July 16, 2025
Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 391
Reading 1
Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the
priest of Midian.
Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire
flaming out of a bush.
As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush,
though on fire, was not consumed.
So Moses decided,
"I must go over to look at this remarkable sight,
and see why the bush is not burned."
When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely,
God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
He answered, "Here I am."
God said, "Come no nearer!
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground.
I am the God of your father," he continued,
"the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.
The cry of the children of Israel has reached me,
and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.
Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
But Moses said to God,
"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh
and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
He answered, "I will be with you;
and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you:
when you bring my people out of Egypt,
you will worship God on this very mountain."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
The LORD secures justice
and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071625.cfm
Commentary on Exodus
3:1-6,9-12
Yesterday we left Moses lying low in Midian, a fugitive from
the law. Then, one day, as he was seated by a well, the seven daughters of a
priest of Midian came to draw water for the sheep’s drinking troughs. When the
girls were driven away by some shepherds, Moses came to their defence and even
watered their flock for them.
When they got home, they explained to their father, Reuel,
how an ‘Egyptian’ came to their assistance and even drew the water for their
flock (it is interesting that the daughters referred to Moses as an ‘Egyptian’
and not as a Hebrew). The father immediately told them to bring Moses to the
house and share their hospitality. Moses ended up staying with them, and Reuel
gave his daughter, Zipporah, in marriage to him; this is another example of a
marriage resulting from an encounter at a well.
Moses and Zipporah then had a son who was named Gershom,
because Moses had said:
I have been an alien residing in a foreign land. (Gen
2:22)
The name is explained as if it came from the Hebrew
word ger, ‘stranger’ joined to the Hebrew word sham,
‘there’.
In the meantime, the Pharaoh died, but the sufferings of the
Hebrews continued and, as they cried out to God for help, he remembered his
covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And so we are led into the beginning of
the Exodus story and of its protagonist, Moses.
Today’s reading begins by telling us that one day, as Moses
was looking after the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro (Jethro is another
name for Reuel; in Judges he is called Hobab), he came to the mountain of God,
Horeb. Horeb is called the “mountain of God” because of the divine apparitions
which took place there, such as on this occasion and when the Israelites were
there after they had left Egypt.
Suddenly an “angel of the Lord” appeared to him from the
flames of a bush which was on fire. It is God himself who has become visible to
human eyes. The visual form under which God appeared and spoke to humans is
referred to indifferently in some Old Testament texts either as “God’s angel”
or as “God himself”. Moses was surprised that, although on fire, the bush was
not burning away. He was drawn to take a closer look at this strange
phenomenon.
As Moses approached the bush, God called out from the centre
of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” To which Moses replied: “Here I am.”
Moses is told not to come any nearer and to remove his shoes
because he is on holy ground. The voice then identifies itself:
I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Moses immediately hid his face because he knew he could not
look face to face at God. The appearance of God caused fear and death, since it
was believed that no one could see God and live.
We remember how Jacob, on the occasion of his wrestling with
a strange man, later realised it had been God himself. Later, he exclaimed:
…I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.
(Gen 32:30)
In the Gospel, Jesus will also use the term “the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” in contesting the Sadducees’
denial of life after death:
And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not
read what was said to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead but of the living. (Matt
22:31-32)
Of course, it may be that the term, when used at the time of
the Exodus, was used to distinguish the God in whom the Hebrews believed from
the gods of other neighbouring peoples. The concept of One God of the whole
universe had yet to develop at that time. But by the time of the Gospel, such a
universal God was accepted by the Hebrews.
In verses omitted from our reading, God assures Moses that
he is fully aware of the sufferings of his people in Egypt and of their
treatment by Egyptian slave drivers. He will now come to their rescue and:
…bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious
land, to a land flowing with milk and honey… (Exod 3:8)
The first step in this operation will be for Moses to go to
the Pharaoh and to lead his people out of Egypt. Moses hears this assignment
with great alarm; after all, although he grew up in the royal palace, he is now
a man on the run because of a murder he committed. As a fugitive from the
Pharaoh, he could hardly hope to carry out a mission to him. In addition, he
must have remembered that on one occasion when he tried to intervene in a
quarrel between two Hebrews, they challenged his authority.
