August 11, 2026
Memorial of Saint Clare, Virgin
Lectionary: 414
Reading 1
The Lord GOD said to me:
As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you:
be not rebellious like this house of rebellion,
but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.
It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me,
in which was a written scroll which he unrolled before me.
It was covered with writing front and back,
and written on it was:
Lamentation and wailing and woe!
He said to me: Son of man, eat what is before you;
eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel.
So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat.
Son of man, he then said to me,
feed your belly and fill your stomach
with this scroll I am giving you.
I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.
He said: Son of man, go now to the house of Israel,
and speak my words to them.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm
119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131
R. (103a) How sweet to my taste is your promise!
In the way of your decrees I rejoice,
as much as in all riches.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
How sweet to my palate are your promises,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
Your decrees are my inheritance forever;
the joy of my heart they are.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
I gasp with open mouth,
in my yearning for your commands.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?”
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever becomes humble like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.
What is your opinion?
If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the stray?
And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it
than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081126.cfm
Commentary on
Ezekiel 2:8—3:4
The reading, at first sight, describes a strange apocalyptic
vision, but its meaning is clear. The vision of the chariot of Yahweh is
interrupted by the vision of the scroll or book, of which we read just a part
today. This vision was probably Ezekiel’s first in which, like Jeremiah and
Isaiah, he is called to be God’s spokesperson.
God speaks to Ezekiel and calls him ‘son of man’.* This is a
phrase in the Old Testament peculiar to Ezekiel (with the exception of two
instances in the prophet Daniel). It is used 93 times altogether in Ezekiel and
its purpose is to emphasise the great gap between a transcendent God and the
human being. But in Daniel it takes on a messianic meaning, taken up later by
Jesus, who refers to himself several times as ‘the’ (not ‘a’) “Son of Man”.
Ezekiel is first called on to listen carefully to what God
has to say. In this he is not to be like the people who are rebellious and
disobedient:
But you, mortal [son of man], hear what I say
to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house…
The prophet is then to open his mouth and eat what is given
him. A hand then reaches out a scroll for the prophet to eat. Unlike most
ancient scrolls, it is written on both sides. The implication is that it is
totally filled with God’s word and God’s judgement on his people.
The scroll was filled with “words of lamentation and
mourning and woe”. Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel’s mission was first to communicate
God’s displeasure with his people and to warn them of the sufferings they would
endure as the result of their faithlessness. Later on, again like Jeremiah, he
will preach a message of hope.
Following the Lord’s instructions, Ezekiel eats the scroll,
whose contents he is to share with the people of Israel. When he was being
called by Yahweh, the mouth of Isaiah had been touched by a seraph. In the case
of Jeremiah, Yahweh had put his words into the prophet’s mouth. Here Ezekiel
uses an even more graphic image of how God’s word becomes part of him.
In spite of its content, Ezekiel found the scroll:
…in my mouth…as sweet as honey.
However bitter its content, the word of God is always sweet
to the taste. That is because God’s word is always spoken with love and with
the well-being of the recipient in mind.
Ezekiel is then instructed to go to the people and to speak
Yahweh’s words to them—the words that were on the scroll and which have been
fully assimilated by the prophet.
The scene represents Ezekiel’s calling to be a prophet and
to speak in God’s name. The eating of the scroll is a symbol of Ezekiel’s
totally absorbing and assimilating into himself the word of God. It will
literally become part of him.
We will find a similar image later in the Gospel in the
famous chapter 6 of John where Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life:
Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread
that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. (John 6:51)
To eat that Bread is to take into oneself the very Spirit of
Christ and be fully united with him in his Risen Body, the Church. The image of
eating a scroll will also appear in the Book of Revelation (Rev 10:1-11).
The Word of God that comes to us through Jesus Christ is not
just a set of ideas to be known or even defended. It is a vision of life that
we need to absorb into our very being so that it colours and is behind
everything we say and do. It results in our being able to say, as Paul did:
…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives
in me.
