July 10, 2026
Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 387
Reading 1
Thus says the LORD:
Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words,
and return to the LORD;
Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion.”
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?
I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.
“I am like a verdant cypress tree”—
because of me you bear fruit!
Let him who is wise understand these things;
let him who is prudent know them.
Straight are the paths of the LORD,
in them the just walk,
but sinners stumble in them.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 51:3-4,
8-9, 12-13, 14, 17
R. (17b) My mouth will declare your praise.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
Behold, you are pleased with sincerity of heart,
and in my inmost being you teach me wisdom.
Cleanse me of sin with hyssop, that I may be purified;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
When the Spirit of truth comes,
he will guide you to all truth
and remind you of all I told you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men,
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071026.cfm
Commentary on Hosea
14:2-10
Our last reading from Hosea is taken from the final verses
of the book. It is a call for repentance and reconciliation of Israel with its
God. In return, Yahweh makes his promises. The prophecy ends on a note of
hope—already heard in some of the passages we read earlier in the week. It is a
liturgical prayer expressing sincere repentance, corresponding to Hosea 6:1-6
(which we did not read), and is followed by a firm promise of God’s blessing.
It is now time for Israel to return to its God, for it has collapsed under the
weight of its guilt.
Hosea says:
Take words with you
and return to the Lord.
Not empty words, but words full of meaning and sincerity,
words begging for forgiveness, words of true repentance. They will ask for
their sins to be set aside and they will go back to offering sacrifices to the
one, true God. They will pray:
Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit of our lips…
As well, they will no longer place their trust in Assyria
nor “ride upon horses”—namely, by making expedient treaties with countries like
Egypt, which can do little for them against the might of Assyria. No longer
will they address the words “Our God” to something which they have made
themselves. They will instead put their trust in Yahweh, for in him “the orphan
finds mercy”. By alienating himself, Israel, as Yahweh’s son, had made himself
an orphan.
Yahweh will extend his love “freely” to Israel, without any
force or compulsion, for his anger has now been turned away from his wayward
son, in spite of the way he has behaved. Without their God, what are the people
but pure orphans? Yahweh, we might say, was turning the other cheek, as Jesus,
his Son, will later tell us to do.
In a lovely phrase, Yahweh “will be like the dew to Israel”,
not in the sense of something transitory, but as something cool and refreshing,
giving life to plants so that Israel “shall blossom like the lily”.
In an image unique in the Old Testament, Hosea compares his
people to a tree, to the great Lebanon cedar and the splendid olive tree. A
reformed Israel will have the fragrance of the cedar. Then, Ephraim-Israel will
have no more to do with idols. He will have been punished for his wrongdoing,
but prosperity is returning.
Again, in another tree simile:
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your fruit comes from me.
The evergreen cypress was seen as a symbol of life. These
words are very similar to those spoken by Jesus to his disciples when he
compared himself to the vine enabling its branches to bear fruit (see John
15:1-7).
With the final verse of the book, our reading ends with a
reflection which is probably a later addition in the style of the Wisdom
literature, but no less valuable for all that:
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.
This is a thought worth reflecting on. For the just ways of
the Lord are the ways to life, the only ways to real life. It was a lesson that
Israel had to learn at a high price. Later, Jesus, the Word of God, will say:
I am the way and the truth and the life. (John
14:6)
But to the sinner, the call of God, of Jesus and the gospel
is a serious stumbling block. It gets in the way of all he or she longs to have
and do. It is why so often there are people who want to rid the world of God, of
Jesus, of the gospel, and also of those who are trying to build their lives on
these truths.
Do we experience our Christian faith as a real liberation
and source of joy, or is it something that seems to get in the way of what we
want?
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Commentary on
Matthew 10:16-23
Today’s passage clearly reflects later experiences of the
Church as, for instance, described in many parts of the Acts of the Apostles
and, of course, in the later history of the Church. Matthew’s Gospel was
written some 50 years after the death and resurrection of Christ and naturally
reflects some experiences of this period. It is both a warning and a
description of what has happened and continues to happen to the messengers of
the Gospel.
We are sent out like “sheep among wolves”. We are, in a way,
defenceless, because we renounce any use of violence. There are wolves out
there eager to destroy us because, despite our message of love, justice and
peace, we are seen as a threat to their activities and ambitions.
We are to be clever as snakes and innocent as doves. We are
to be as inventive and creative as we can be in dealing with the world. But we
are to be innocent, not in the sense of being naive, but in the sense of being
completely free of even any suspicion of wrongdoing. The end does not justify
the means!
As has happened so many times and continues to happen,
followers of Christ, simply because they are his followers and for no other
reason, will be hauled into court or will be the victims of intimidation and
torture. This is our opportunity to give witness to Christ and everything that
the Gospel stands for.
“When they hand you over” is a favourite Gospel expression.
John the Baptist was handed over; Jesus himself was handed over first to the
leaders of his people and then to the Romans; his disciples too will be and are
handed over; and in every Eucharist, we hear that Jesus in his Body is handed
over to us:
This is my Body, which is given up [Latin, tradetur:
handed over] for you.
When we are “handed over” we are not to be anxious about
what to say:
…what you are to say will be given to you…
This has been confirmed again and again by people who have
been arrested and interrogated. Not only do they know what to say, but very
often their fear, too, disappears. In fact, once released, they simply go back
to what they were doing when they were first arrested; we see this in the Acts
of the Apostles. And Jesus continues:
…it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father
speaking through you…
The enemies of the Gospel have no ultimate answer to truth,
love and justice.
