Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 15, 2026
At that time Jesus exclaimed:
“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.”
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
Early in my career, I pursued graduate work and an academic career path. After I transitioned from academics to the commercial world, my career arc involved my engagement with a wide variety of technical projects. Now, late in my career, I am pursuing another opportunity as an academic. My entire working life, academic and commercial, has been comprised of positions that have required me to become “wise and learned” in the secular sense. I have delighted in, and have even loved, the opportunities to do so. Have I been misguided?
In this passage from Matthew, Christ is not necessarily speaking of such learning, properly ordered within our lives. In the passage immediately before today’s reading, Christ upbraids the towns that he has visited for their refusal to accept his message and to repent. They have rejected him even after those towns have witnessed his capability to perform miracles. Christ strongly asserts that hell lies in the future of those towns that continue in their refusals.
In referring to the “wise and the learned”, Christ refers to those who are impeded from hearing, understanding, or accepting his message because they do not have the receptivity for it that children possess. Unlike children, whose ability to learn is sponge-like and indeed miraculous at very young ages, those who are wise in this sense can have an understanding that can cause an impenetrable blindness.
I am reminded of the dwarfs in C.S. Lewis’ tale, The Last Battle. Near the end of the book, the story’s protagonists find the dwarfs in the hut that has been the focus of the latter part of the story. The dwarfs were utterly blinded to their surroundings, to Aslan, who is the Christ-like figure of Lewis’ tale, and to all else, by their own self-interest in not wanting to be deceived by anyone. In the end, Aslan respects their free will and leaves them in their state of refusal.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire an openness in all to hear, understand, and accept Christ’s message in their lives.
Prayer
Loving God, you have called us by name to continue Christ’s mission of reconciliation and healing. Give us patience in times of challenge, hope in places of suffering. May we recognize your kingdom in our midst, near to us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Bonaventure is one of the greatest minds the Church ever produced, and he seamlessly combined a love for truth with a love for God.
He was born in Italy in 1221 and became a Franciscan. He was educated at the University of Paris and went on to teach Scripture and theology there for nearly a decade before taking on leadership of his own order.
Bonaventure dedicated even more time to prayer than he did to his study, and people could feel a deep, inward peace about him. He was always cheerful and once said, “A spiritual joy is the greatest sign of the divine grace dwelling in a soul.”
He was ordained a priest and wrote several mystical works about prayer, poverty, and the path to holiness. Bonaventure wrote with such devotion and love that his works “warmed the heart,” said one scholar of his time. “Whoever would be both learned and devout, let him read the works of Bonaventure.”
He was a concise thinker who could strike to the heart of the matter. He frequently meditated on the joy of heaven, and his writing awoke in readers a desire for union with God. “God, all the glorious souls, and the whole family of the eternal King wait for us and desire that we should be with them,” Bonaventure wrote. “Shall not we desire above all things to be admitted into their happy company?”
He wrote of the perfection of Christian life, not by renouncing the world like a monk, but by simply doing ordinary things of our daily life very well. “The perfection of a religious person is to do common things in a perfect manner,” he wrote. “A constant fidelity in small things is a great and heroic virtue.”
Bonaventure is called the second founder of the Franciscans because he was able to guide the community through important matters of interpretation about the way of life they should lead. He wrote an authoritative biography of Francis.
The pope named Bonaventure a cardinal, and when the saint received news of the appointment, he was washing dishes in a convent where he was staying. The messengers were carrying the red hat of a cardinal (shown in this image from a Basilica mural), but his hands were greasy from the dishes. He had them hang it in a tree outside until he was finished, then he went and put it on, accepting the office.
When the pope called a council to discuss the unity of the Church with Greek faithful who had split from Rome, he asked Bonaventure to lead it. Bonaventure led a successful council but died during the celebrations.
The pope preached at his funeral and said, “No one ever met Bonaventure who did not find a great regard and affection for him. Even strangers wanted to follow his advice, just from hearing him speak. He was gentle, courteous, humble, pleasing to everyone, compassionate, prudent, chaste, and adorned with all virtues.”
Bonaventure has been declared a Doctor of the Church, a title given to 38 saints who are known for elucidating the faith by their words or example. He is known as the "Seraphic Doctor" after the angels who are called the “burning ones” in Scripture, as his works communicated his burning love of God.
The relics of St. Bonaventure rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, and the statue of him in his Franciscan habit (shown above) stands on Alumni Hall.
St. Bonaventure, you awoke in people a desire for the joy of heaven—pray for us!