(Gal 2:20)
And we also need to remember the Eucharistic element in the
Liturgy of the Word. The Word of God which is proclaimed to us is meant to be
‘eaten’ and totally assimilated. There is a real presence of Christ there. He
speaks to us through it, but are we listening? This part of our liturgy is so
often seen as of less importance…it is not.
_______________________________________
*”Son of Man” is translated as “Mortal” in
the NRSVue translation of the Bible, but the interpretation is the same.
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Commentary on
Matthew 18:1-5,10,12-14
Today we come to the fourth of the five discourses which are
the distinctive characteristic of Matthew’s Gospel. This one focuses on the
Church (and is called the “Discourse on the Church”), the Christian community,
and in particular the relationships among its members.
The reading begins with Jesus asking the question:
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
By implication, this question is asking about the greatest
in the Christian community—a sign of the Kingdom.
Jesus answers the question very simply by putting a child in
front of his disciples. To become the greatest is to become a small child.
Why? Children have many precious qualities. They are born
free of prejudice and they are totally open to learning. It is these qualities,
which we tend to lose as we grow up, that we need to enter the Reign of God. We
need to be totally open and free of prejudice when it comes to listening to
God, and to allow ourselves to be fully teachable, malleable and flexible. Then
we will be ready to receive everything that God wants us to have, and to become
everything God wants us to become. Furthermore, to welcome a person who has
these qualities in Jesus’ name is to welcome Christ himself.
From that the Gospel moves on to another related
consideration. It skips a passage which deals with those who cause others to
fall into sin and the kind of punishment such people deserve. Instead, it moves
from children to the “little ones”. The “little ones” are not just children,
but the weaker ones in the community, and they may be adults. But they are the
ones who can very easily be led astray by the bad example which others give.
And there are severe penalties for doing this (which are mentioned in the
omitted passage).
This is emphasised by the parable of the lost sheep. God is
compared to a shepherd who has lost just one sheep out of a hundred. When he
finds it again he is happier than over the other ninety-nine which have not
strayed. As such, the Gospel concludes:
So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one
of these little ones should be lost.
How terrible, then, if one of us is responsible for
someone’s being separated from God forever! Sadly, sometimes it feels like that
happens quite a lot in our society and in our Church.
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Tuesday,
August 11, 2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God,
Your Spirit made us Your
children, confident to call You Father. Increase Your Spirit within us and
bring us to our promised inheritance.
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 18: 1-5, 10, 12-14
The disciples
approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” He
called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you,
unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of
heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom
of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that
their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father. What is
your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he
not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he
finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the
ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of
your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”
Reflection
Here, in
Chapter 18 of the Gospel of Matthew begins the fourth great discourse on the
New Law, the discourse on the community. As has already been said before (on
Monday of the 10th week of the year), the Gospel of Matthew, written for the
communities of the Christian Jews of Galilee and Syria, presents Jesus as the
new Moses. In the Old Testament, the Law of Moses was codified in the five
books of the Pentateuch. Imitating the ancient model, Matthew represents the
New Law in five great discourses: (a) The Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5: 1-7, 29);
(b) the discourse on the mission (Mt 10: 1-42); (c) The discourse on the
parables (Mt 13: 1-52); (d) The discourse on the community (Mt 18: 1-35); (e)
The discourse on the future of the Kingdom (Mt 24: 1-25, 46). The narrative
parts which are inserted among the five discourses describe the practice of
Jesus and show how He practiced and embodied the New Law in His life.
The Gospel today gives the
first part of the discourse on the community (Mt 18: 1-14) which has as key
word “the little ones”. The little ones are not only the children, but also the
poor, those who are not important in society and in the community, and also the
children. Jesus asks that these “little ones” should always be the center of
the concern of the communities because “The Father in Heaven does not will that
one of these little ones should be lost” (Mt 18: 14).
