July 11, 2026
Memorial of Saint Benedict, Abbot
Lectionary: 388
Reading 1
In the year King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings:
with two they veiled their faces,
with two they veiled their feet,
and with two they hovered aloft.They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled with smoke.Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.He touched my
mouth with it and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”Then I heard the voice of the Lord
saying,
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am,” I said; “send me!”
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“No disciple is above his teacher,
no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher,
for the slave that he become like his master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,
how much more those of his household!“Therefore do not be afraid of them.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071126.cfm
Commentary on Isaiah
6:1-8
On the last day of this week we begin readings from the
prophet Isaiah and they will continue until Friday of next week inclusive.
Isaiah was one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament who appeared at a
critical period in the history of Israel. The Northern Kingdom (also called
Israel, Ephraim or Samaria) had collapsed under attacks from the Assyrians, and
then Sennacherib laid siege to Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom (Judah).
Previous to this, in the year 742 BC, when Uzziah, king of Judah died, Isaiah was
called to be a prophet in the Temple of Jerusalem. His mission covered three
periods during the reigns of Kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.
The Book of Isaiah, as we have it in our Bibles today, is
divided into three parts:
- Chapters
1-39 are attributed to Isaiah and some of his disciples.
- Chapters
40-55, also known as Deutero-Isaiah (Second Isaiah), are thought to have
been written by an anonymous poet who wrote much later, towards the end of
the exile in Babylon. The passages from Isaiah we read in Holy Week, e.g.
about the Suffering Servant, come from this part.
- Chapters
55-66 consist of oracles from a later period, and composed by disciples
who wrote in the spirit of Isaiah.
We will just be taking selected passages from the first
part. Other parts of Isaiah are read at different times of the year, especially
during Advent and Lent.
But before we start at the beginning, in chapter 1 of the
book (on Monday of Week 15 of Ordinary Time), today we read Isaiah’s solemn
call by God to be a prophet. This is not recorded until chapter 6 where it fittingly
introduces the “Book of Emmanuel” (chap 7), which consists of a series of
oracles relating to the war between Syria and Ephraim (the Northern Israelite
Kingdom).
Isaiah’s commission as a prophet probably preceded his
preaching ministry, but the account was postponed to serve as a climax to the
opening series of oracles, and to provide a warrant for the shocking
announcements of judgement they contain. The people had mocked the “Holy One of
Israel” (Is 5:19), and now Yahweh has commissioned Isaiah to call them to
account. This passage is generally accepted as being a truly majestic piece of
high literary quality.
The experience took place in the year King Uzziah died. This
happened in the year 740 BC, at the end of an 11-year reign. Uzziah, also known
as Azariah, had been a good and powerful king. But when he insisted on burning
incense in the Temple, he was struck with leprosy (or some other chronic skin
ailment) which lasted till his death.
Isaiah begins by saying that he saw the Lord on a “high throne”.
This is understood to be an internal vision which probably took place in the
Temple, though it could refer to the heavenly temple. The train of the Lord’s
robe, a long, flowing garment, almost filled the holy place. This was the
sanctuary, the Hekal, the chamber leading into the Debir or ‘Holy of Holies’.
Looking down on God’s throne are six-winged seraphim. Isaiah
is the first to introduce these beings to the Hebrew Testament. The Hebrew root
underlying the word seraphim means ‘burn’, perhaps indicating their purity as
God’s ministers. They may also correspond to the cherubs on the Ark of the
Covenant. With one pair of wings they cover their faces in reverence so that
they will not look directly at God; with another pair, they modestly veil their
feet and this is understood to refer euphemistically to their sexual organs;
with the third pair they remain hovering in flight, indicating their eagerness
to be in God’s service.
They all sing in chorus:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.
These words have been transposed into our Eucharistic
liturgy. The triple “Holy” emphasises the unique holiness of God, whose outer
manifestation is his glory. It is a favourite epithet of Isaiah who frequently
refers to God as “the Holy One of Israel”. This divine sanctity requires man
himself to be sanctified, i.e. separated from everything profane, purified from
sin, sharing in the ‘justice’ of God. The phrase “full of his glory”, also
elsewhere in the Hebrew Testament, expresses the worldwide glory of God linked
with his miraculous signs:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be his glorious name forever;
may his glory fill the whole earth.
