Homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a; Psalm 89; Romans 6:3-4, 8-11; Matthew 10:37-42
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You will forgive me for wanting to bypass the first few verses of today’s gospel. I know I have not yet reached the stage in the spiritual life of accepting Jesus’ sayings: ‘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’. What’s more, I have to confess that I am not sure I ever want to reach that stage in the spiritual life. Scripture scholar Daniel Harrington tells us: ‘The disciples should expect to meet division within families, for in this way Micah 7:6 is fulfilled. They must not value their family ties or even their own lives above their following Jesus; their discipleship will surely involve suffering’.[1] Micah 7:6 says: ‘For son insults father, daughter defies mother, daughter-in-law defies mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are those of his own household.’ I am not convinced of the need to fulfil Micah 7:6. I am yet to find a scripture scholar who can render these sayings consistent with the rest of Jesus’ message and witness. For the moment I am prepared to let them be, unable to resolve the apparent inconsistencies. I’m more at peace with Micah 6:8: ‘this is what the Lord asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.’
I think we have more than enough to contemplate with Jesus’ other words in today’s gospel including: ‘Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.’
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, she will surely not lose her reward.
During the week I was privileged to attend the book launch of a potted biography of Sister Mary Shanahan, a 97-year-old Sister of the Sacred Heart. She has spent her life as an educator and mentor for young women in Catholic schools and colleges. Madeline Sophie who founded Mary Shanahan’s congregation believed that women have the power to transform the world. Mary has dedicated her life to teaching young women resilience and inculcating pride in their gifts which can transform the world. As Mary says, ‘It’s so important to face life knowing our gifts, accepting them and using them for the benefit of ourselves and others. That’s what gives us solid ground to stand on in life.’[2] She told her biographer: ‘I was blessed to be drawn to the Society of the Sacred Heart. That Sacred Heart brings the colours of the rainbow. I don’t spend my life looking at the supposed good I’ve done. I thank God if there are people who have been blessed through the life I have lived.’[3]
At the launch speaking to a large, adoring crowd of her former students, Mary elaborated on the image of the rainbow. She said the Sacred Heart was the rainbow under which she was able to shelter and feel at home while going out into the world of uncertainty and change. When asked, she replied that she would not describe herself as a feminist because she believed in the empowerment of all persons, regardless of their gender.
Mary was one of seven children brought up in outback Winton in north Queensland. Her parents ran the local hotel which was the social hub of the outback. Prime Minister Joe Lyons and future US president Lyndon Johnson had visited the hotel when Mary was a child. At a young age she was sent away to boarding school. She thrived. After graduation she returned to the school to assist the nuns and the students at the beginning of the new academic year. One day she had a profound spiritual experience. 80 years later, she can still remember the very spot at the school where she was standing: ‘God was there, with me. And I thought about it and I thought, the only way I can respond to that love is by giving my life to love.’[4] And she did.
She joined the sisters and spent her life giving so much more than a cup of cold water to the thousands with whom she formed warm friendships. She was like the woman of influence in today’s first reading from the second book of Kings. She always noted the passerby in need of a meal. She constantly noted the visitor who needed a room. She readily saw the holiness in the passerby and in the visitor. Like the woman at Shunem, Mary took practical steps to offer hospitality to so many over the decades: ‘let us arrange a little room on the roof and furnish it for (the visitor) with a bed, table, chair, and lamp, so that when she comes to us she can stay there.’
In his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo says ‘the love of God, who calls us to friendship with him, is infinite’ and ‘his love is absolutely unconditional, in the sense that, even if we search endlessly, we will never find anything that can erase or deny it.’[5]
We thank God for those like Mary Shanahan who through their lives reflect that friendship and love of God, making real that friendship and love in a complex world of fraught relationships under the rainbow of love, meaning and purpose.
Forever 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.
Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO, Adjunct Professor of Thomas More Law School at ACU and Adjunct Research Professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, is a former Rector of Newman College, University of Melbourne, and CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA). His latest books include Pope Francis: the Disruptive Pilgrims Guide (ATF Theology, 2025), and Gerard Brennan’s Articles and Speeches: Maintaining the Law’s Skeleton of Principle (2 volumes) (Connor Court, 2025).
[1] Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Matthew, Sacra Pagina Series (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2007), 152.
[2] Shan, A Life of Sister Mary Shanahan RSCJ OAM, with Elizabeth Hannan, 2026, 88.
[3] Ibid, 92.
[4] Ibid, 59.
[5] Pope Leo, Encyclical Letter Magnifica Humanitas #53.