•
Matthew 18: 1: The question of the disciples
which provokes the teaching of Jesus. The disciples want to know who is greater
in the Kingdom. The simple fact of this question reveals that they have not
understood anything or very little of the message of Jesus. The whole discourse
on the community is given in order to make them understand that among the
followers of Jesus the spirit of service should prevail, the gift of self, of
pardon, of reconciliation and
of gratuitous love, without seeking one’s own interest and
one’s own advancement.
•
Matthew 18: 2-5: The fundamental criterion: the
little one and the greater one. The disciples ask for a criteria so as to be
able to measure the importance of the people in the community: “Who is the
greater in the Kingdom of
Heaven?” Jesus answers that it is the
little ones! The little ones are not socially important; they do not belong to
the world of the powerful. The disciples have to become children. Instead of
growing up, to the heights, they must grow down and toward the periphery, where
the poor and the little ones live. In this way, they will be greater in the
Kingdom! The reason is the following: “Anyone who receives one of these little
ones receives Me”. Jesus identifies Himself with them. The love of Jesus for
the little ones cannot be explained. Children have no merit. It is the complete
gratuity of the love of God which manifests itself and asks to be imitated in
the community of those who call themselves disciples of Jesus.
•
Matthew 18: 6-9: Do not scandalize the little
ones. These four verses concerning the scandal to little ones are omitted from
today’s Gospel. We give a brief commentary on them. To scandalize the little
ones means this: to be the cause for them to lose their faith in God and to
abandon the community. Matthew keeps a very hard saying of Jesus: “Anyone who
scandalizes even one of these little ones who believe in Me, it would be better
for him to have a mill stone tied around his neck and then be thrown into the
sea”. It is a sign that at that time many little ones no longer identified
themselves with the community and sought another refuge. And today, in Latin
America, for example, every year approximately three million people abandon the
historical Church and go to the Evangelical churches. This is a sign that they
do not feel at home among us. What is lacking in us? What is the cause of this
scandal to the little ones? In order to avoid the scandal, Jesus orders them to
cut off their foot or take out their eye. This sentence cannot be taken
literally. It means that we should be very firm, strict in fighting against any
scandal which draws the little ones away. We cannot, in any way, allow that the
little ones feel marginalized in our community, because in this case, the
community would not be a sign of the Kingdom of God.
•
Matthew 18: 10-11: The angels of the little ones
see the face of the Father. Jesus recalls Psalm 91. The little ones take Yahweh
as their refuge and make the most High their fortress (Ps 91: 9) and because of
this, “No disaster can overtake you, no plague come near your tent; He has
given angels orders about you to guard you wherever you go. They will carry you
in their arms in case you trip over a stone” (Ps 91: 10, 12).
•
Matthew 18: 12-14: The parable of the one
hundred sheep. According to Luke, this parable reveals the joy of God on the
conversion of a sinner (Lk 15: 3-7). According to Matthew, it reveals that the
Father does not want even one of the little ones to be lost. In other words,
the little ones should be the pastoral priority of the community, of the
Church. They should be in the center of the concern of all. Love for the little
ones and the excluded should be the axis of
the community of those who want to follow Jesus, because it
is in this way that the community becomes the proof of the gratuitous love of
God, who accepts all.
Personal Questions
•
Who are the poorest people of our neighborhood?
Do they participate in our community? Do they feel at home or do they find in
us a cause to withdraw?
•
God the Father does not want any of the little
ones to get lost. What does this mean for our community?
•
Should the pastor of a community spend his time
on the “little ones” in the community, the poor and neglected, or on the rich
who might be able to provide for the economics of the community? Is there a
balance, or is “balance” just another word for compromise – a compromise on
Jesus’ instructions? Does your answer also apply to members of the community as
well?