Amen and Amen. (Ps 72:18-19)
As the seraphim sing, the doorframe shakes and the building
is filled with smoke, a sure sign of God’s presence, reminiscent of Mount Sinai
in the past and of Pentecost later on. And as the power of God’s voice
terrified the Israelites at Mt Sinai when the mountain was covered with smoke,
so Isaiah is understandably overcome with fear and trepidation:
Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and
I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord
of hosts!
Fully aware of his sinfulness, Isaiah has come face to face
with Yahweh. It was universally believed by the Israelites that anyone who saw
God face to face would immediately die:
…you cannot see my face, for no one shall see me and
live. (Exod 33:20)
Jacob was a privileged exception when he struggled with the
angel at Peniel:
For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is
preserved.
(Gen 32:30)
And so was Moses:
Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one
speaks to a friend. (Exod 33:11)
As well, the Transfiguration, in which Moses and Elijah
appeared with Jesus, was a similar theophany (see Matt 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13;
Luke 9:28-36).
At that moment, one of the seraphim took a burning ember
from the altar and touched Isaiah’s mouth with it, signifying his mandate to
speak on Yahweh’s behalf. The live coal is holy because Yahweh has sanctified
the altar from which it is taken. Coals of fire were taken inside the Most Holy
Place on the Day of Atonement, when sacrifice was made to atone for sin. Fire,
too, is normally associated with Yahweh in the theophanies of Sinai. But that
was a destroying fire:
Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a
devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the Israelites. (Exod
24:17)
In today’s reading it is purifying fire, as it was in the
case of Jesus, of whom John the Baptist says:
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Matt
3:11)
Fire too will accompany the Israelites at night as they
wander through the desert and tongues of fire will symbolise the presence of
the Spirit on Jesus’ disciples.
Now the fiery coal fire removes Isaiah’s sin and makes him
fit to be the Lord’s spokesman. Says the seraph:
Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has
departed and your sin is blotted out.
Then follows the question which is also an invitation and a
call:
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
To which Isaiah responds at once:
Here am I; send me!
The readiness of Isaiah recalls the faith of Abraham (Gen
12:1-4), and is in contrast to the hesitation of Moses (Ex 4:10-12), and
especially that of Jeremiah (Jer 4:1-10). We think too of the invitation which
was given to Mary to be the Mother of the Messiah and the Son of God. Her
response was as ready as that of Isaiah:
Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me
according to your word. (Luke 1:38)
This was a ‘Yes’ that was never revoked, even in the most
trying times.
Each one of us, too, has been called by God through our
baptism and perhaps by some later experiences, although probably not as
dramatic as that of Isaiah. The important thing is my response. Have we said
‘Yes’ yet? Let us say it today with all our heart:
Lord, here I am; send me.
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Commentary on
Matthew 10:24-33
We continue Jesus’ apostolic discourse to his Apostles and
all those who do the work of evangelisation. He reminds them very clearly that
they can expect no better treatment than he himself received as:
A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the
master…
All in all, Christians are to show no surprise at violence
and abuse against them. But at times, it can be hard to understand. However, if
they treated the Master and Lord in this way, his followers can expect no
better treatment. If the Master is called the Prince of Devils, how much more
those of his family! Remember what Jesus had said earlier:
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of
righteousness (Matt 5:10)
Much of Jesus’ teaching to his disciples was done quietly
and away from the crowds. He frequently told both people he cured and demons
not to speak about him. Even his disciples were not to reveal his identity as
Messiah. People at that stage were not ready and could have misinterpreted the
true meaning of his teaching.
Also, his message could not be fully understood until he had
completed his mission through his passion, death and resurrection. Only that
would put his teaching into its proper context. But in the course of time, it
will be all made public.
Later on it will be the duty of his disciples to deliver the
message in its entirety and without fear. The Christian community, although
consisting of initiates with a way of life that is not always understood by
outsiders, has no secrets. The ‘mysteries’ that Paul and others speak of are
truths, previously unknown, which have been revealed. They are not like those
of the so-called ‘mystery religions’ of the time or of secretive societies in
our own. The message of Christ is to be made known to all in its entirety, even
in hostile environments.
