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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading (Isa 10:5-7.13-16): Thus says the Lord: «Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger, my staff in wrath. Against an impious nation I send him, and against a people under my wrath I order him to seize plunder, carry off loot, and tread them down like the mud of the streets. But this is not what he intends, nor does he have this in mind; rather, it is in his heart to destroy, to make an end of nations not a few. For he says: ‘By my own power I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd. I have moved the boundaries of peoples, their treasures I have pillaged, and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned. My hand has seized like a nest the riches of nations; as one takes eggs left alone, so I took in all the earth; no one fluttered a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped!’. Will the axe boast against him who hews with it? Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it? As if a rod could sway him who lifts it, or a staff him who is not wood! Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send among his fat ones leanness, and instead of his glory there will be kindling like the kindling of fire».
Responsorial Psalm: 93
R/. The Lord will not abandon his people.
Your people, o Lord, they trample down, your inheritance they afflict. Widow and stranger they slay, the fatherless they murder.

And they say, «The Lord sees not; the God of Jacob perceives not». Understand, you senseless ones among the people; and, you fools, when will you be wise?

Shall he who shaped the ear not hear?, or he who formed the eye not see? Shall he who instructs nations not chastise, he who teaches men knowledge?

For the Lord will not cast off his people, nor abandon his inheritance; but judgment shall again be with justice, and all the upright of heart shall follow it.
Versicle before the Gospel (Cf. Mt 11:25): Alleluia. Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Mt 11:25-27): At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

“You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike”

Fr. Raimondo M. SORGIA Mannai OP (San Domenico di Fiesole, Florencia, Italy)

Today, the Gospel offers us the opportunity to accede, so to speak, to the very structure of the divine wisdom. Who, amongst us, would not love to become acquainted with the unfathomable mysteries of life? There are enigmas the world's best team of investigators would not even dream of detecting. There is One however before which “there is nothing hidden… nothing is secret” (Mk 4:22). This is the mystery of who calls himself the “Son of man”, inasmuch He says about himself: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father” (Mt 11:27). His human nature —through the hypostatic union— has been assumed by the Person of the Word of God: He is, in short, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, before which darkness does not exist and for which, night is more luminous than broad daylight.

An Arab proverb says: “If in a pitch black night a black ant climbs over a black wall, God sees it.” There are neither secrets nor mysteries for God. There are mysteries for us, but not for God, before whom, past, present and future are open and dug into, to the last comma.

Quite pleased, the Lord says today: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike” (Mt 11:25). Indeed, because no one could pretend to know these or similar hidden secrets, not even by bringing them out of the darkness through exhaustive studies, or as the wisdom should. A little old aged woman, without any school experience, will always be more aware about the deep secrets of life than the pretentious scientist that has spent an awful lot of money at reputed universities. Certain science can be achieved through inner faith, humility and poorness. Clement of Alexandria brilliantly wrote: “Night is favorable for mysteries; it is then when our soul —attentive and humble— turns on itself while pondering over its condition; it is then when it finds God.”

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “I am a very little soul who can only offer very little things to God.” (Saint Therese of Lisieux)

  • “It is part of the mystery of God that he acts so gently. God does not overwhelm with external power, but gives freedom” (Benedict XVI)

  • “A humble and trusting heart that enables us ‘to turn and become like children’ for it is to ‘little children’ that the Father is revealed (Cf. Mt 11:25)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nº 2785)