June 23, 2026
Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 372
Reading 1
2
Kings 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent envoys to Hezekiah
with this message:
“Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah:
‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you
by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over
to the king of Assyria.
You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done
to all other countries: they doomed them!
Will you, then, be saved?’”Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the
messengers and read it;
then he went up to the temple of the LORD,
and spreading it out before him,
he prayed in the LORD’s presence:
“O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim!
You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.
You have made the heavens and the earth.
Incline your ear, O LORD, and listen!
Open your eyes, O LORD, and see!
Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.
Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations
and their lands, and cast their gods into the fire;
they destroyed them because they were not gods,
but the work of human hands, wood and stone.
Therefore, O LORD, our God, save us from the power of this man,
that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that you alone, O LORD, are God.”Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to
Hezekiah:
“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
in answer to your prayer for help against Sennacherib, king of Assyria:
I have listened!
This is the word the LORD has spoken concerning him:“‘She despises you, laughs
you to scorn,
the virgin daughter Zion!
Behind you she wags her head,
daughter Jerusalem.“‘For out of Jerusalem shall come a remnant,
and from Mount Zion, survivors.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.’“Therefore, thus says the LORD
concerning the king of Assyria:
‘He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it,
nor come before it with a shield,
nor cast up siege-works against it.
He shall return by the same way he came,
without entering the city, says the LORD.
I will shield and save this city for my own sake,
and for the sake of my servant David.’”That night the angel of the LORD went
forth and struck down
one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp.
So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp,
and went back home to Nineveh.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see 9d) God upholds his city for ever.
Great is the LORD and wholly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, fairest of heights,
is the joy of all the earth.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
Mount Zion, “the recesses of the North,”
is the city of the great King.
God is with her castles;
renowned is he as a stronghold.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
O God, we ponder your mercy
within your temple.
As your name, O God, so also your praise
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Of justice your right hand is full.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.“Do to others
whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the Law and the Prophets.“Enter through the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,
and those who enter through it are many.
How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.
And those who find it are few.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062326.cfm
Commentary on 2
Kings 19:9-11,14-21,31-36
Having overcome the Northern Kingdom, the Assyrians now turn
their attention to the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. What happens is
almost the exact reverse of the passage read yesterday on Monday of Week 12 of
Ordinary Time.
The famous Sennacherib, described by the poet Lord Byron as
the one who “came down like a wolf on the fold”, is now the Assyrian king. He
sends a letter to Hezekiah, king of the Southern Kingdom, demanding surrender.
There is no use, says Sennacherib, for them to appeal to their God. All other
countries have fallen before the Assyrian juggernaut—why should Judah be the
exception?
Hezekiah has only one option, to pray to his God for help.
He calls on his God who alone is God over all the kingdoms of the earth and has
made them all. True, says the king, the Assyrians have carried all before them.
They laid nations to waste and tossed their gods into the fire. They could do
this for these gods who were just human artifacts of wood and stone.
But Hezekiah’s and Judah’s God is different. The king
prayed:
So now, O Lord our God, save us, I pray you, from his
hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God
alone.
At this point Isaiah, the prophet, intervenes with a long
(vv 21-31) oracular message from God (and, except for its first and last verse,
not included in today‘s reading). Part of it is addressed to Sennacherib and
the second part to Judah. It is a mocking statement directed against the
Assyrians and guaranteeing that, no matter what happens:
…from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out and from Mount
Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Isaiah interprets this as saying that Sennacherib will not
reach Jerusalem; he will not attack it nor be able to institute a siege against
its walls:
By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he
shall not come into this city, says the Lord.
And the city will remain safe from attack:
For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake
and for the sake of my servant David.
And that very night 185,000 men of the Assyrian army were
mysteriously struck down, and Sennacherib had no option but to return to his
capital at Niniveh. What seems to have happened is that the Assyrian army was
struck down by some virulent infection or plague which swept through it like a
forest fire. Soon after his return, we are told in the following verse that,
while worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, Sennacherib was
assassinated by two of his sons who then fled into Ararat. Another son took
over the throne—a further example of what happens to those who attack God’s
people.
