Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time/A
Massimo Palombella
In today’s Gospel (Mt 10:37–42), Jesus places at the very centre the question of our relationship with Him. Three times He repeats an expression that may strike us as surprising: “is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:37, 38). The Greek term used by the evangelist is ἄξιος (áxios). It does not primarily denote a moral dignity to be earned, as though Jesus were setting a threshold of perfection to be attained. Rather, áxios means “to be commensurate with”, “to correspond to”, “to possess the proper weight in relation to a given reality”. To be áxios of the Lord, therefore, is to live a relationship with Him that bears the weight and truth such a relationship deserves.
This is why Jesus speaks of preferences, detachment, and even of the cross. Not because He wishes to deprive us of our deepest affections, but because every authentic relationship shapes an identity and calls for an ordering of values. In the end, each of us lives according to what we hold to be most important, according to what directs our choices and gives form to our existence.
This means recognising that there is a relationship of love that precedes and surrounds me, that awaits me and loves me precisely where I most need to be loved, and exactly as I need to be loved. It is a relationship in which I can experience being welcomed without having to earn my place. When this happens, I allow myself to be embraced by a love that gives substance and coherence to my life and enables me to become ever more fully the person I can—and am called—to be.
Perhaps the deepest meaning of the Greek word ἄξιος (áxios) lies precisely here: allowing our relationship with the Lord to become the space in which our humanity may discover its truest form.
The Gradual for today’s celebration is taken from Psalm 33 (Ps 33:12, 6) and bears the following text: Venite, filii, audite me: timorem Domini docebo vos.
Accedite ad eum, et illuminamini: et facies vestrae non confundentur.
(Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Draw near to Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall never be put to shame).
The accompanying music, in Gregorian Chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex, published at Solesmes in 1979. Performance: Monks and Choir Boys of Downside Abbey. The recording may be found on the CD “Gregorian Chant”, published by Warner Classics in 1997.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