Jesus also warns:
…you will be hated by all because of my name…
These words of Jesus are sad because they are true. The
following of Christ can break up families. Family members have betrayed each
other and handed each other over. However, once baptised, we enter a new family
with new obligations. Our commitment to God, to love, to truth, to justice, to
freedom, transcends obligations that arise from blood. I cannot obey a father
who tells me to violate the Gospel; I cannot cooperate with a brother who urges
me to do evil. It involves painful choices, but the opposite would be, in the
long run, worse. This is something we can sometimes find difficult to accept.
It is difficult to understand that the following of the loving and loveable
Jesus can create such hostility and hatred.
When they persecute you in this town, flee to the next…
We need to be clear that Jesus never tells us to go out of
our way to seek persecution or to be hated. On the contrary, we are to make
Christianity as attractive as possible. We want people to share our experience
of knowing and being loved by Christ.
One of the reasons why the Church spread so rapidly
throughout the Roman world was precisely because of Christians fleeing from
persecution. There comes a time, however, when we can run no further, or when it
is clear we have to take a stand and cannot compromise.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2146g/
Friday, July 10,
2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father,
through the obedience of Jesus,
your servant and your Son, you raised a fallen world.
Free us from sin and bring us the joy that lasts for ever.
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 10: 16-23
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be cunning as snakes
and yet innocent as doves. 'Be prepared for people to hand you over to
sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before
governors and kings for my sake, as evidence to them and to the gentiles. But
when you are handed over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what
you are to say will be given to you when the time comes, because it is not you
who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you.
'Brother will betray brother to death, and a
father his child; children will come forward against their parents and have
them put to death. You will be universally hated on account of my name; but
anyone who stands firm to the end will be saved.
If they persecute you in one town, take
refuge in the next; and if they persecute you in that, take refuge in another.
In truth I tell you, you will not have gone the round of the towns of Israel
before the Son of man comes.
Reflection
To the community of his
disciples, called and gathered together around him and invested with his same
authority as collaborators, Jesus entrusts them directives in view of their
future mission.
•
Matthew 10: 16-19: Danger and trust in God.
Jesus introduces this part of his discourse with two metaphors: sheep in the
midst of wolves; prudent as serpents, simple as the doves. The first one serves
to show the difficult and dangerous context to which the disciples are sent. On
the one hand, the dangerous situation is made evident in which the disciples
sent on mission will find themselves; on the other the expression “I send you”
expresses protection. Also regarding the astuteness of the serpent and the
simplicity of the dove Jesus seems to put together two attitudes: trust in God
and prolonged and attentive reflection on the way in which we should relate
with others. Jesus, then, following this gives an order that seems, at first
sight, filled with mistrust:
«beware of men...”, but, in reality,
it means to be attentive to possible persecutions, hostility, and denouncement.
The expression “will deliver you” does not only refer to the accusation in the
tribunal but, above all, it has a theological value: the disciples who is
following Jesus can experience the same experience of the Master of “being
delivered in the hands of man” (17: 22). The disciples must be strong and
resist in order “to give witness”, The fact of being delivered to the tribunal
should become a witness for the Jews and for the Pagans, it is the possibility
to be able to draw them to the person and the cause of Jesus and, therefore, to
the knowledge of the Gospel. This positive implication is important as a result
of witnessing: characterized by the credible and fascinating faith.
•
Matthew 10: 20: the divine help. So that all
this may take place in the missionwitness of the disciples it is essential to
have the help that comes from God. That is to say that we should not trust our
own security and resources, but the disciples in critical, dangerous and
aggressive situations, for their lives found help and solidarity in God. For
their mission as disciples is also promised the Spirit of the Father (v. 20),
he is the one who acts in them when they are committed in their mission of
evangelization and of witnessing, the Spirit will speak through them.
•
Matthew 10: 21-22: Threat-consolation. Once
again the announcement of threat is repeated in the expression “will be
delivered”: Brother will betray brother, a father against his son, the sons
against the parents. It is a question of a true and great disorder in the
social relationships, the breaking up of the family. Persons who are bound by
the most intimate family relationships – such as parents, children, brothers
and sisters – will fall in the misfortune of mutually hating and eliminating
one another. In what sense does such a division of the family have to do with
the witness in behalf of Jesus? Such breaking up of the family relationships
could be caused by the diverse attitudes that are taken within the family,
regarding Jesus. The expression “you will be hated” seems to indicate the theme
of the hostile acceptance on the part of the contemporaries and of those he
sent. The strong sense of the words of Jesus find a comparison in another part
of the New Testament: «Blessed are you if you are insulted for the sake of
Christ’s name, because the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, rests upon you.
No one of you should suffer as a murderer or thief or evil doer or as a spy.
But if one suffers as a Christian, do not blush, because of this name, rather
give glory to God.” After the threat, follows the promise of consolation (v.
3). The greatest consolation for the disciples will be that of “being saved,”
of being able to live the experience of the Saviour, that is to say, to
participate in his victories.
Personal Questions
•
What do these dispositions of Jesus teach us
today for understanding the mission of the Christian?
•
Do you know how to trust on divine help when you
experience conflicts, persecutions and trials?
Concluding Prayer
Give me back the joy of your salvation, sustain in me a
generous spirit. Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will speak out your praise.
(Ps 51: 12, 15)
Deus caritas est!
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