Here, as in the previous passage from 2 Kings, we see that
things do not happen by accident. The destruction of the Assyrian army may be
attributed to purely natural causes, but the eyes of faith see there God’s
protecting hand for his people, and especially for the city of David, to which
he had made so many promises. Nevertheless, Jerusalem will not remain
unscathed. It will be, as Isaiah foretells today, not utterly destroyed, but
reduced to a remnant. From that remnant will come a descendant of David.
Let us, too, see the hand of God operating in all the
details of our lives—both the joyful and painful—and discern what he is trying
to tell us.
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Commentary on
Matthew 7:6,12-14
Today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount contains three
apparently unrelated teachings of Jesus. Verses 7-11 about prayer, which
intervene, are omitted. We need to remind ourselves that the Sermon on the
Mount is not a verbatim record of a ‘sermon’ preached by Jesus. It is a highly
edited collection of sayings on the general theme of the qualities to be found
in a true disciple of Jesus.
First, Jesus says:
Do not give what is holy to dogs…
That is, consecrated meat from animals sacrificed in the
Temple should not be given as food for dogs. We need to remember that for the
Jews (as for the Muslims) dogs are unclean animals, so that is an extra reason
for not giving them meat consecrated for purposes of divine worship. We may
remember the remark of Jesus to the Syro-Phoenician woman about not giving the
food of children to dogs, a reference to Gentiles who were also thought to be
unclean. Or the humiliation of Lazarus in Luke’s parable, who was so helpless
that he could not prevent dogs licking his sores.
Similarly, as the passage continues, something as precious
as pearls should not be given to pigs, another unclean animal. Again we
remember in the parable of the Prodigal Son, how after hitting rock bottom, the
only job he could find was to feed pigs and he was so hungry he would have
eaten the pigs’ food.
In other words, Jesus is advising his followers not
indiscriminately to expose their beliefs to all and sundry. While, in one
sense, the Christian Way is for all, there are people who are not ready to hear
it and will not just reject it, but subject it to ridicule. This would
especially apply to certain Christian practices such as the celebration of the
Eucharist or other sacraments. We do not accept people into the Catholic
community except after a long period of formation and initiation. Faith in
Christ is a gift and not everyone receives it at once.
The second saying in today’s Gospel is the famous ‘Golden
Rule’, which is not exclusive to Christianity or the Gospel—it is known in
other cultures. What might be emphasised here is its being expressed in
positive terms. There is also a negative form which states, “Do not do to
others what you would not like them to do to you”. There is a difference
between the two. You can observe the negative maxim by doing nothing at all.
The positive can only be observed by doing some good action to others and is
therefore much more in line with the general teaching of Jesus.
In the third saying today, Jesus contrasts the narrow gate
with the wide road. To follow the wide road is to do just about anything you
feel like doing. It is to follow your likes and dislikes, your instincts and
whims wherever they lead you. That is going to include following roads of greed
and self-centredness, of lies and deceit, perhaps even of violence and hurt. It
is clearly not a way of life.
The narrow gate is not to be narrow-minded. It is rather to
be very clearly focused on certain very specific ways of thinking and acting,
having one’s life guided by a clear set of truths, principles and values—those
truths, principles and values which form the core of the Gospel’s teaching. In
other words, the Way of Christ. It is a way that leads to life.
It is a hard road only in the sense that it requires
discipline, and it is true that relatively few people find it. But in the long
run, it is the easier way because it conforms more to the deepest needs and
desires of the human person. The Way of Jesus is not an eccentric choice of
lifestyle, one religion among many; rather it is in total harmony with all that
human life is meant to be. But there is no doubt that the wide undisciplined
road is the easier one to follow—even though in the long run it does not bring
happiness.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2123g/
Tuesday,
June 23, 2026
12th Week of Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father,
guide and protector of your people, grant us an
unfailing respect for your name and keep us always in your love. 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 7: 6, 12-14
Jesus said to his disciples: 'Do
not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls in front of pigs, or
they may trample them and then turn on you and tear you to pieces. 'So always
treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the Law and the
Prophets.
