Posted on 06/27/2026 10:51:20 PM PDT by fidelis
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.” Matthew 10:37–38
When a scribe approached Jesus and asked Him which of the commandments was the greatest, He replied: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30–31).
Today’s Gospel offers a similar teaching: We must love God above all else—even more than father, mother, son, or daughter. By contrasting love for God with love for family, Jesus is not diminishing familial affection; rather, He is revealing that the only way to truly love others is by loving God first.
Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches: “God must be loved above all things and before all others out of charity, for He is loved as the source of happiness, whereas our neighbor is loved as one who shares in that happiness along with us” (Summa Theologiae II-II, Q.26, A.2). In other words, God must be loved first because He is the ultimate cause and source of beatitude—the only true happiness. Though we are called to love our families and our neighbors, Christian charity dictates that we love them in relation to God—as fellow recipients of divine happiness.
One reason this Gospel is challenging is that our natural affections, though good, must be transformed by divine charity. It is natural to love our parents and children—God designed us with these affections. Even animals instinctively care for their offspring. But Jesus calls us to something higher: a love that is perfected by divine charity, transcending mere emotional attachment or duty. His teaching does not negate natural love; rather, it purifies, elevates, and directs it toward the highest good—God Himself.
When Jesus speaks of loving “father or mother” or “son or daughter” more than Him, He is addressing the inner conflict we sometimes experience in our emotions. When natural affection is not transformed by spiritual charity, the love we offer another can do more harm than good. Disordered affection replaces the ultimate good—God—with the lesser good of emotional attachment and human consolation. The real danger arises when our loved ones stray from God’s will, and we, out of misguided affection, affirm them in their error, thereby confirming them in a state lacking true beatitude.
The foundation of true love is this: God alone is the source of perfect happiness, for us and for our loved ones. Our belief in God transforms the way we love others. No longer do we merely seek their earthly comfort or emotional well-being; rather, we direct them to the eternal Good—God Himself—who alone fulfills every longing.
Reflect today on those closest to you—those whom God calls you to love with the highest form of love. Are your affections rightly ordered, or do they sometimes compete with the charity God desires to instill in you? If so, turn your heart to God. Seek to love Him above all else. Let Him become the object of your deepest love and desire. When God is first, His love will transform you from within, enabling you to love others not just with natural affection, but with the very love of Christ, leading them to the eternal joy of union with Him.
Lord of perfect charity, Your love is pure, holy, and beyond all understanding—so vast, so encompassing, that I will never fathom its depths. Draw me into this love, O Lord, that I may love You above all things. From that love, let the charity of Your Sacred Heart flow through me to others, so that in loving them, I love You. Jesus, I trust in You.
Please keep in mind that this is a Catholic Caucus/Devotional thread for the purpose of prayerful reflection on the Sacred Scriptures and is closed to debate of any kind. Per FR policy on Religion Caucus threads, off-topic, argumentative, and abusive comments are not allowed and will be submitted to the Mods for deletion. Thanks, and God bless you.
The Month of June is Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of May, 2026:
For the values of sports
Let us pray that sports be an instrument of peace, encounter, and dialogue among cultures and nations, and that they promote values such as respect, solidarity, and personal growth.
Today’s First Reading
From: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a
The Son of the Shunammite Woman
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[8] One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. [9] And she said to her husband, "Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who is continually passing our way. [10] Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there."
[11] One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there. [14] And he said, "What then is to be done for her?" Gehazi answered, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old." [15] He said, "Call her." And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. [16a] And he said, "At this season, when the time comes round, you shall embrace a son."
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Commentary:
4:8-37. Elisha here is an itinerant prophet who has only one servant and whose base is Mount Carmel: in this he Is like Elijah. This passage shows, firstly, God blessing the childless woman with the gift of motherhood, thanks to the prophet's intervention (vv. 11-17); and, secondly, the prophet's extraordinary power to raise up her dead son (vv. 18-37).
From a literary point of view, it is a well-constructed account full of little details which help to build up the dramatic tension. The feelings of the woman, who first of all receives the of a son without having sought it, and then cannot resign herself to his death, provide the basic story-line. St John Chrysostom quotes this passage show that real love means being concerned even about the physical welfare of others: "Elisha not only gave spiritual help to the woman who had shown him hospitality; he also tried repay her in a material way" ("De Laudibus Sancti Pauli Apostolici", 3, 7).
The first part of the story shows the reward given someone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet; it is reminiscent of the reward that Jesus promises to those who acknowledge and welcome an apostle (cf. Mt 10: 13-14). The main thing to be learned from this passage (as also from 1 Kings 17:6) is the power of the prophet's prayer and indeed anyone else's prayer when done with faith. But we also learn that when God gives a gift, no matter how surprisingly and unexpectedly (such as the gift of a son to this woman), he also gives the grace to conserve it and make it bear fruit. The Lord does not leave us to our own devices when he gives us, for example, personal talents, or a vocation even if we may not have sought one.
