🎼Introit (Ps 91, 13-14 | ib. 2)
Justus ut palma florébit: sicut cedrus Líbani multiplicábitur: plantátus in domo Dómini: in átriis domus Dei nostri. Ps. Bonum est confitéri Dómino: et psállere nómini tuo, Altíssime.
The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus: planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. Ps. It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to thy name, O most High.
📜Epistle (Phil 3, 7-12)
Brethren: The things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. Furthermore, I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may win Christ: and may be found in Him, not having my justice, which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of Christ Jesus, which is of God, justice in faith: that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings: being made conformable to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection which is from the dead. Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect: but I follow after, if I may by any means apprehend, wherein I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus.
✠Gospel (Mt 11, 25-30)
At that time, Jesus answered and said: I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father: for so hath it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered to Me by My Father. And no one knoweth the Son, but the Father: neither doth any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is sweet and My burden light.
🕯️The sublime science of renunciation and rest in God
💎Today's liturgy invites us to contemplate the mystery of true Christian wisdom, incarnated in the solitary life of Saint Paul the Hermit, through the lens of total renunciation described by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle and the humility revealed in the Gospel. The flight from the world into the desert is not an act of cowardice or contempt for creation, but a radical response to the discovery of a greater treasure, where all earthly advantages are counted as "dung" before the sublimity of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Saint Augustine reminds us that this knowledge is not intellectual erudition, but an experience of love that demands the emptying of the ego, for "God gives where He finds empty hands" (Saint Augustine, Commentary on Psalm 131). The Hermit, in his nakedness and dependence on Providence, becomes the "little one" to whom the Father reveals the mysteries of the Kingdom, hidden from the wise and prudent of the world who trust in their own justice. The yoke of Christ, mentioned in the Gospel, becomes sweet not because of the absence of suffering or harshness — life in the desert was extreme — but because love transforms the weight into wings. As the Doctor of Grace teaches, "my weight is my love; whithersoever I am carried, my love carries me" (Saint Augustine, Confessions, XIII, 9). Thus, the "cedar of Lebanon" mentioned in the Introit grows not by the force of nature, but by being planted in the House of the Lord, where solitude is converted into fullness of presence, and death to the world anticipates the glorious resurrection promised to those who participate in the sufferings of Christ.
🗓️See English version of the critical articles here.
📜Epistle (Phil 3, 7-12)
Brethren: The things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. Furthermore, I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may win Christ: and may be found in Him, not having my justice, which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of Christ Jesus, which is of God, justice in faith: that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings: being made conformable to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection which is from the dead. Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect: but I follow after, if I may by any means apprehend, wherein I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus.
✠Gospel (Mt 11, 25-30)
At that time, Jesus answered and said: I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father: for so hath it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered to Me by My Father. And no one knoweth the Son, but the Father: neither doth any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is sweet and My burden light.
🕯️The sublime science of renunciation and rest in God
💎Today's liturgy invites us to contemplate the mystery of true Christian wisdom, incarnated in the solitary life of Saint Paul the Hermit, through the lens of total renunciation described by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle and the humility revealed in the Gospel. The flight from the world into the desert is not an act of cowardice or contempt for creation, but a radical response to the discovery of a greater treasure, where all earthly advantages are counted as "dung" before the sublimity of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Saint Augustine reminds us that this knowledge is not intellectual erudition, but an experience of love that demands the emptying of the ego, for "God gives where He finds empty hands" (Saint Augustine, Commentary on Psalm 131). The Hermit, in his nakedness and dependence on Providence, becomes the "little one" to whom the Father reveals the mysteries of the Kingdom, hidden from the wise and prudent of the world who trust in their own justice. The yoke of Christ, mentioned in the Gospel, becomes sweet not because of the absence of suffering or harshness — life in the desert was extreme — but because love transforms the weight into wings. As the Doctor of Grace teaches, "my weight is my love; whithersoever I am carried, my love carries me" (Saint Augustine, Confessions, XIII, 9). Thus, the "cedar of Lebanon" mentioned in the Introit grows not by the force of nature, but by being planted in the House of the Lord, where solitude is converted into fullness of presence, and death to the world anticipates the glorious resurrection promised to those who participate in the sufferings of Christ.
🗓️See English version of the critical articles here.