'Enter by the narrow gate, since the road
that leads to destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it; but it is a
narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Reflection
•
Discernment and prudence in offering things of
value. In the relationships with others Jesus, above all, warns about certain
dangerous attitudes. The first one of these is not to judge (7: 1-5): it is a
true and proper prohibition, “do not judge”, it is an action that influences
every evaluation of contempt or of condemnation of others. The last judgment is
the exclusive competence of God; our figures of measure and our criteria are relative;
they are conditioned by our subjectivity. Any condemnation of others becomes a
condemnation of oneself, in so far as it places us under the judgment of God
and we exclude ourselves from pardon. If your eye is pure, that is to say, is
free from every judgment of the brothers you can relate with them in a true way
before God. And now we consider the words of Jesus offered to us by the
liturgical text: “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls
in front of pigs, or they may trample them and then turn on you and tear you to
pieces” (7: 6). At first sight this “saying” of Jesus sounds strange to the
sensibility of today’s reader. It may represent a true enigma. But it is a way
of saying, of a Semitic language which has to be interpreted. At the time of
Jesus just as in ancient culture dogs were not greatly appreciated, because
they were considered somewhat savage and stray (U. Luz). But let us now
consider the positive and didactic-wisdom aspect of the words of Jesus: Do not
profane holy things; in last instance it is an invitation to use prudence and
discernment. In the Old Testament the holy things are the meat for the
sacrifice (Lv 22: 14; Ex 29: 33 ff; Nb 18: 8-19). The approach of the
prohibition of throwing the pearls to the pigs is incomprehensible. For the
Hebrews the pigs are impure animals, the quintessence of repugnance. On the
contrary, the pearls are the most precious things that can exist. The warning
of Jesus refers to those who feed the stray dogs with consecrated meat destined
to the sacrifice. Such a behavior is evil and usually imprudent because usually
those dogs were not fed and therefore, because of their insatiable hunger, they
could turn back and attack their “benefactors”.
The pearls at the metaphoric level could indicate the
teachings of the wise or the interpretations of the “Torah”. In Matthew’s
Gospel the pearl is the image of the Kingdom of God (Mt 13: 45ff). The
interpretation which the evangelist gives mentioning this warning of Jesus is
above all theological. Surely, this is the interpretation which seems to be
more in harmony with the text and with the ecclesial reading of the words of
Jesus: a warning to the Christian missionaries not to preach the Gospel just to
anybody. (Gnilka, Luz).
•
To follow a path. In the final part of the
discourse (7: 13-27), then Matthew includes, among the others, a conclusive
admonition of Jesus who invites to make a decisive choice in order to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven: the narrow door (7: 13-14). The word of Jesus is not only something
to be understood and
to interpret but, above all, it should become life. Now, to
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven it is necessary to follow a path and to enter
into the fullness of life through a “door”. The theme of the “path, the way” is
very dear to the Old Testament (Dt 11: 26-28; 30: 15-20; Jr 21: 8; Ps 1: 6; Ps
118: 29- 30; Ps 138: 4; Ws 5: 6-7 etc.). The road represented by two doors
leads to different goals. A significance that is coherent with the
admonishments of Jesus would be that, to the wide door is joined the wide path
which leads to perdition or damnation, to walk on a wide road is always
something pleasant, but this is not said in our text. Rather it seems that
Matthew agrees with the Jewish conception of the “road”; on the trail of Dt 30:
19 and Jr 21: 8 there are two roads that are in counter-position, that of death
and that of life. To know how to choose among the diverse ways of life is
decisive for entering into the Kingdom of Heaven. Anyone who chooses the narrow
road that of life should know that it is full of afflictions; narrow means
tried by suffering for the sake of faith.
Personal Questions
•
What impact does the word of Jesus have in your
heart? Do you listen to it in order to live under the gaze of the Father and in
order to be transformed personally and in the relationships with the brothers
and sisters?
•
The word of Jesus, or rather, Jesus Himself is
the door who makes us enter into the filial and fraternal life. Do you allow
yourself to be guided and attracted by the narrow and demanding path of the
Gospel? Or rather do you follow the wide and easy road that consists in doing
what pleases or that leads you to satisfy all your desires, neglecting the
needs of others?
Concluding Prayer
We reflect on your faithful love, God, in your temple!
Both your name and your praise, God, are over the whole wide
world. Your right hand is full of saving justice. (Ps 48: 9-10)
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