Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026: Hospitality, Generosity, and Praying for Venezuela
Readings and Virtual Homily for June 28, 2026, Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time; Venezuela
Readings for Mass this Sunday:
· 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16
· Psalm 89:2-3, 16-19
· Romans 6:3-4, 8-11
· Matthew 10:37-42
Dear Friends and Family,
A general homiletic theme suggested by the Ordo (the pocket-size publication that goes out each year to every priest on earth, advising us on all matters pertaining to Masses, both Sunday and daily) is that of hospitality. It's a unifying thread, so I guess I will go with it, on the understanding that the theme lends itself readily to a consideration of the virtue of generosity.
The Shunammite woman in the first reading shows great hospitality to the prophet Elisha, in that she has a room added to her house just for him. She is a woman of prominence in that community, and her support of the prophet empowers his mission in her district.
Elisha wants to express his gratitude and asks his trusted and true servant Gehazi what he might do for her. Gehazi (who knows a lot about a lot) advises the prophet that the woman is childless and her husband is old (vs. 14). That is, Gehazi's faith in Elisha's powers is such that he tells his boss, basically, "Ask the Lord to give her a son."
The prophet does just that, and (beyond today's passage) the woman conceives and has a boy. There are further adventures regarding this family and their love for the prophet, but for today's purposes, the woman's rich generosity toward Elisha is richly returned, in the gift of her child.
The verses from Psalm 89 suggest generosity in that they resound with praise and thanksgiving to God. A generous heart acknowledges that which others have done for us; how much more so when the One being thanked is God.
The reading from Romans, chosen by that committee in Rome according to the Principle of Continuous Reading, bears little connection to the theme under discussion here, but we may observe in passing that Jesus performs the ultimate act of generosity in giving his entire self for our salvation.
The passage from Matthew should give all of us real hope in terms of God's mercy and graciousness, in terms of God's gratitude (if that be the term) when we are generous with others, when we show hospitality, and especially so when the hospitality, the generosity is extended to another because he or she is a disciple. Jesus' assurance that even someone who gives a cup of cold water to a disciple will not go without his or her reward (vs. 42) tells us that God notices the smallest acts of generosity on our part. And our generosity toward others always merits its return to us, from God, “who will not be outdone in generosity.” (This quote is often attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola.)
So, a fairly short homily today because I have received many, many messages, as you might guess, the past two days, expressing concern for Venezuela in general and for my young guys in Caracas and their families, in particular. I am grateful. I can and I will get every single one of these texts and e-mails responded to, but here, with the general e-mail, I can reach a lot of people with the information I have at the moment, and it is going to take the rest of this communication, so, I abbreviated my homiletic reflection.
The first thing I want to say is that it had been my intention, all this month, to talk about Venezuela in this week's e-mail. The reason is that this week marks the twentieth anniversary of the start of the Caracas ministry. It was June 22, 2006, a Thursday that year, that three of my Marysville guys and I arrived in Caracas for what would prove to be a life-changing five or six days.
I had been to Venezuela the previous summer, with one of the Marysville guys, whose parents had a timeshare on Margarita Island, the gorgeous Venezuelan resort isle which lies in a line with Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. We'd spent twelve days on Margarita in the summer of 2005, but also three days at the start of the trip and three at the end, in Caracas. Tico (the Marysville boy, actually he is from Woodland, but never mind, he was a leader of the Marysville group) and I loved Margarita, but we loved Caracas more and, with his folks' okay, we returned to Caracas before the time on Margarita was slated to be up. We had discovered a restaurant there -- a very high-end Venezuelan steakhouse -- that we loved: Punta Grill.
In June of 2006, returning with Tico and two more of the Marysville guys (they were all young adults, mid-twenties at this point) we came to befriend several members of the bar and waitstaff at Punta Grill, also all in their twenties, all Catholic, all speaking, of course, fluent Spanish, all filled with the hopes and dreams and ambitions of youth -- the Marysville guys and the Caraquenos had a lot in common and hit it off quickly.
I returned two months later, this time with Tico and three other members of the old Marysville youth group, and the rest is history. Tico eventually married a Venezuelan girl; Matt (another Marysvillian) has been with his Venezuelan lady fifteen years. My mom traveled to Caracas with me in 2008, and to this day the Caraquenos refer to her as "una mujer muy fuerte" (a very strong woman). It is a long and involved and inspirational story. I am writing a book about it. No really. I am writing a book about it. I am titling it CARACAS STORY and intend to have it out next year.