Some of those who proclaim the Gospel are going to be
threatened even with losing their lives—a fact that is testified to by a long
list of martyrs (martyr, Greek for ‘witness’) over the centuries. Jesus
is saying that physical death is not the worst thing that can happen to a
person. It is a reality we are all going to have to face sooner or later
anyway. Far worse than physical death is the loss of one’s soul—the death of
one’s integrity. There are some values which transcend our physical survival.
To betray such a value in order to live a bit longer is to lose one’s soul.
Many, many martyrs have clearly understood this.
Jesus is telling us that, even though we may, as he himself
did, lose our lives, he will be with us. To be unfaithful to our deepest
beliefs and convictions is a fate worse than death.
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Saturday, July 11,
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: 24-33
Jesus said to his disciples: "The disciple is not
superior to teacher, nor slave to master. It is enough for disciple to grow to
be like teacher, and slave like master. If they have called the master of the
house "Beelzebul", how much more the members of his household? 'So do
not be afraid of them. Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and
everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell
in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops. 'Do
not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him
rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows
for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing.
Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be
afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 'So if anyone declares himself
for me in the presence of human beings, I will declare myself for him in the
presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who disowns me in the presence of
human beings, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.
Reflection
Today’s Gospel presents to us
diverse instructions of Jesus on the behavior that the disciples have to adopt
in the exercise of their mission. What strikes most in these instructions are
two warnings: (a) the frequency with which Jesus refers to the persecutions and
suffering which they will have to bear; (b) the insistence repeated three times
to the disciples not to be afraid.
•
Matthew 10: 24-25: Persecutions and sufferings
which mark the life of the disciples. These two verses constitute the final
part of a warning of Jesus to the disciples concerning persecutions. The
disciples should know that, because of the fact of being disciples of Jesus,
they will be persecuted (Mt 10: 17-23). But this should not be a reason for
worrying, because a disciple should imitate the life of the Master and share
the trials with him. This is part of discipleship. “A disciple is not greater
than the Teacher or a servant than his master; it is sufficient for the
disciple to grow to be like his teacher and the servant like his master.” If
they called Jesus Beelzebul, how much more will they insult his disciples. In
other words, the disciple of Jesus should be worried if in his life there are
no persecutions.
•
Matthew 10: 26-27: Do not be afraid to say the
truth. The disciples should not be afraid to be persecuted. Those who persecute
them, succeed to pervert the sense of the facts and to spread calumnies which
change truth into lie, and the lie into truth. But no matter how great the lie
is, truth will triumph at the end and will make the lie crumble down. This is
why we should not be afraid to proclaim truth, the things which Jesus has
taught. Every day, the means of communication succeed to pervert the meaning of
things and the persons who proclaim the truth are considered as criminals; they
make the neo-liberal system to appear as just and it perverts the sense of
human life.
•
Matthew 10: 28: Do not be afraid of those who
kill the body. The disciples should not be afraid of those who kill the body,
who torture, who strike and cause suffering. Those who torture can kill the
body, but they cannot succeed to kill liberty and the spirit in the body. They
should be afraid, yes, that the fear of suffering may lead them to hide or to
deny the truth, and that this will lead them to offend God, because anyone who
draws away from God will be lost forever.
•
Matthew 10: 29-31: Do not be afraid, but trust
in Divine Providence. The disciples should not fear anything, because they are
in God’s hands. Jesus orders to look at the birds in the air. Two sparrows are
sold for a penny, but not one of them will fall to the ground without the
Father wanting. Every hair on our head has been counted. Luke says that not one
hair falls without our Father wanting it (Lk 21, 18). And so many hairs fall
from our head! Because of this “Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many
sparrows.” This is the lesson which Jesus draws from the contemplation of
nature.
•
Matthew 10: 32-33: Do not be afraid to be the
witnesses of Jesus. At the end Jesus summarizes everything in this sentence:
“If anyone declares himself for me in the presence of human beings, I will
declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven; 33: the one who
instead will disown me in the presence of human beings, I will disown him in
the presence of my Father in heaven.” Knowing that we are in God’s hands and
that God is with us, at every moment, we have the necessary courage and the peace
to render witness and to be disciples of Jesus.
Personal Questions
•
Are you afraid? Afraid of what? Why?
•
Have you been persecuted sometimes because of
your commitment to announce the Good News of God which Jesus announced to us?
