Reflection for Sunday – June 14, 2026

Gloria UlterinoSunday Readings Homilies

Readings: Exodus 19: 2-6a; Romans 5: 6-11; Matthew 9: 36-10: 8 
Preacher: Gloria Ulterino

 Well, folks, we’re back in “Ordinary Time,” according to the Church year.  Left behind are the Easter season’s celebrations of Christ’s Passion, death, and Resurrection.  And yet, God persists in being very much with us!  Indeed, God’s inexpressible, profound love lives on in us at this very moment.  For, as today’s Psalmist assures us:  we are God’s people!  No matter what!  Today!  Tomorrow!  Forevermore!     

 How on earth can we possibly celebrate such goodness?  Such kindness?  And, also, such responsibility?  In truth, each of us can answer this question.  Given our gifts, our responsibilities, our failures and our successes: How can we ever more become the People of God?  Beginning right now, at this very moment?

Today’s readings give us clues.  Oh, yes, they are simply snippets of several ancestors’ responses to God’s goodness, but they help us get started.  Our First Reading, from the Book of Exodus, is the inspiration of a hymn I dearly love, “On Eagle’s Wings.”  (As the refrain goes, “And I will raise you up, on eagles’ wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you shine like sun.  And hold you, hold you in the palm of My hands.”)  Picture this.  The Israelites are on the run from an enemy.  After arriving on the edge of the vast desert of Sinai, they pitch camp for the night.  Moses, their leader, goes up the mountain to speak to God.  Though it is God who initiates the conversation.  Urging them—and us today—to remember.  Remember who we are already: God’s People, so dear to the heart of our God.  A priestly people, a holy people.  What a promise!  Might we well wonder, just as our ancestors might have done: how on earth can we do that?

 Stay with that question, as we move on through centuries, to the first century of Christianity, and the time of St. Paul.  Now, here’s an ancestor who has been through it all: sin, and then, finally, discovery of God’s goodness in and through Jesus Christ.  He has been reconciled from his sinful life, so much so, that he simply must preach, day in and day out.  For what purpose?  So, that, through the power of our Baptism into Christ, we might live as brothers and sisters to everyone.  No exception!

Now, that’s a real challenge, isn’t it?   But Matthew—this liturgical year’s primary Gospel writer—points us in a possible direction, if we listen to Jesus … not unlike his original disciples.  Then try—and try again—just like them, one day at a time to do our best.  Yes, of course, we fail at times.  But then we pick ourselves up, ask for God’s help, and try again.  In short, St. Matthew goes on to give us our job description as Christians.  In his words, we are to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and drive out demons.”  What on earth does that mean, in your life and mine? 

These initial responses occurred to me.  Yes, we might know something here and there about healing.  But raising someone from the dead?  Consider this: maybe we’ve encountered someone who is totally discouraged, for any number of reasons, so much so that they are ready to give up trying.  How about a word of encouragement?  A recognition of that person’s gifts?  Calling forth those gifts, for their benefit and that of everyone else in their life.  Or, perhaps, a willingness simply to walk with someone who wants to make a better life, but doesn’t yet begin to understand how that might happen?  Listening always matters.  Before offering any response.  Where can we connect the gifts of folks we know with people and groups who need those gifts?  These are but a few examples; others might readily come to mind. 

In the end, our loving Creator God put us together to help one another: bring out the best in each other; create a better world, one person at a time.  What a great job description for us all!

Gloria Ulterino
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