Pastor’s Pen
Time, July 2, 2023
13th Sunday in Ordinary
St. Augustine’s Catholic Church
Love Begets Love
Our God is a God of Love, full of mercy and compassion and is infinite in all perfection (Catechism of the Catholic Church). In His Commandment to us, God said we have to love Him above all things, then we should love others as we love ourselves. These statements stand out as His Ten Commandments. His Son, Jesus Christ, while on earth, also went about everywhere doing good. He also said the same thing in His teaching and commanded us to do likewise. The good we have done to others will certainly bring us its divine blessings and reward.
Our first reading today tells us about an influential woman in Shunem, who used to welcome the prophet Elisha to her house. She would offer him meals. One time, she asked her husband if they could arrange a little room on the roof and furnish it with a bed, table, chair, lamp, etc. whenever Elisha came to visit them, then he could stay there, for he was a holy man. Some time later, Elisha arrived and stayed there overnight. At the end of his stay, Elisha asked their servant, Gehazi, if there was anything that could be done for this woman? “Yes”, Gehazi replied. “She has no son and her husband is getting on in years.” Elisha called her and as she stood at the door, Elisha promised her, “This time next year you will have a son.”
The gospel concludes the above narrative that whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet receives a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. Whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple, surely, will not lose his reward.
Fr. Chris
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