Concluding Prayer
Your decrees stand firm, unshakeable, holiness is the beauty
of your house, Yahweh, for all time to come. (Ps 93: 5)
Saint Benedict, Abbot and Co-Patron of Europe
Benedict of Nursia (circa 480—547), known as the Father of
Western monasticism, had a huge influence in his own time and in succeeding
centuries. His monks were a source of stability in the highly disordered state
of Europe following the collapse of the Roman Empire and the invasions of the
northern tribes (e.g. Vandals, Huns); they laid the ground for the emergence of
the cultural wealth of the Renaissance from the 12th century onwards.
Benedict was born about 480, the son of a Roman noble from
Nursia (modern Norcia, in Umbria), and it is believed he was a twin of St
Scholastica. Little certain is known about his life, as the only source is
from Gregory the Great’s Dialogues, Book II. It has been described
as “the biography of the greatest monk, written by the greatest Pope, himself
also a monk”. It is more a spiritual portrait than a factual biography.
Benedict began studies in Rome, but left before completing
them to become a hermit in Subiaco. Over a period of three years in solitude,
Benedict matured both in mind and character, in knowledge of himself and of his
fellow-man. At the same time he became deeply respected by people in the
neighbourhood, so that when the abbot of a nearby monastery died, the monks
begged him to be their abbot. Although he did not agree with their lifestyle,
he finally accepted.
However, it did not work out—so much so that the monks tried
to poison him, and he went back to his hermit’s cave. The legend is that they
tried to poison his drink, but when he blessed the cup, it shattered. They then
tried to kill him with poisoned bread, but when he blessed it, a raven came and
snatched it away. Many other miracles were attributed to him, and many people
came to him for direction. He built 12 monasteries, each with a superior and 12
monks. He himself lived in a 13th with some whom he thought were more
promising. Benedict, however, was the father or abbot of all the groups.
Benedict later left for Monte Cassino, near Naples, where he
drew up the final version of his Rule. This contained much of the traditional
monastic teaching of earlier monks like Cassian, Basil and probably also the
so-called Rule of the Master, though much modified by Benedict. His vision was
a life characterized by prudence and moderation rather than severe asceticism
and lived within a framework of authority, obedience, stability, and community
life. ‘Stability’ meant that a monk would generally stay permanently in the
monastery which he had joined. It was a way of life which was complete,
well-ordered and practical. The monk’s day was taken up with liturgical prayer,
complemented by sacred reading and manual work of various kinds which took care
of the community’s needs.
Benedict was not a priest, and there is no evidence that he
intended to found a religious order. His principal goal and achievement was to
write a Rule or way of life. Today’s Order of St Benedict (OSB) is of later
origin and not a ‘religious order’ as commonly understood, but rather a
confederation of congregations into which the traditionally independent
Benedictine abbeys have affiliated themselves for the purpose of representing
their mutual interests—without however losing any of their autonomy. Benedict’s
own personality is reflected in his description of the kind of person the abbot
should be: wise, discreet, flexible, learned in the law of God, but also a
spiritual father to his community. Gregory’s Dialogues spoke of him as having
second sight and miraculous powers.
Because of its inner qualities and the endorsement it
received from secular rulers and other founders of religious institutes,
Benedict’s Rule became the standard monastic code in the early Middle Ages.
Because of its flexibility, it could be adapted to the different needs of
society in different places. In a world of civil turmoil with the break-up of
the Roman Empire, it was the monasteries which became centres of learning,
agriculture, hospitality, and medicine in a way which Benedict himself could
never have imagined.
The best known symbols connected with Benedict are a broken
cup (containing poison) and a raven. He is also shown wearing a monastic cowl
and holding either the Rule or a rod for corporal punishment. Benedict spent
the rest of his life realising the ideal of monasticism contained in his rule.
He died at Monte Cassino, Italy, according to tradition, on
21 March, 547. He was named patron protector of Europe by Pope Paul VI in 1964.
His feast day, previously 21 March, was moved in 1969 to 11 July, a date on
which his feast had been celebrated in several places. Together with Saints
Cyril and Methodius, Catherine of Siena, Bridget of Sweden, and Teresa
Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Benedict was declared a Patron of Europe
by Pope John Paul II in 1999.
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