Gospel (Mt 10.34--11.1) - At that time, Jesus said to his apostles: «Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have come to bring not peace, but a sword. For I have come to separate a man from his father, and a daughter from her mother, and a daughter-in-law from her mother-in-law; and the enemies of man will be those of his house. »Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever keeps his life for himself will lose it, and whoever loses his 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 because he is a prophet will have the reward of a prophet, and whoever welcomes a righteous man because he is a righteous man will have the reward of a righteous man. Whoever gives even one glass of cold water to drink to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward. "When Jesus had finished giving these instructions to his twelve disciples, he left from there to teach and preach in their cities."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Jesus asks his disciples for radical love. Three times in a few lines he repeats: "Be worthy of me." But who can say he is worthy of welcoming the Lord? A realistic look at the life of each of us is enough to realize our littleness and our sin. Being disciples of Jesus is neither easy nor obvious, and it is not the result of birth or tradition. One is a Christian only by choice, not by birth. And the Gospel tells us of what height this choice is. Jesus' disciples are called to love him above all things. Only in this way do they find the meaning of their life again. For this reason Jesus can say: "Whoever keeps his life for himself will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." It is one of the most passed down phrases (it is present six times in the Gospels). The disciple "finds" his life (in the resurrection) when he "loses" it (that is, he spends it until his death) for the proclamation of the Gospel. It is exactly the opposite of the conception of the world that pushes us to think of happiness in keeping life, time, riches and interests for ourselves. The disciple, on the contrary, finds happiness when he lives for others and not just for himself. In reality, Jesus teaches us to live well, because only what we lose remains with us. It is a human truth: only the love given becomes ours! Jesus also calls them "little ones": the disciple, in fact, has neither gold nor silver, does not have a pouch or even two tunics, and must walk without wearing sandals or a staff (Mt 10.9-10). The disciple's only richness is the Gospel, before which he too is small and totally dependent on it. We must welcome this wealth; we must pass on this wealth.