•
Many who leave the Church do so because of
disagreement over teachings, such as the Church’s stand on abortion or
remarriage. Some believe that there is no such thing as sin. How could, or
should, the community bring these “lost sheep” back, without sacrificing the
truth?
Concluding Prayer
Your instructions are my eternal heritage, they are the joy of
my heart.
I devote myself to obeying Your statutes, their recompense is
eternal. (Ps 119:111-
112)
Clare was born on 16 July, 1194, in Assisi, Umbria, Italy,
the eldest daughter of Favorino Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso, and his wife
Ortolana. Ortolana was a devout woman who had made pilgrimages to Rome,
Santiago de Compostela and the Holy Land. Later in life, she entered Clare’s
convent. Stories explaining that Clare heard Francis of Assisi preaching in
Assisi about his new mendicant order (recently approved by Pope Innocent III),
and was deeply moved by his words, cannot be firmly established. In 1212, her
parents had decided she should marry a wealthy young man, but Clare fled from
her home and sought refuge with Francis, who received her as a nun.
Clare lived for short periods, first, at a nearby
Benedictine convent, San Paolo della Abadesse, and then at a house of women
penitents, Sant’ Angelo on Monte Subasio. Clare was joined here by her mother
and two sisters, as well as by some of the wealthy Ubaldini family from
Florence.
They then moved to the church of San Damiano, which, in
response to a vision, Francis had restored. Here other women joined Clare and
they became known for their austere lifestyle. They were at first known as the
“Poor Ladies”. San Damiano emerged as the most important house in the order and
Clare became its undisputed head. They followed a life of extreme poverty and
austerity, believed to be more severe than other nuns of the period. Like the
Franciscan friars, Clare’s nuns rapidly spread to other parts of Europe. Spain
saw 47 convents already in the 13th century and there were others in Bohemia,
France and England. Four convents were established in England in the 13th and
14th centuries.
Unlike the Franciscan friars, whose members moved around the
country to preach, Clare’s sisters lived an enclosed life. It would be much
later before nuns could move round freely in public places. Their life, like
monks, consisted of manual labour and prayer. In 1216, the order came directly
under Francis, and Clare was given the title of prioress. In this role, she
resisted attempts by church officials to impose a Benedictine rule rather than
Francis’ more strict way of life. By the papal Privilegium paupertatis of
1228, three convents, including San Damiano, would live entirely on alms,
renouncing all income from rents or other property.
For her part, Clare also played a significant role in
encouraging Francis, whom she saw as a spiritual father figure. During his
illnesses towards the end of his life, she took care of him until his death in
1226. After his death, she continued to promote the growth of her Sisters while
still resisting Church efforts to lessen her commitment to an austerely simple
way of life, in spite of experiencing long periods of poor health up to her
death. On 9 August, 1253, the Papal bull Solet annure of Pope
Innocent IV confirmed that Clare’s Rule would serve as the governing rule for
the Order of Poor Ladies. Two days later, on 11 August, Clare died at the age
of 59.
On 15 August, 1255, Pope Alexander IV canonized her as Saint
Clare of Assisi. In 1263, Pope Urban IV officially changed the name of the
Order of Poor Ladies to the Order of Saint Clare, now commonly referred to as
the Poor Clares.
On 17 February, 1958, Pope Pius XII designated her patron
saint of television, on the basis that, when she was too ill to attend a Mass,
she had been miraculously able to see and hear it on the wall of her room.
In art, she is shown carrying a monstrance or pyx, in
commemoration of the time when she warded away attackers at the gates of her
convent by raising the Blessed Sacrament over the wall.
Clare herself never left her convent at Assisi. She was
regarded as one of the great medieval contemplatives, committed to serving her
community with great joy and closely following Franciscan ideals, including
Francis’ love of nature, long after his death in 1226. Although her body is no
longer incorrupt, her skeleton is displayed in Assisi.
After her death, there was much controversy among the
Sisters about the observance of poverty until Colette reformed the Poor Clares
in the 15th century.
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