16 July 2025 (Wednesday) / Wednesday of week 15 in Ordinary Time or Our Lady of Mount Carmel / Ordinary Weekday/ Our Lady of Mount Carmel

16 July 2025 (Wednesday)

Wednesday of week 15 in Ordinary Time or Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Ordinary Weekday/ Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Exodus 3: 1-6, 9-12

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 103: 1b-2, 3-4, 6-7

Alleluia: Matthew 11: 25

Gospel: Matthew 11: 25-27

First Reading : Exodus 3:1‐6,9‐12

Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father‐in‐law, priest of Midian. He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the shape of a flame of fire, coming from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing but it was not being burnt up. ‘I must go and look at this strange sight,’ Moses said, ‘and see why the bush is not burnt.’

  Now the Lord saw him go forward to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush. ‘Moses, Moses!’ he said. ‘Here I am,’ Moses answered. ‘Come no nearer,’ he said. ‘Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers,’ he said, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this Moses covered his face, afraid to look at God. And the Lord said, ‘The cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, and I have witnessed the way in which the Egyptians oppress them, so come, I send you to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel, my people, out of Egypt.’ Moses said to God, ‘Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?’ ‘I shall be with you,’ was the answer ‘and this is the sign by which you shall know that it is I who have sent you... After you have led the people out of Egypt, you are to offer worship to God on this mountain.’

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 102(103):1‐4,6‐7

The Lord is compassion and love.

My soul, give thanks to the Lord all my being, bless his holy name. My soul, give thanks to the Lord and never forget all his blessings.

The Lord is compassion and love.

It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals every one of your ills, who redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with love and compassion.

The Lord is compassion and love.

The Lord does deeds of justice, gives judgement for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses and his deeds to Israel’s sons.

The Lord is compassion and love.

Alleluia: Matthew 11: 25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

25 Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.

(25. At that time Jesus exclaimed, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children).

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Matthew 11:25‐27

Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’

For our reflection today:

"The action of the Holy Spirit is the source of the deepest inner joy. Jesus Himself experienced this particular "exultation in the Holy Spirit" when He said: 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure' (Luke 10:21; cf. Matthew 11:25-26). In the texts of Luke and Matthew, these words of Jesus are followed by His statements about the Son’s knowledge of the Father by the Son and the Father’s knowledge of the Son: knowledge that the Son communicates to those "little ones." It is therefore the Holy Spirit who also gives to the disciples of Jesus not only the power of victory over evil, over "evil spirits" (Luke 10:17), but also the supernatural joy of discovering God and life in Him through His Son. The revelation of the Holy Spirit, through the power of the action that fills all of Christ's mission, will also accompany the apostles and disciples in the work they will carry out by divine mandate. Jesus Himself announces this to them: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Even when they encounter persecutions, imprisonment, and interrogations in courts on this path of testimony, Jesus assures them: "At that time, you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you" (Matthew 10:19-20). People speak; an impersonal force can move, push, destroy, but it cannot speak. The Spirit, on the other hand, speaks. He is the inspirer and the comforter in the difficult hours faced by the apostles and the Church: another qualification of His action, another light shed on the mystery of His Person. (St. John Paul II, General Audience, 19 September 1990)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,

Most High Servant,

Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)