it is listening that qualifies as a very important element in our relationship with God. In fact, listening is a great sustainer and fertilizer to any relationship either with God or with others. Our God is all-knowing. Therefore, it stands to reason that we must always take time to be still and ask the Lord to speak to our hearts. In our world of loud and ambient noise, from opinions and comments, we need to go off-the-grid and connect with God, and the more frequently we do this, the better it will be for us. Remember, God wills only our good because of His unconditional and limitless love for us. The more we do things using our own capabilities and the more we take God out from our decision making, the more we get into trouble. 

We must also remember that listening to God’s voice should be our inspiration to keep our Covenant obligations and be faithful to it. Keeping our Covenant relations with God is the “obeying” part of the equation. In other words, we listen to God and we obey what He tells us. This should be our daily agenda in life and everything should flow from this practice of listening and obeying Him who is Lord of all. For most people, they wouldn’t hear an audible sound of a voice coming from an unseen man. For most of us, we have already heard God’s voice in our hearts because it simply demands a very basic thing in life—that we love one another!   

Gospel

Today’s Gospel is about the call of the workers who labor in God’s vineyard. This is also the “obeying” part mentioned in the First Reading. As you well know, the whole world is God’s vineyard and the mission is to spread God’s Word to others, especially to those who have not yet heard or seen to glory of the Lord, so that they too may hear and be saved. The Gospel is also about praying to the God, who is the Master of the Harvest, for Him to send more workers to the vineyard.

It is true that the phrase “laborers working in the Lord’s vineyard” refers to priests. However, it is also refers to the laity and all baptized Christians who take to heart the command contained in the Great Commissioning in Matthew 28: “…make disciples of the all nations.” The “harvest” refers to all those who have not heard about Christ or those who have given up their discipleship.

What is at stake here is ‘the harvest’ or more importantly, ‘to secure and keep the harvest safe’. It is true that God is Almighty and He can secure the harvest on His own. But that would defeat the very purpose of Christianity as a faith community and family of the chosen people of God. 

Remember, the Church built by Jesus is the New Israel and we are it. Therefore, what was said in the First Reading applies to us, and that is ‘to hearken to God’s voice’ and keep the new and everlasting Covenant sealed with the blood of the Lamb. We are the new priestly Kingdom of God, and we are duty-bound to gather others and bring them closer to our Lord. Our constitution as a priestly clan was confirmed by St. Peter when he said: “…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10). 

As a priestly clan, we are called to mediate between our fellowman and God, and this is the reason why Jesus left behind His priests or those ordained to the sacerdotal life because Christianity is indeed about shepherding others closer to God. This is also the reason why our Lord Jesus calls us to pray to the Master of the Harvest for Him to send more workers to the vineyard. The harvest is abundant but the harvesters are few; there is so much work but there are only a few workers who can be tasked. Jesus’ solution is: “…ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

The Easter Season may be over but we are still basking in the perpetual glory of Easter because Christ already defeated death. This is the Gospel worth preaching even if it takes one to climb the highest mountain and sail the seven seas. The pathway to life is already set and cleared for all mankind. What remains to do is to listening and to obey God Word, Jesus the Christ. It is imperative that we abide by Him and in Him who is the Vine. Our aim is for us to be the branches of the Vine and never be pruned away by the Master of the Harvest, left to dry and burned. Attached to Christ, we have life and we flourish. Detached from Christ, we wither away and die.

Second Reading

Today’s Second Reading is one of St. Paul’s masterpieces in explaining how Jesus paid for every sin committed before and after His death on the Cross, and how Adam and Eve’s fall from the Garden becomes an important reckoning point.

Man’s disobedience in the Garden not only made him sin against God and discovered what evil was, he also lost his preter-natural gifts of innocence and immortality. As a consequence, man became spiritually broken and vulnerable to committing sin, which even became a predilection for some. In other words, man’s brokenness puts him at odds with God. Some, by virtue to their continuing sin, are always at odds with God and this is NOT why God created man.

It is in this context that God rolls out his plan to save mankind and it is rooted in His unconditional love—that God decided to love man, a mere creature and elevate him to the status of child. This is no ordinary love. It is the kind which is described in Greek as “agape”, as differentiated from “phileo” (affectionate love), “storge” (familial, natural love) and “eros” (romantic, passionate love). It is divine love and the good news is that man possesses this capability of loving like God because we were created by Him who is love personified. It is a “whatever-it-takes” kind of love.      

The plan is for God to send us His only begotten Son: “Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6). Jesus took on human flesh precisely to bridge the divine and the temporal orders in His person, so that He can give His life away, as expiation, to appease God and for man’s salvation. Man has been made right and justified by Christ and His death. God knew that man’s knowledge of evil and sin, a consequence from disobedience and fall from the Garden, would weaken his resolve towards good and would make him helpless against the forces of evil. Sin truly makes ungodly people out of some.   

Jesus, being God, knew that some will reject the Father and the Son and become unworthy of salvation and divine adoption. But He still offered His life to take away the sins of the world because it was the will of the Father that all be saved by believing in the Son (see John 6:40 & 1 Tim 2:4). Saint Paul declares how difficult it was for the Son of Man to die for mankind: “Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:7-8). This only proves how much God loves man.  

“How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Rom 5:9-10). God did everything just to reconcile us to Himself, even to the point of dying on the Cross for both the righteous and the sinners. Every single person, past-present-future, was and is justified because of Jesus. In other words, God has opened to us every single access there is available for us to reach heaven IF ONLY WE BELIEVE IN GOD AND IN JESUS WHOM HE SENT (see John 17:3). Believing in Christ means abiding in Him until the end of our earthly existence because after our earthly lives, we no longer need to believe, we only have to see God face-to-face and appreciate the glory of the Trinity.

A blessed Sunday to everyone.

– Gospel reflection by Kuya Rommel Cecilio of SLRP Bible Apostolate Ministry