July 12, 2025

Entering into the Challenging School of Divine Service, 14th Friday (I), July 11, 2025

21 minutes

Msgr. Roger J. Landry

Chapel of the Vincentian Seminary, Krakow

Friday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I

Memorial of Saint Benedict

July 11, 2025

Gen 46:1-7.28-30, Ps 37, Mt 10:16-23

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.11.25_Homily_1.mp3

The following points were attempted in the homily:

Saint Benedict and the “School of Divine Service” (Rule 45). It’s a school of prayer (ora), work (labora) and discipleship (studium, study of the Master). It’s a way in which we learn how to put nothing whatsoever before Christ (Christo omnino nihil praeponant). As we prayed at the beginning of Mass, he was not just a student in this school but a Master in the school of Divine Service.

He became a Master in that school by learning from Jesus the Master, who was teaching us important lessons in that school in today’s Gospel. It’s a challenging school, as we’ve been seeing as we’ve listened to his instructions this week to his apostles before he sent them out for the first time. We’ve already learned about the various human means they would forsake. Today Jesus, the Good Shepherd who protects us from wolves, announces that he is sending them out as “lambs in the midst of wolves,” and states that they will be betrayed to courts, scourged in houses of worships, handed over by family members, hated by all, and persecuted in various towns. But he tells us four things. First, it will lead to their giving testimony. Second, that they will be given by God what they are to say. Third, it will enhance their divine filiation, when the spirit of their Father will be speaking through them. And finally, that he wants them to be as pure as doves but as shrewd as serpents — as shrewd, in other words, as the ancient serpent while remaining holy. For Christians to be shrewd, not naive, is urgent. We need to look at things as God does and seek to orient everything to the salvation and sanctification of ourselves and others. Joseph the Patriarch in today’s first reading was shrewd in this way. St. Benedict was shrewd in this way.

We enter the school of the divine service at every Mass where the Lord orients our work, prayer and discipleship. This is where we come to put on the mind of Christ, who speaks to us in the Word of God and then helps us to take on the spirit of our Father through our communion with him, so that everything we do, we may allow God the Father to be speaking through us. St. Benedict, who urges us to put nothing whatsoever before Christ, is praying that we put nothing whatsoever before the Eucharistic Lord we’re about to receive.

The readings for today’s Mass were:

Reading 1

Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30

Israel set out with all that was his.

When he arrived at Beer-sheba,

he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called,

“Jacob! Jacob!”

He answered, “Here I am.”

Then he said: “I am God, the God of your father.

Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt,

for there I will make you a great nation.

Not only will I go down to Egypt with you;

I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes.”

So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba,

and the sons of Israel

put their father and their wives and children

on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent for his transport.

They took with them their livestock

and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan.

Thus Jacob and all his descendants migrated to Egypt.

His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters—

all his descendants—he took with him to Egypt.

Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph,

so that he might meet him in Goshen.

On his arrival in the region of Goshen,

Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot

and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen.

As soon as Joseph saw him, he flung himself on his neck

and wept a long time in his arms.

And Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die,

now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40

R. (39a) The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Trust in the LORD and do good,

that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.

Take delight in the LORD,

and he will grant you your heart’s requests.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

The LORD watches over the lives of the wholehearted;

their inheritance lasts forever.

They are not put to shame in an evil time;

in days of famine they have plenty.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Turn from evil and do good,

that you may abide forever;

For the LORD loves what is right,

and forsakes not his faithful ones.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

The salvation of the just is from the LORD;

he is their refuge in time of distress.

And the LORD helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Alleluia

John 16:13a, 14:26d

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

Matthew 10:16-23

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.”

The post Entering into the Challenging School of Divine Service, 14th Friday (I), July 11, 2025 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.

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By Father Roger Landry

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July 12, 2025

Entering into the Challenging School of Divine Service, 14th Friday (I), July 11, 2025

21 minutes

Msgr. Roger J. Landry

Chapel of the Vincentian Seminary, Krakow

Friday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I

Memorial of Saint Benedict

July 11, 2025

Gen 46:1-7.28-30, Ps 37, Mt 10:16-23

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.11.25_Homily_1.mp3

The following points were attempted in the homily:

The readings for today’s Mass were:

Reading 1

Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30

Israel set out with all that was his.

When he arrived at Beer-sheba,

he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called,

“Jacob! Jacob!”

He answered, “Here I am.”

Then he said: “I am God, the God of your father.

Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt,

for there I will make you a great nation.

Not only will I go down to Egypt with you;

I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes.”

So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba,

and the sons of Israel

put their father and their wives and children

on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent for his transport.

They took with them their livestock

and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan.

Thus Jacob and all his descendants migrated to Egypt.

His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters—

all his descendants—he took with him to Egypt.

Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph,

so that he might meet him in Goshen.

On his arrival in the region of Goshen,

Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot

and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen.

As soon as Joseph saw him, he flung himself on his neck

and wept a long time in his arms.

And Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die,

now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40

R. (39a) The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Trust in the LORD and do good,

that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.

Take delight in the LORD,

and he will grant you your heart’s requests.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

The LORD watches over the lives of the wholehearted;

their inheritance lasts forever.

They are not put to shame in an evil time;

in days of famine they have plenty.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Turn from evil and do good,

that you may abide forever;

For the LORD loves what is right,

and forsakes not his faithful ones.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

The salvation of the just is from the LORD;

he is their refuge in time of distress.

And the LORD helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Alleluia

John 16:13a, 14:26d

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

Matthew 10:16-23

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.”

The post Entering into the Challenging School of Divine Service, 14th Friday (I), July 11, 2025 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.

...more

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Entering into the Challenging School of Divine Service, 14th Friday (I), July 11, 2025

More shows like Catholic Preaching

Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies

Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz

Letters From Home

The Thomistic Institute

The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

The Commentary Magazine Podcast

Catholic Daily Reflections

Daily Rosary Meditations | Catholic Prayers

You Were Born for This with Fr. John Riccardo

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

Catholic Saints

WSJ Opinion: Free Expression

The Exorcist Files

The LOOPcast

The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames)