Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Tuesday of the twelfth week in ordinary time, June 23rd, 2026

Delivered by Christine Gunawan from the Parish of Saint Joseph Cathedral in the Archdiocese of Pontianak, Indonesia. 2 Kings 19: 9b-11.14-21.31-35a.36; Rs psalm 48: 2-3a.3b-4.10-11; Matthew 7: 6.12-14.SINCERITY REQUIRES JUSTICE The theme for our meditation today is: SincerityRequires Justice. There was a mouse who had a fortune morning when it found atthe back of kitchen leftovers thrown away by the owner of the house. It thencalled out its friends to rejoiced together the feast. But their happy momentlasted only a few seconds, because some cats came and the mice run away scared.Now it was the time for the cats to seize the opportunity of having a party.The mice just hid themselves and looked from a distance. However, the party of the cats was just in a verybrief moment and they had to leave the party because several dogs arrived. Nowdogs were in control and the cats were running scared. What's amazing was thatall the mice came and join in the party with the dogs. They were really friendswith dogs. One of the mice saw and insulted the cats who were looking fromdistance sadly, saying: "Now you know what really happens. The evil thatyou committed against us also now happens to you. You now enjoy your sadnessand we enjoy the party."                                                                                                                      The words and insult of that mouse is good enough toreflect what is described by the Gospel of Matthew today. It goes like this:"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you". We can alsoput this statement in line with Jesus' teaching about love which says that wewant to be loved by others as we have loved them. For his part, Saint Francisof Assisi left us with his famous spiritual heritage, namely the song of God'slove, that speaks of the same nature of this teaching. The Saint says likethis: to be understood, you must understand, to be loved, you must love, to behelped, you must help. This is not a teaching about the reciprocal of gooddeeds. This is actually about sincerity. For our life to be meaningful, we mustbe able to share from ourselves to others, especially those around us. Forexample, we greet or smile to our brothers and sisters whom we meet every day.This is an act of sincerity. When we are kind to others, we behave toward themin fairness and in an humanly way, its return will be kindness and fairnessthat they do for us. I have done good to my brothers and sisters, and likewisein my difficult and insufficient situation, they will come to help me. Thissituation really reflects such life that is sustained by justice. If our sincerity always goes together with justicethen we are indeed creating a peaceful and comfortable life together as Godreally wants from us.Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O Lord Jesus, fill us with the spirit ofyour love so that we can offer an unconditional love and be willing tosacrifice ourselves for the sake of those who receive this love. Hail Mary,full or grace... In the name of the Father ...