Sunday Mass Live Stream - 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Devotional

Day 1: Packing Five T-Shirts and Letting Go

The act of releasing possessions often begins as a symbolic gesture before becoming a spiritual posture. When a young man packs two suits and five t-shirts into a rectory dresser, he thinks he’s practicing detachment. But true freedom comes when even good things—family, comfort, security—are held loosely. Jesus doesn’t demand hatred of what we love, but clarity about what we love most. The buzzing ghost of a left-behind phone fades when the heart finds its true anchor. Detachment creates space for a relationship with Christ that reshapes every priority. [26:32]

“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 his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
(Matthew 10:37-39, ESV)

Reflection: What possession or relationship do you treat as a “necessary item” in your life’s duffel bag? How might holding it loosely create space to hear Christ’s voice more clearly?

Day 2: Hugging Goodbye at the Rectory Stairs

Letting go often hurts the ones who stay behind more than those who leave. Parents releasing a child to religious life, a wedding sendoff, or watching loved ones make hard choices—these moments test faith. Trusting God with those we cherish requires believing He loves them more than we do. Detachment isn’t abandonment but surrendering control. The ache of an empty room becomes a prayer when we believe Christ’s promise to fill all voids. [29:28]

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.’”
(Matthew 16:24-25, ESV)

Reflection: When have you struggled to release someone into God’s care? How might interceding for them differ from trying to manage their journey?

Day 3: The Ghost Buzz in an Empty Pocket

Weaning ourselves from distractions often reveals our hidden dependencies. A phantom phone vibration haunts the newly detached, mirroring how earthly attachments echo in the soul. Christ asks not for hatred of good gifts but for clear-eyed recognition: no created thing can replace the Creator. Detachment is less about physical lack than about spiritual hunger directing us to the only true sustenance. [27:10]

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
(Philippians 3:7-8, ESV)

Reflection: What “ghost buzz” habit or comfort do you reflexively reach for? How might fasting from it this week clarify your spiritual hunger?

Day 4: Loving More Without Loving Most

Healthy human love becomes idolatry when it demands supremacy over divine love. A spouse, child, or friend—precious as they are—cannot bear the weight of being our ultimate hope. Christ’s radical call to “hate” family in Luke 14 exposes the danger of good things becoming god-things. Loving others best requires loving Jesus first, freeing relationships from the burden of saving us. [32:15]

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
(Luke 14:26, ESV)

Reflection: Which relationship do you secretly fear losing most? How might entrusting it to Christ deepen rather than diminish your love?

Day 5: The Freedom of an Undivided Creed

The Nicene Creed’s uncompromising declarations model holy detachment from spiritual ambiguity. Like the priest reciting “I believe” amid life’s chaos, we anchor to truths greater than our feelings. Professing Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection reorders attachments around eternal reality. Every “Amen” at Mass becomes a fresh release of lesser loves to embrace the Love that needs no caveats. [34:15]

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
(Colossians 1:15-17, ESV)

Reflection: Which line of the Creed challenges your cultural attachments most? How might meditating on it dismantle a false priority this week?

Sermon Summary

The Gospel of Matthew puts a hard word right in front of the heart: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” Jesus does not say this because family is bad, or because love for parents, children, siblings, spouses, and friends should become cold. Jesus says it because even the best loves can become attachments that crowd God out of the center.

The call of Christ asks for a freedom deeper than simply giving up stuff. The memory of arriving at the rectory with one giant duffel bag, two black suits, white t shirts, socks, shoes, work clothes, and no phone shows one small version of that freedom. The one giant duffel bag looked like loss at first, especially with that “ghost buzzing” of the phone still felt in the pocket. Yet that first sacrifice opened up a surprising space: the heart and mind were free enough to begin a relationship with Jesus that had not seemed possible before.

The words of Jesus about loving him more than father or mother do not call disciples to become sociopaths, and the words in Luke about “hating” family do not mean hatred of persons. Detachment means despising the attachments that try to make even good things ultimate. Christ does not demand that every person become a mendicant hermit with no possessions, but Christ does demand first place.

Faith becomes especially real when the detachment involves people, not objects. The deeper demand asks parents to let children go, to watch them form their own lives, to stand near them as they make mistakes, and sometimes even to leave a son or daughter at a rectory or convent. Love remains good and beautiful, but love becomes disordered when a person cannot imagine life, hope, trust, or faith without that loved one.

The dangerous sentence is not “I love them deeply.” The dangerous sentence is “I cannot live without them.” Christ brings that sentence into the light. Love the mother, father, child, sibling, friend, and spouse, but do not let any of them take the place of God, because they never can. The whole point of detachment is not hatred of created things, but the freedom to know the one person in this life who truly cannot be lived without.

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Key Takeaways

1. Good loves can become attachments [28:14] Attachments do not become dangerous only when they involve bad things. Even family, reputation, position, and meaningful relationships can quietly take more space in the heart than God. The test is not whether something is loved, but whether that love has become ultimate. [28:14]
2. Christ must take first place [28:47] Jesus does not compete with human love as though love for him makes other loves smaller. His first place purifies every other love by putting it in the right order. When Christ is no longer first, even the most beautiful relationship can become too heavy for the soul to carry rightly. [28:47]
3. Letting go requires real faith [29:28] Detachment is not only the act of leaving something behind. Detachment is also the pain of watching someone loved obey God in a way that costs closeness, control, or comfort. Faith trusts that a relationship with Jesus is more important than keeping every beloved person near. [29:28]
4. “Cannot live without” needs examination [31:23] Deep love is not the problem. The problem begins when the heart believes life itself would be impossible without a creature, even a beloved creature. That fear reveals where trust has shifted from God to someone or something that was never meant to be God. [31:23]
5. Only Christ is truly necessary [32:47] Possessions and relationships are not evil because they must be surrendered. They are good, but they are not absolute. Detachment makes space for the one relationship that can bear the full weight of the heart.