In any event, because this week marks the twentieth anniversary of my Marysville boys and I meeting up with our buddies (our bros, really) in Caracas, it was my intention to write about this life-changing set of events, in this week's homily.
Then crises hit.
Not the earthquakes. Rather, the mother of one of my Caraquenos, a lady about my age, the mother of seven and who has all her life straddled the line between working class and poor, fell in her home and broke an arm, a leg, bruised several ribs and probably suffered a concussion. Her son, who now lives in Orlando and whom we all call Charlye, though of course, that is his nickname, is one of the Venezuelans with whom I have maintained the strongest relationship, over the years. He let me know immediately of his mother's fall and I sent money and also sent out a distress call to anyone I thought might want to help --
Because the medical infrastructure in Venezuela is so bad that you need to bring your own syringes, sponges, surgical gloves, and heaven knows what else to the hospital with you -- the hospital itself does not have basic medical supplies. These supplies are available on the black market at exorbitant rates for Venezuelans paying in the local currency. They are readily affordable for Venezuelans using the dollar.
When I send money to Venezuela, my boys get it in dollars. Long story -- never mind how. But they get American cash, and so are able to negotiate the black market for things like, oh I don't know, insulin for Grandma's diabetes, blood pressure medication for Tio Ricardo and so forth. Dollars are the dividing line, in today's Venezuela. If you have them, you are okay. If you don't...Buen suerte (good luck).
No sooner had Charlye and I -- with a real assist from some generous folks who are among the recipients of these e-mails -- put the emergency with his mother behind us than did twin earthquakes strike the nation, about one hundred miles southwest of Caracas. And it was two earthquakes; not one with an aftershock. The second was much bigger than the first, but the first was huge. A 7.1 followed by a 7.5. Forty minutes apart. If you have seen the newsfeeds, you know this is catastrophic.
Charlye had alerted me to the disaster within minutes of its occurring and of course the first thing we wanted to know was whether everyone was all right. As of this writing, all my young men are accounted for, though one of their families is out on the street -- their apartment block withstood the tremors, but has cracks in several exterior walls. No one knows yet whether it is safe to return.
Here's what is so crazy about the situation in Venezuela: with $250 (AMERICAN MONEY) this family will be taken care of for the summer. They'll be able to rent 'til September, and have money for food, medicine, gas, the metro and so forth. That is how debased the Venezuelan economy has become since Hugo Chavez and his thugs took the reins of power, almost thirty years ago. The average daily wage in Venezuela, in American terms, is $1.37.
You read that right. One dollar, thirty-seven cents. This, in the nation with the largest proven oil reserves on earth. Don't get me started.
People are asking how they can help. Prayers are a good place to start. Venezuela needs all the prayers it can get, right now, and please do not underestimate the power of your prayers for this beautiful and long-suffering nation. Your prayers are very likely going to save lives.
Money, of course, also helps, and big time.
I eventually plan a non-profit, in association with San Gabriel Media, that will empower me to offer donors a tax write-off for their contributions to my Venezuelan ministry. That non-profit is likely another two or three years in the future, though, and if you want to help my ten young guys in Caracas and their families financially, about the only way to do it is by writing a check and sending it to me. I am not tech-savvy with banking; do not have Zelle or Venmo. (I am hugely resistant to having any financial info whatever on my phone or on any other electronic device. Luddite Old School of me, I know. But there you are.)
One last thing, before I go. Although all ten of my Caraquenos are accounted for, Charlye has a brother in La Guaira (Caracas' port city) who has not been seen or heard from since the quakes. Also, our office manager here at St. Clement, a Caracas native, has a cousin in the same city who is missing. La Guaira, which I know because it is where the airport is, like all the cities along the central Caribbean coast, was hit very very hard. A lot of collapsed apartment blocks, wrecked freeways and so forth.
As I say, prayer for Venezuela is number one, right now. I could say so much more, but this e-mail is long enough.
My deep thanks again to all who have reached out, wanting to express your concern, asking how you can help. Thank you. Gracias. Mil gracias.
I am away this week at St. Clare Retreat Center in Soquel, giving an eight-day women's silent retreat. I will get next week's e-mail done Friday evening, after I have returned. I'll have more information on the situation in Caracas then.
Pray for Venezuela.
Much love and so much gratitude,
Fr. Brawn