13th Sunday A 28 June 2026 Detachment
The woman in the first reading is rewarded for her simple act of charity. For offering hospitality to Elisha she is rewarded by being able to conceive a child, for which she had been hoping. (2 K, 4,10)
If we are generous then God is more so again. He appreciates all that we give Him, provided we give with sincerity.
Welcome a prophet and receive a prophet’s reward (Gospel) (Mt 10,41)
To be generous we first need to be grateful. We are glad to give to others out of the abundance of what God has given us.
Freely you have received, freely you must give (Mt 10,8)
God gives us many things for our use, our enjoyment, for serving Him.
All that we would claim to be our own is really His more than it is ours.
We can become attached to things very easily and forget the higher loyalty which is expected of us.
The whole history of the human race shows us how diffiucult it is for people to be detached from their favourite things. Wars and rebellions are plentiful.
People fight to keep or acquire some asset rather than sort it out by Christian means.
God give us things to use to serve our purposes but also to serve Him.
So we use houses, clothes, cars, computers - all manner of gadgets. Then there are more abstract things like our own personal talents – brains, ability to work with the hands, musicians, writers. Just about everything is from God, directly or indirectly. These can all be used to serve God.
He lets us enjoy various things, music, wine, adventure, friendship … expecting in return not much, at least thanksgiving. How great are the works of the Lord.(Ps 111.2)
God is probing our hearts to see if we really love Him or not. Even this is generosity on His part as He knows we will be happiest when we are serving Him.
Do we then love Him more than all these things? We are working on it!
We even have to love the people we love less than we love God. Anyone who prefers father or mother to Me is not worthy of Me. (Mt 10,37).
He can look after the people we love better than we can.
It is not wrong to love our possessions, provided we love God more. We give it all to Him, in advance, should we lose it.
The temptation is to say this is mine, and Where does God come into it?
If so, we are forgetting that all of life is a pilgrimage.
We remember John the Baptist who lived in the desert as a reminder to us all that we need to keep our lives simple.
Grateful for what we have, humble in our demands, capable of ‘going without’..
The only way we can keep all this in balance is to keep in contact with God Himself. Once we get a taste of His glory we are more able to see earthly goods as very minor by comparison.
Every good thing we encounter can be seen as a taste of God's glory. Taste and see that the lord is good.(Ps 34,8)
We come to see how desirable God is.; we would rather spend a day in his courts than a thousand years elsewhere. (Ps 84,10)
We are ready even to part with life itself, as so many have done.
God values generosity so much because it is a sign of His way of operating. It is in His nature to give more than receive.
So may it be our way.
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