📖 Introit (Sir 15, 5 | Ps 91, 2)
In medio Ecclesiae aperuit os ejus: et implevit eum Dominus spiritu sapientiae, et intellectus: stolam gloriae induit eum. Ps. Bonum est confiteri Domino: et psallere nomini tuo, Altissime.
In the midst of the Church, the Lord opened his mouth; he filled him with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, and clothed him with a robe of glory. Ps. It is good to praise the Lord and to sing psalms to your Name, O Most High.
✉️ Epistle (II Tim 4, 1-8)
Caríssime: Testificor coram Deo et Christo Jesu qui judicaturus est vivos ac mortuos et adventum ipsius et regnum ejus: prædica verbum insta oportune importune argue obsecra increpa in omni patientia et doctrina. Erit enim tempus cum sanam doctrinam non sustinebunt sed ad sua desideria coacervabunt sibi magistros prurientes auribus, et a veritate quidem auditum avertent ad fabulas autem convertentur. Tu vero vigila in omnibus labora opus fac evangelistæ ministerium tuum imple. Ego enim jam delibor et tempus meæ resolutionis instat. Bonum certamen certavi cursum consummavi fidem servavi. In réliquo reposita est mihi justitiæ corona quam reddet mihi Dominus in illa die justus judex non solum autem mihi sed et his qui diligunt adventum ejus.
Dearly beloved: I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming and his kingdom: preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears: and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables. But be thou vigilant, labor in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry. Be sober. For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming.
✠ Gospel (Mt 5, 13-19)
In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Vos estis sal terræ quod si sal evanuerit in quo salietur ad nihilum valet ultra nisi ut mittatur foras et conculcetur ab hominibus. Vos estis lux mundi non potest civitas abscondi supra montem posita. Neque accendunt lucernam et ponunt eam sub modio sed super candelabrum ut luceat omnibus qui in domo sunt. Sic luceat lux vestra coram hominibus ut videant vestra bona opera et glorificent Patrem vestrum qui in cælis est. Nolíte putare quoniam veni solvere legem aut prophetas non veni solvere sed adimplere. Amen quippe dico vobis donec transeat cælum et terra jota unum aut unus apex non præteribit a lege donec omnia fiant. Qui ergo solverit unum de mandatis istis minimis et docuerit sic homines minimus vocabitur in regno cælorum qui autem fecerit et docuerit hic magnus vocabitur in regno cælorum.
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing anymore but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men. You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled. He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
🛡️ The guardian of sound doctrine and the salt of the earth
The liturgy of today, in celebrating St. Cyril of Alexandria, weaves a deep connection between the apostolic vigilance required by St. Paul and the luminous identity of the disciple described by Christ in the Gospel. In the Epistle, Paul warns Timothy about a time when men "will not endure sound doctrine", turning to fables; this prophecy was acutely realized in the 5th century, when Nestorius tried to divide the person of Christ, transforming the mystery of the Incarnation into a mere moral conjunction, a theological "fable" that emptied the Redemption. St. Cyril then rose as the "Salt of the earth" (Mt 5, 13), the one who preserves the flesh from corruption, preventing the truth about Christ from rotting in the minds of the faithful. As St. Augustine teaches, "salt in itself serves for nothing else but to salt; so also the doctor of the Church has no other function but to preserve divine wisdom in the heart of men" (De Sermone Domini in Monte). If Cyril had remained silent before error to please the powerful, the salt would have lost its strength and the light would have been put under the bushel. But he understood that the Law and the Prophets are not abolished, but fulfilled (Mt 5, 17) exactly in the hypostatic union: only a real God-Man could perfectly fulfill the Law and offer an infinite sacrifice. His defense of the Theotokos was not merely a Marian honor, but the guarantee that He who was born of Mary is God himself, the fulfillment of all promises. By keeping and teaching these "commandments", even the theological details that seem "least" (jots and tittles) in the eyes of the world, Cyril was called "great in the Kingdom of heavens". He teaches us that true pastoral charity is not tolerance with error, but the courage to be Light on the candlestick, illuminating the House of God with the truth that saves.