15 July 2026 – Wednesday of the 15th even-numbered week
Isaiah 10:5–7, 13–16; Matthew 11:25–27
(Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, E D)
HOMILY
The Gospel we have just read (which forms a whole with the one we shall read tomorrow) contains some points of connection with the Magnificat of the Virgin Mary, which are very interesting and extremely revealing.
When Jesus gives glory to his Father for having revealed to the little ones the things hidden from the wise, the ‘little ones’ of whom he speaks are his disciples. And they were not naive children. They were grown men who knew the ways of the world: Matthew, the tax collector, knew how to make money; Jude, the Zealot, knew the art of guerrilla warfare; Peter, James and John were fishermen who knew how to steer their boat on the lake and cast their nets. They had given up everything to become disciples of Jesus. When he invites them – and invites us – to simplicity of heart, he is not inviting us to a childish attitude or a childish kind of spirituality. He is inviting us to a very demanding form of poverty of heart. He invites us to follow him as disciples and thus to abandon all our sources of security, and especially our thirst for power, just as his disciples had given up everything to follow him.
The defining characteristic of a child is their powerlessness. A child can be, in their own way, just as intelligent, loving, etc. as an adult. But because they have not yet accumulated knowledge, material possessions or social connections, they lack power. As soon as we become adults, we want to exercise power and control: over our own lives, over other people, over material things, and sometimes even over God. This is what Jesus asks us to renounce when he asks us to be like little children.
A useful exercise in self-knowledge might be to examine the various forms in which our thirst for power is expressed in the different aspects of our lives, and how we defend that power. Let us then contemplate our Lord, who came not as a mighty king upon his throne, but as a humble and powerless prophet, riding on a donkey.
Let us also look upon the lowliness of his most holy handmaid, his mother, and with her, let us sing with renewed joy and hope: ‘He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the humble’. And may we, one day, sing together for ever and ever: “Blessed be the God of Israel, for he has looked upon the lowliness of his servants.”