First Things First

A Reflection on the Gospel for June 28th, 2020:
​Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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​Matthew
10.37-42

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 their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 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.”
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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

Jesus is telling me here that if I want to walk with Him, then I must leave everything behind. He has to be first in my life. He gives me everything I need to show others who He is, but if I am preoccupied with people, places, and things, then I am hiding Him behind them, and they will never meet Him through me.


When my husband and I married, we gave ourselves wholly to the sacrament of marriage. After our wedding day we were reminiscing about the ceremony and although we hadn’t discussed this with each other, we discovered that we had both experienced something similar when we exchanged vows. We both described feeling as though everyone in the church just faded away, leaving the priest and the two of us encased in a bubble. We were experiencing God’s grace as we became the image of the Holy Trinity through the sacrament — a total, permanent, exclusive covenant. Every time I looked at my husband, I knew that I was looking at the image of God, chosen especially for me by God.


As our married life together unfolded, we soon found ourselves becoming consumed with activity. Work, kids, friends, family, sports, commitments at church, and various ministries kept us really busy. We stopped praying together — there simply was no time! There were so many people, places, and things to which we had to attend. With all of this piled up between me and God, I began going through the motions mechanically, and slowly began to lose my personal relationship with Him. I began to take the sacrament and my husband for granted, and soon enough, complacency slipped into the marriage. And where there is complacency, doubt can sneak in.


One evening a dear friend invited us to her home to pray with us. She told us how when she and her late husband were married, the priest placed a crucifix between their joined hands, instructing them to take every joy, fear, happiness, and problem to that cross, and then she placed that same crucifix between our joined hands. We were convicted in that moment to place Him firmly back in first place in our marriage and lives… to leave the old patterns behind and root out the seeds of doubt and complacency.


Today that crucifix hangs in our kitchen, which is the heart of our home, as a constant reminder that we are nothing without Him, that He always has to be first, above everything and everyone. It reminds me that when I serve my husband, our children, any guest, I am serving Him. It is a reminder of the power of His healing and saving love.


And for that I am eternally grateful. ​




Sandy Graves

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