## [32:47]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[11:58] - Confession Before God
[24:02] - Gospel Call to Costly Love
[24:50] - Parish Announcements and Mission Introduction
[25:50] - Arriving at the Rectory
[27:10] - Freedom After Letting Go
[27:49] - Loving Christ Above Family
[28:14] - Attachments That Crowd the Heart
[29:07] - A Family’s Faithful Detachment
[30:00] - Letting Loved Ones Go
[31:23] - What Feels Impossible to Lose
[32:15] - Love Cannot Replace God
[33:18] - Profession of Faith
[35:20] - Prayers of the Faithful
[44:33] - Eucharistic Prayer

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 10:37-39
“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 his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” [23:40]

Luke 14:26
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” [28:00]

Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Observation questions

In Matthew 10:37-39, what relationships does Jesus name, and what does he connect to being “worthy” of him? [23:40]
What are some of the attachments that can take up too much space in the heart, even when they are not bad in themselves? [28:14]
What concrete examples are given of detachment involving family members rather than possessions? [30:00]
What difference is drawn between loving someone deeply and feeling that one could not live without that person? [31:23]

Interpretation questions

Jesus says a disciple must love him more than father, mother, son, or daughter. How does this challenge the common assumption that family should always come first no matter what? [28:47]
Luke uses the strong word “hate” for family in Luke 14:26. How should that be understood in light of the call to love others well, and what kind of “hatred” is really being asked for? [28:27]
Matthew 6:24 says no one can serve two masters. How can a good gift like family, status, or comfort begin to function like a second master in a person’s life?
Jesus connects losing life for his sake with actually finding it. How does letting go create room for a deeper freedom and a stronger relationship with Christ? [27:16]

Application questions

What is one good thing in life right now that may be becoming too central—family approval, a relationship, comfort, reputation, money, or control? What signs would show that it is taking a place that belongs to God alone? [28:14]
The sentence “I cannot live without them” needs careful attention. Is there a person or relationship that stirs that feeling in the heart? What would it look like to love that person deeply while still keeping Christ in first place? [31:55]
Letting loved ones go takes real faith. Where is there a struggle to release control over a child, spouse, parent, sibling, or friend? What would trust in Jesus look like in that situation this week? [29:43]
Some attachments are obvious, and some are hidden. Are there smaller comforts—phone, entertainment, routines, possessions, constant contact—that reveal how hard it is to be without them? What might be learned by setting one of them aside for a time? [31:23]
Love becomes disordered when hope, trust, and identity rest more on a creature than on God. When disappointment or distance enters an important relationship, where does the heart run first for stability? [30:57]
Taking up the cross often means choosing Christ when that choice costs closeness, ease, or approval. Is there a place where obedience to Jesus feels costly right now? What makes that cost especially hard? [23:51]
Only Christ can bear the full weight of the heart. What simple practice could help keep him first this week—more honest prayer, silence, Scripture, confession, or surrendering one anxious attachment to him by name? [33:12]

Sermon Clips

64s

“``Live without? Maybe it is something material, your phone, your bed, Netflix, or air conditioning these days. But maybe it's also a person, a friend, a family member, even a spouse. In one sense, how can you help it? You love them so intensely, so deeply, and so completely, you cannot imagine your life without them. And this is beautiful. There's nothing wrong with that. But we do have to pay attention to that part where we feel like we wouldn't be able to live without them. That's the part that Jesus is bringing to our attention today. Love your mom. Love your dad. Love your children. Love your siblings. Love your spouse, but do not let them take the place of God because they never can.”

53s

“What about our attachments to anything? People, titles, possessions, positions, reputations, and so on. Unless we despise our attachments, even if they are good things, we will not have space in our hearts for God. Jesus does not expect his followers to be sociopaths who hate their families nor are we all called to be mendicant hermits living without possessions. However, if we are to follow Christ wholeheartedly, we have to be prepared to let the love of him take precedence over all other attachments, even over those things, especially over those people that we love more than anything.”

54s

“But maybe it's also a person, a friend, a family member, even a spouse. In one sense, how can you help it? You love them so intensely, so deeply, and so completely, you cannot imagine your life without them. And this is beautiful. There's nothing wrong with that. But we do have to pay attention to that part where we feel like we wouldn't be able to live without them. That's the part that Jesus is bringing to our attention today. Love your mom. Love your dad. Love your children. Love your siblings. Love your spouse, but do not let them take the place of God because they never can.”

57s

“But what about our attachments to them? What about our attachments to anything? People, titles, possessions, positions, reputations, and so on. Unless we despise our attachments, even if they are good things, we will not have space in our hearts for God. Jesus does not expect his followers to be sociopaths who hate their families nor are we all called to be mendicant hermits living without possessions. However, if we are to follow Christ wholeheartedly, we have to be prepared to let the love of him take precedence over all other attachments, even over those things, especially over those people that we love more than anything.”

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Sunday Mass Live Stream - 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time - (2002 Missal) June 28th 9:00AM