Gospel: July 9, 2025
July 9, 2025 (Wednesday)
14th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 2
(Green/Red)
St. Augustine Zhao Rong, priest, & companions, martyrs
Ps 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19
Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
1st Reading: Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7a, 17-24a
Gospel: Matthew 10:1-7
Jesus called his Twelve disciples to him, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out, and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the Twelve apostles: first Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon, the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, the man who would betray him. Jesus sent these Twelve on mission, with the instructions: “Do not visit pagan territory and do not enter a Samaritan town. Go, instead, to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go, and proclaim this message: The kingdom of heaven is near.
Reflection:
“The Kingdom of heaven is near.”
Matthew presents two phases of preaching the Good News, and we hear the first in today’s Gospel. First, the message is to be preached to the Jews, as befits the Chosen people of God, seeking out the “lost sheep of the people of Israel.” Then the message is to be shared with all peoples, and so Matthew’s Gospel concludes with Jesus’ words, “Go make disciples from all nations” (Mt 28:19). St. Augustine Zhao Rong and the many other Chinese martyrs of the 17th to the 19th century form part of that continuing mission to go out to all the nations. Zhao Rong was a soldier who had been part of the military escort for Bishop Dufresse, of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. Zhao Rong was so impressed by the bishop’s patience during his arrest and before his execution, that Zhao Rong asked to be baptized and to train to be a diocesan priest. Soon after ordination, he, too, was executed in 1815. “Proclaim this message: The kingdom of heaven is near.” The martyrs’ confidence testifies to the reality of the Kingdom and the closeness of God’s presence. May their faith strengthen our confidence in the truth of these heavenly realities.
