Commenting on Matthew 19:27 from today’s Scriptures, 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)”
Today is also the memorial of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a doctor of the Church. Click here for an excerpt from his writings (the selection is taken from today’s Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings).
Collect
O God,
Who made the Abbot Saint Bernard
a man consumed with zeal for your house and
a light shining and burning in your Church,
grant, through his intercession,
that we may be on fire with the same spirit and
walk always as children of light.
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.
Who made the Abbot Saint Bernard
a man consumed with zeal for your house and
a light shining and burning in your Church,
grant, through his intercession,
that we may be on fire with the same spirit and
walk always as children of light.
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.
Quote from Saint Bernard of Clairvaux:
“There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge;
that is curiosity.
There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others;
that is vanity.
There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve;
that is love.”
that is curiosity.
There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others;
that is vanity.
There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve;
that is love.”