But God guarantees his support and his protection, saying:
I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you
that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you
shall serve God on this mountain.
In Egypt at the time of this story, that seemed a very
remote possibility for the Hebrews.
Today, let us ask ourselves what mission we have been given
by God as our contribution to building the Kingdom. And, if, like Moses, we are
only too conscious of our shortcomings, let us remember that one of the
greatest prophets of Israel was a man who had committed murder, even if that
murder was in defence of fellow-Hebrews. God, unlike society, does not look at
our past, but at our present and future potential.
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Commentary on
Matthew 11:25-27
Yesterday we saw Jesus severely chiding the people of three
cities, where he had shown many signs of his divine origin, for their slowness
to believe in and accept him. Today he speaks with warmth and praise of those
who have become his followers.
He remarks, in a prayer he makes to his Father, that it is
not the learned and clever, the scribes and Pharisees, the religious experts,
but “the infants”, his disciples, who have been graced with understanding the
secrets of the Kingdom. They are infants not only in their lack of
learning and sophistication, but also in their openness to hear and learn, a
virtue lacking in those who regarded themselves as intellectuals.
This was in fact a reflection on the actual development of
the early Church. It was a grassroots movement which spread most among
the lower levels of society and among slaves. It would not be until later
that Christianity spread to the higher echelons and would become the faith also
of the ruling elite and the intellectual classes. As Jesus says today:
…yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
In growing and spreading in this way, Christianity showed,
first, that it was really the work of God. It worked against powerful
forces which tried very hard to obliterate it, but in the end the power of
truth and love were too strong for even the strongest opponents.
Second, it revealed the truly catholic nature of the
Christian faith. It was never an exclusive domain of either the political
or educated elite. It has appealed, and continues to appeal, to people at
every level of society from intellectual giants like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas
and John Henry Newman to the totally illiterate. Both can sit side by
side and together hear the Gospel and celebrate the Eucharist.
Finally, Jesus suggests that knowing him and, through him,
knowing the Father, is a gift that he gives. We can all, of course, open
ourselves to that gift. Why some of us do and others do not is something
we cannot understand in this life. It is a gift which is offered, never
imposed, and again no one can know who are those who have been offered it and
turned it down.
Let us today thank God that we have been among those who
have listened and accepted and been graced. But we know we have a lot more
listening and accepting yet to do. Jesus stands at our door and knocks
today and every single day. It is my decision to what extent I open that
door and let him come in.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1154g/
Wednesday,
July 16, 2025
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Opening Prayer
God our Father, Your light
of truth
guides us to the way of
Christ. May all who follow Him reject what is contrary to the Gospel.
We ask this through our Lord
Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Matthew 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.”
Reflection
•
Context. The liturgical passage of Mt 11: 25-27
represents a turning point in the Gospel of Matthew: Jesus is asked the first
questions regarding the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. The first one to ask
the first questions on the identity of Jesus is John the Baptist, who through
his disciples asks Him a concrete question: “Are You the one who is to come, or
are we to expect someone else?” (11: 3). Instead, the Pharisees, together with
the scribes, address words of reproach and judgment to Jesus: “Look, Your
disciples are doing something that is forbidden on the Sabbath” (12: 2). Up
until now in chapters 1 to 10, the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven in the
person of Jesus did not seem to find any obstacles, but beginning with chapter
11, we find some concrete difficulties. Or rather many begin to take a stand
with regard to Jesus: sometimes He is “the object of scandal,” of fall (11: 6);
“this generation,” in the sense of this human descent, does not have an
attitude of acceptance regarding the Kingdom that is to arrive; the cities
along the lake are not converted (11: 20); concerning the behavior of Jesus a
true and proper controversy springs up (chapter 12), and thus they begin to
think how to put Him to death (12: 14). This is the climate of mistrust and of
protest into which Matthew inserts this passage.
