Memorial of Saint Benedict, Abbot



“Then Peter said to him in reply, “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?”” (Matthew 19:27.)

In commenting on these verses from today’s Gospel, Saint John Chrysostom writes:

“What is “everything,” blessed Peter? Is it your fishing rod? your net? your boat? your skill? Are you telling me these are the “everything”? “Yes,” he says, “I am not saying these things to show off but in order that by this question I may embrace the multitude of the poor.” For when the Lord said, “If you wish to be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven,” one of the poor may say, “What then? If I have no possessions, can I not be perfect?” Peter asks the question so that you, the poor man, may learn that you are in no way inferior to the disciples. Peter asks the question, not so that you may have doubts if you learn it from Peter (for he was still imperfect and as yet unfilled by the Spirit) but so that you may hear the word from Peter’s Master and so believe. When we dispute on behalf of others, we often make their concerns our own. That is what the apostle did when he offered this question to the Master on behalf of the wider world of the poor.” (The Gospel of Matthew Homily, 64)


Collect
O God,
who made the Abbot Saint Benedict
an outstanding master
in the school of divine service,
grant, we pray,
that, putting nothing before love of you,
we may hasten with a loving heart
in the way of your commands.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.


Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen