Homily: 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 28, 2026
My dear brothers and sisters, in the word of God read to us today, the admonition on the need for our commitment to the work of evangelization continues. Last Sunday, our Lord Jesus Christ said openly, “everyone who acknowledges me before humans, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before humans, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” This Sunday, Jesus continues with the same message to us, telling us that one of the ways we can support the work of evangelization is by serving God with our money, by supporting the work of evangelizers and priests with our temporal goods. We heard in the gospel, “whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward […] and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple truly I tell you that person will not lose their reward.”
The Sacred Scripture shows us that God has always rewarded superabundantly those who promote missionary work with their resources. In the first reading of today, a Shunemite woman saw Elisha the prophet passing through the town of Shunem always for his prophetic mission. The woman convinced her husband, and they made a room for Elisha in their home, so that any time he passed by, the prophet would stop to have a meal and drink. For this their support to the ministry of the prophet, God rewarded them with a son because they were childless.
We recall the encounter between Elijah and the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17:8-15, this widow gathered sticks to make a fire and prepare bread for herself and her son with the last remaining flour and oil that she had before they face death by starvation because of the famine in the land. When the prophet Elijah beckoned on her to make for him a loaf of bread, the woman prioritized the work of God, the mission of the prophet even over her life and that of her son and what became the result, heaven responded to her. Her jar of meal never became empty, and her jug of oil never became dry till the end of the famine.
We remember David in 2 Sam. 7:2-17, it was David who first thought and said, I cannot be living in a house made of cedar and the ark of God will be dwelling in a tent, that I will build a befitting house for God, God sent the prophet Nathan to tell David not to worry, that it is David’s son that would build a house for him. However, because he thought and planned this way, that God will build him (David) into a house, the house of David and his kingdom shall be made secure before God and his throne shall be established forever. There are numerous other examples in both the Old and the New Testament.
Like in the days of the prophet Elijah and Elisha, like in the days of Jesus’ physical presence on earth, the work of evangelization needs material support and money for it to be promoted. The fathers of the Second Vatican Council in the Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, presbyterorum ordinis no. 17, observed that the Church needs money for “the organization of divine worship, the provision of decent support for the clergy, and the exercise of works of apostolate and of charity, especially for the benefit of those in need.” A priest once preached, the bible tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil, some say that money is the devil’s dung, and the priest said, “give it to me in plenty, and I shall turn it into manure for God’s kingdom.”
When we look at some of these our gigantic Churches scattered many places in our cities, we are forced to think of the huge amount of money spent in erecting them from the hard-earned resources of Christians like us. These structures bear eloquent testimony to their lively faith in God. We must know that God who they followed and worshipped that made them to dedicate a substantial amount of their material fortune in the building and maintenance of God’s house continues to be alive.
In our own time, we are not to live as if to say that God is dead. We are called to follow in the footsteps of our fathers and mothers in the faith. We are called to make sacrifices with our material resources in the promotion of the work of evangelization. It is our responsibility to see that the house of God is maintained, cleaned and heated. It is our responsibility to see the human instruments who serve in our places of worship are supported. May we never forget that one of the five binding precepts of the Church for Catholics is to “provide for the material needs of the Church, each according to his or her ability.
