Gospel: July 16, 2025
July 16, 2025 (Wednesday)
15th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 3 (Green/White)
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Ps 103:1b-2, 3-4, 6-7
The Lord is kind and merciful.
1st Reading: Exodus 3:1-6, 9-12
Moses pastured the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. One day he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him by means of a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. Moses saw that although the bush was on fire it did not burn up. Moses thought, “I will go and see this amazing sight, why is the bush not burning up?” The Lord saw that Moses was drawing near to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He replied, “Here I am.” The Lord said to him, “Do not come near; take off your sandals because the place where you are standing is holy ground.” And God continued, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” The cry of the sons of Israel has reached me and I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them. Go now! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?” God replied, “I will be with you and this will be the sign that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
Gospel: Matthew 11:25-27
On that occasion, Jesus said, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I praise you; because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to simple people. Yes, Father, this was your gracious will. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Reflection:
“The experience of wonder and awe in God’s presence.”
In trying to understand the burning bush, some scholars have tried to find an earthly explanation for an experience of the divine. Some proposed that the flames were red flowers. Others have suggested a bush found in north Africa which gives off flammable vapor from the oils in its stem. However, it doesn’t ignite spontaneously, and when it is set on fire, the flash of flame last only seconds. Jesus says in the Gospel, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I praise you; because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to simple people,” to those who stand as children before God, acknowledging his majesty. The miracle of the burning bush is just that: a miracle, not flowers or gas vapors. Only this explains the amazement of Moses, which leads him to kneel humbly before God. This experience of wonder and awe in God’s presence leads Moses through his doubt and confusion to accept God’s call to save his people. It’s that same humility before the wondrous which leads Mary through her uncertainty to accept her call to be the mother of our Savior. With Mary and Moses, let us kneel humbly before the Lord.
