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Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

April 26th: Memorial of Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
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Gospel text (Mt 5,13-16): Jesus said: «You are the salt of the earth (…). You are the light of the world (…). Your light must shine before others, so that they may see the good you do and praise your Father in heaven».

Saint Isidore, bishop and doctor of the Church (560-636)

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today we celebrate saint Isidore of Seville. He was a younger brother of Leander, Archbishop of Seville. He was taught under the responsibility of his elder brother to develop a very strong discipline, in devoting himself to study with discretion and discernment.

The inner strife that the young Isidore had to contend with, having succeeded his brother Leander on the episcopal throne of Seville in 599, was by no means unimportant, between a desire for solitude to dedicate himself solely to meditation on the word of God, and the demands of charity to his brethren for whose salvation, as Bishop, he felt responsible. His nagging worry not to overlook anything that human experience had produced in the history of his homeland and of the whole world is admirable. Isidore did not want to lose anything that man had acquired in the epochs of antiquity, regardless of whether they had been pagan, Jewish or Christian.

—Isidore sought in Christ's example the definitive confirmation of a just orientation of life and said: «Just as we must love God in contemplation, so we must love our neighbour with action».