Elisha's journey to the dead boy and the action he takes is compared by St Augustine and other Fathers to the incarnation of Christ and to his work of redemption. "Elisha arrived and went up to the chamber, just as Christ would come and go up to the scaffold of the cross. Elisha stretched himself upon the child, to raise him up; Christ humbled himself in order to raise up the world that was laid prone by sin. Elisha put his eyes on the child's eyes, his hands on his hands. Notice, my brothers, how that grown-up man shrank himself in order to fit the size of the dead child. What Elisha prefigured (in the way he cured the child), Christ fulfilled in regard to all mankind. Listen to what the Apostle says; 'He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death.' Because we were children, he made himself a child; because we lay dead, the first thing the doctor did was to bend over, for no one can raise his stricken brother unless he bends down to him. The child's sneezing seven times stands for the seven forms of grace of the Holy Spirit that are given mankind, in order to raise it up, at Christ's coming (Sermons attributed to St Augustine, "Sermons", 42, 8).
From: Romans 6:3-11
Baptism (Continuation)
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[3] Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? [4] We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
[8] But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. [9] For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. [10] The death He died He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. [11] So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
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Commentary:
1-11. The universal dominion of sin, which began with the sin of Adam, is not the only event to be reckoned with. When sin reached its full extent, the grace brought by Jesus Christ came in superabundance. Through Baptism this grace reaches each of us and frees us from the control of sin. When we receive this Sacrament we die: that is to say, our blameworthiness is destroyed, we renounce sin once and for all, and are born again into a new life.
"The Lord", St. Ambrose tells the newly baptized, "who wanted His benefactions to endure, the serpent's plans to be turned to naught, and the harm done to be put right, delivered a sentence to mankind: 'You are dust, and to dust you shall return' (Genesis 3:19), and made man subject to death [...]. The remedy was given him: man would die and rise again [...]. You ask me how? [...] Pay attention. So that in this world too the devil's snare would be broken, a rite was instituted whereby man would die, being alive, and rise again, being alive [...].Through immersion in water the sentence is blotted out: 'You are dust, and to dust you shall return'" ("De Sacramentis", II, 6).
This passage of the epistle, which reveals the key truths concerning Baptism, also reminds us of the profound meaning of this rite which Christ established, its spiritual effects in Christians and its far-reaching effects with respect to the Christian life. Thus, we can apply to Baptism what St. Thomas Aquinas says about all the sacraments: "Three aspects of sanctification may be considered--its very cause, which is Christ's Passion; its form, which is grace and the virtues; and its ultimate end, which is eternal life. And all these are signified by the sacraments. Consequently, a sacrament is a sign which is both a reminder of the past, that is, of the Passion of Christ, and an indication of what is effected in us by Christ's Passion, and a foretelling and pledge of future glory" ("Summa Theologiae", III, q. 60, a. 3).
In the specific case of Baptism, the various things which the Sacrament implies carry a special nuance--a new birth which presupposes a symbolic death. It reproduces in us not only the Passion, Death and burial of Christ, symbolized by immersion in water (verses 3-4, 6), but also new life, the life of grace which pours into the soul, enabling the person to share in the Resurrection of Christ (verses 4-5). This sharing in Christ's Resurrection to immortal life is a kind of seed which will ultimately produce the glorious resurrection of our bodies.
The baptized person is, therefore, someone newly created, someone born into a new life, someone who has moved out of darkness into light. The white garment used at Baptism symbolizes innocence and grace; the burning candle, the light of Christ--two symbols the Church uses in the baptismal liturgy to signify what is happening.
Thus, in Baptism, God "removes every trace of sin, whether original or personal" ("The Rite of Baptism", Introduction, 5) and also remits the penalties that these sins incur. On being baptized in the name of the Three Divine Persons, the Christian is shown God the Father's love for him (a love he has not merited), is given a share in the Paschal Mystery of the Son, and to him is communicated new life in the Spirit (cf. "Instruction on Infant Baptism", 20 October 1980, 9). Baptism, which is also described as "the door of the spiritual life", unites a person to Christ and to the Church by means of grace, which makes us children of God and heirs to Heaven. Finally, in addition to the infused virtues and supernatural gifts, the person is given "the graces necessary to live in a Christian way, and on his soul is impressed the sacramental character which makes him a Christian for evermore" ("St. Pius X Catechism", 250).
Baptism, which confers a "character", that is, a kind of seal confirming our Christian calling, gives us a share in Christ's priesthood and makes us capable of receiving the other sacraments.
4. It is easier to grasp the symbolism of burial and resurrection if one remembers that in earlier times, and particularly in the apostolic period, Baptism was usually administered by immersion in water--in some cases by total immersion, up to three times, with one Person of the Blessed Trinity being invoked each time. "They asked you, 'Do you believe in God the Father almighty?' You said, 'I believe', and you were immersed, that is, you were buried. Again they asked you, 'Do you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Cross?' You said, 'I believe', and you were again immersed. This time you have been buried with Christ, and he who is buried with Christ rises with Christ. For a third time you were asked, 'Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?' You said, 'I believe', and for a third time you were immersed, so that by this three-fold confession you might be loosed of your many attachments to your past life" (St. Ambrose, "De Sacramentis", II, 7).
