Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Is 10:5-7, 13b-16
Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger,
my staff in wrath.
Against an impious nation I send him,
and against a people under my wrath I order him
To seize plunder, carry off loot,
and tread them down like the mud of the streets.
But this is not what he intends,
nor does he have this in mind;
Rather, it is in his heart to destroy,
to make an end of nations not a few.
For he says:
“By my own power I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd.
I have moved the boundaries of peoples,
their treasures I have pillaged,
and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned.
My hand has seized like a nest
the riches of nations;
As one takes eggs left alone,
so I took in all the earth;
No one fluttered a wing,
or opened a mouth, or chirped!”
Will the axe boast against him who hews with it?
Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it?
As if a rod could sway him who lifts it,
or a staff him who is not wood!
Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
will send among his fat ones leanness,
And instead of his glory there will be kindling
like the kindling of fire.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 94:5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 14-15
Your people, O LORD, they trample down,
your inheritance they afflict.
Widow and stranger they slay,
the fatherless they murder.
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
And they say, “The LORD sees not;
the God of Jacob perceives not.”
Understand, you senseless ones among the people;
and, you fools, when will you be wise?
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
Shall he who shaped the ear not hear?
or he who formed the eye not see?
Shall he who instructs nations not chastise,
he who teaches men knowledge?
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
For the LORD will not cast off his people,
nor abandon his inheritance;
But judgment shall again be with justice,
and all the upright of heart shall follow it.
R. The Lord will not abandon his people
Alleluia Mt 11:25
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Mt 11:25-27
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
![Getting To Know The Father](http://blessedisshe.net/cdn/shop/articles/7-17.jpg?v=1719028590&width=1600)
“[ . . . ] and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” // Matthew 11:27
I couldn’t wrap my mind around it: I knew Jesus, I knew the Holy Spirit, but the Father? He was “out of sight, out of mind” for me. After my conversion, it was easy for me to pray to Jesus since I came to know His true presence in the Eucharist. After Holy Communion or while in Eucharistic Adoration, I could really talk to Him.
I grew up in the charismatic movement of the Catholic Church and had my conversion within this context, so the Holy Spirit was not foreign to me. I knew that the Spirit was real and at work in my life personally. Yet still, this First Person of the Godhead was missing in my conscious prayer life somehow. I didn’t avoid the Father on purpose, but I just did not know how to pray to the Father specifically—what to say or what to think.
I see now that I had so much pride and self-reliance keeping me from knowing the Lord better. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel, these things are hidden from the “wise and learned” but revealed to the childlike (Matthew 11:25). The Lord was patient with me and tenderly guided my heart from its pompous ways to an understanding of true humility.
And as I descended from my throne, as I became more dependent on Him instead of myself, as I was sobered by the reality of my sinfulness and my need for the Lord, Jesus began revealing the Father to me. In my heart, I began to know better this Person of the Trinity that had once seemed to evade me. I could perceive the Father’s knowledge of me, His love for me, and that He cared for me.
Sister, I invite you today to pray with me for the full revelation of the Father’s love in your heart. That Jesus would lead you to the Father, as the Holy Spirit purifies your heart, so there may be a kindling of love and devotion “like the kindling of fire” (Isaiah 10:16).