Gospel: August 13, 2025
August 13, 2025 (Wednesday)
19th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 3 (Green/Red)
St. Pontian, pope, and St. Hippolytus, priest, martyrs
Ps 66:1-3a, 5 & 8, 16-17
Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire!
1st Reading: Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20
If your brother has sinned against you, go and point out the fault to him, when the two of you are alone; and if he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he doesn’t listen to you, take with you one or two others, so that the case may be decided by the evidence of two or three witnesses. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembled Church. But if he does not listen to the Church, then regard him as a pagan, or a tax collector. I say to you: whatever you bind on earth, heaven will keep bound; and whatever you unbind on earth, heaven will keep unbound.
In like manner, I say to you, if, on earth, two of you agree in asking for anything, it will be granted to you by my heavenly Father; for where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there, among them.”
Reflection:
“He is present among us.”
“Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there, among them.” Christ declares that he is present among us. Christ is with us as a community at prayer. We are a unity of faith, a unity of trust in the Lord, hoping in God’s grace and salvation. The martyrs don’t suffer alone either. They witness to Christ in union with the Church and are supported by the prayers of their fellow Christians. Earlier in his life, Hippolytus had been a force for division in the Church in his criticisms and his opposition of the Pope. However, he was reconciled with Pope Pontian toward the end of his life and died with him, after they were exiled to work in the mines of Sardinia. The legacy of that unity of faith is left in the works of Hippolytus, whose words are used to this day in the Second Eucharistic Prayer and in the Prayer of Ordination of bishops. In these prayers, our small celebrations unite with the whole Church and unite with Christ as Head. Today let’s pray for the unity of the Church and for a greater awareness of Christ among us.