•
Now the moment has arrived in which to question
oneself about the activity of Jesus: how to interpret the “works of Christ”
(11: 2, 19)? How can these thaumaturgic actions be explained (11: 20, 21, 23)?
Such questions concern the crucial question of Messiah- ship of Jesus, and
judge not only “this generation” but also the cities around the lake which have
not converted as the Kingdom of Heaven gets closer in the person of Jesus.
•
To become small. The most efficacious way to carry out
this conversion is to become “small.” Jesus communicates this strategy of
“smallness” in a prayer of thanksgiving (11: 27) which has a wonderful parallel
in the witness rendered to the Father on the occasion of the Baptism (11: 27).
Experts love to call this prayer a “hymn of rejoicing, exultation.” The rhythm
of the prayer of Jesus begins with a confession: “I praise You,” “I confess to
You.” Such expressions of introduction render Jesus’ words quite solemn. The
prayer of praise that Jesus recites presents the characteristics of an answer addressed
to the reader. Jesus addresses Himself to God with the expression “Lord of
Heaven and earth,” that is, to God as creator and guardian of the world. In
Judaism, instead, it was the
custom to address God with the invocation
“Lord of the world,” but they
did not add the term “Father,” a distinctive characteristic of the prayer of
Jesus. The reason for the praise and the disclosing of God: because You have
hidden..., revealed. The hiding referred to the “wise and intelligent” concerns
of the scribes and the Pharisees, completely closed up and hostile to the
coming of the Kingdom (3: 7 ff; 7: 29; 9: 3, 11, 34). The revelation is to the
little ones, the Greek term says “infants,” those who cannot speak as yet.
Thus, Jesus indicates the privileged audience of the proclamation of the
Kingdom of Heaven as those who are not experts of the Law and are not
instructed.
•
What are “these things” that are hidden or revealed?
The content of this revelation or hiding is Jesus, the Son of God, the one who
reveals the Father. It is evident for the reader that the revelation of God is
linked indissolubly to the person of Jesus, to His Word, to His Messianic
actions. He is the one who allows the revelation of God and not the Law or the
premonitory events of the end of time.
•
The revelation of God from the Father to the Son. In
the last part of the discourse Jesus makes a presentation of self as the one to
whom everything has been communicated by the Father. In the context of the
coming of the Kingdom, Jesus has the role and the mission to reveal the
Heavenly Father in everything. In such a role He receives the totality of
power, of knowledge and of the authority to judge. In order to confirm this
role, which is so committed, Jesus appeals to the witness of the Father, the only
One who possesses a real knowledge of Jesus: “Nobody knows the Son but the
Father,” and vice-versa “and nobody knows the Father but the Son.” The witness
of the Father is irreplaceable so that the unique dignity of Jesus as Son may
be understood by His disciples. Besides, the uniqueness of Jesus is affirmed in
the revelation of the Father; the Gospel of John had already affirmed this: “No
one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart,
who has made Him known” (1: 18). To summarize, the Evangelist makes his readers
understand that the revelation of the Father takes place through the Son. Even
more: the Son reveals the Father to whom He wants.
Personal Questions
•
In your prayer do you feel the need to express all
your gratitude to the Father for the gifts that He has given you in life? Does
it happen to you to confess publicly, to exult in the Lord because of the
wonderful works that He accomplishes in the world; in the Church, and in your
life?
•
In your search for God do you rely on your wisdom and
intelligence, or do you allow yourself to be guided by the wisdom of God? How
attentive are you to your relationship with Jesus? Do you listen to His word?
Do you assume His sentiments in order to discover His physiognomy of Son of the
Heavenly Father?
Concluding Prayer
My lips shall proclaim Your
saving justice, Your saving power all day long.
God, You have taught me from
boyhood,
and I am still proclaiming
Your marvels. (Ps 71: 15, 17)
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