Today Baptism is normally administered by pouring water over the head-- a method also used in apostolic times and which gradually came into general use because it was found more convenient.
5. Just as the ingraft and the plant form a single thing and make a single principle of life, Christians by being grafted onto or incorporated into Christ through Baptism form one single thing with Him and begin to draw on His divine life. We are also "united with Him in a death like His": Christ suffered physical death; we, in Baptism, die spiritually to the life of sin. St. John Chrysostom explains this as follows: "Baptism is for us what the Cross and burial were for Christ; but with this difference: the Savior died physically, He was physically buried, whereas we ought to die spiritually. That is why the Apostle does not say we are 'united with Him with His death', but 'in a death LIKE HIS'" ("Hom. on Rom.", 10).
9-10. Jesus Christ chose to bear all the consequences of sin, even though He was sinless. His voluntary death on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection broke the bonds of death, for Himself and for all His own. Death no longer shall have dominion: "[Christ died] that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage" (Hebrews 2:14-15). And as a consequence He won, for His own human nature and for us, a new life.
In all those who have been baptized these same events in Christ's life are in some way reproduced. "Our past sins have been wiped out by the action of grace. Now, so as to stay dead to sin after Baptism, personal effort is called for, although God's grace continues to be with us, providing us with great help" (Chrysostom, "Hom. on Rom.", 11). This personal effort might be encapsulated in a resolution: "May we never die through sin; may our spiritual resurrection be eternal" ([St] J. Escriva, "Holy Rosary", 1st Glorious Mystery).
From: Matthew 10:37-42
Jesus' Instructions to the Apostles (Continuation)
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(Jesus said to His disciples) [34] "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. [35] For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; [36] and a man's foes will be those of his own household. [37] He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; [38] and he who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. [39] He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
[40] He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. [41] He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. [42] And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."
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Commentary:
The word of God in fact leads to these divisions mentioned here. It can lead, even within families, to those who embrace the faith being regarded as enemies by relatives who resist the word of truth. This is why our Lord goes on (verse 37) to say that nothing should come between Him and His disciple--not even father, mother, son or daughter: any and every obstacle (cf. Matthew 5:29-30) must be avoided.
Obviously these words of Jesus do not set up any opposition between the first and fourth commandments (love for God above all things and love for one's parents): He is simply indicating the order of priorities. We should love God with all our strength (cf. Matthew 22:37), and make a serious effort to be saints; and we should also love and respect—in theory and in practice--the parents God has given us; they have generously cooperated with the creative power of God in bringing us into the world and there is so much that we owe them. But love for our parents should not come before love of God; usually there is no reason why these two loves should clash, but if that should happen, we should be quite clear in our mind and in heart about what Jesus says here. He has in fact given us an example to follow on this point: "How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father's house?" (Luke 2:49)--His reply when, as a youth, Mary and Joseph found Him in the Temple of Jerusalem after a long search. This event in our Lord's life is a guideline for every Christian--parent or child. Children should learn from it that their affection for their parents should never come before their love for God, particularly when our Creator asks us to follow Him in a way which implies special self-giving on our part; parents should take the lesson that their children belong to God in the first place, and therefore He has a right to do with them what He wishes, even if this involves sacrifice, even heroic sacrifice. This teaching of our Lord asks us to be generous and to let God have His way. In fact, however, God never lets Himself be outdone in generosity. Jesus has promised a hundredfold gain, even in this life, and later on eternal life (cf. Matthew 19:29), to those who readily respond to His will.
38-39. The teaching contained in the preceding verses is summed up in these two succinct sentences. Following Christ, doing what He asks, means risking this present life to gain eternal life.
"People who are constantly concerned with themselves, who act above all for their own satisfaction, endanger their eternal salvation and cannot avoid being unhappy even in this life. Only if a person forgets himself and gives himself to God and to others, in marriage as well as in any other aspect of life, can he be happy on this earth, with a happiness that is a preparation for, and a foretaste of, the joy of Heaven" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 24). Clearly, Christian life is based on self-denial: there is no Christianity without the Cross.
40. To encourage the Apostles and to persuade others to receive them, our Lord affirms that there is an intimate solidarity, or even a kind of identity, between Himself and His disciples. God in Christ, Christ in the Apostles: this is the bridge between Heaven and earth. (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23).
41-42. A prophet's mission is not essentially one of announcing future events; his main role is that of communicating the word of God (cf. Jeremiah 11:2; Isaiah 1:2). The righteous man, the just man, is he who obeys the Law of God and follows His paths (cf. Genesis 6:9; Isaiah 3:10). Here Jesus tells us that everyone who humbly listens to and welcomes prophets and righteous men, recognizing God in them, will receive the reward of a prophet and a righteous man. The very fact of generously receiving God's friends will gain one the reward that they obtain. Similarly, if we should see God in the least of His disciples (verse 42), even if they do not seem very important, they are important, because they are envoys of God and of His Son. That is why he who gives them a glass of cold water--an alms, or any small service--will receive a reward, for he has shown generosity to our Lord Himself (cf. Matthew 25:40).
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