July 4, 2026 Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time / Saint Elizabeth of Hungary / Saturday Special Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary Gospel: Matthew 9:14-17
Today is Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time, a day on which the Church traditionally renders special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and also the Optional Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.
The Roman Martyrology tells us: Saint Elizabeth (1271–1336) was the daughter of King Peter III of Aragon and was named after her great-aunt, Saint Elizabeth, the patroness of Hungary. Though she entered into a difficult marriage with the King of Portugal, she performed many works of charity and peacemaking. Upon becoming a widow, she moved to live near the Poor Clare convent in Coimbra, living a life of dedication.
Today, the passage taken from the Gospel of Matthew presents a dialogue between Jesus and the disciples of John the Baptist. Let us strive to understand it.
Let us first consider the question posed by the disciples of John the Baptist to Jesus: “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” (cf. Matt 9:14). The fasting they mentioned refers to that outward form of penance easily perceived by others, typically characterized by reduced food or complete abstinence, making the body suffer. They frequently used this to appear pious, completely forgetting the meaning behind fasting. For causing the body to suffer does not conform to the teaching of God, since the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. For Christians, external austerity is not what matters; what matters is the interior fast—namely, emptying one’s own heart so as to receive the light of the Holy Spirit and rediscover the Word of God within our hearts.
Next, let us see how Jesus answered the disciples of John the Baptist: Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (cf. Matt 9:15). Here, the bridegroom refers to Jesus. The wedding guests mentioned here refer to the Apostles who were accompanying Jesus. The time when the bridegroom is with his guests refers to the time when Jesus is present in the Church; at that time, the Church encounters the Lord at every moment and experiences the various graces the Lord Jesus bestows upon them. That is truly a time of joy.
Here, I wish to address certain phenomena within the Church. When we come to the church to participate in Mass, we often ritualize the Mass, paying no heed whatsoever to the presence of Jesus, because at that moment, the devil, the world, and corruptible flesh entice us to think about worldly matters, diverting our attention from the Word of God to outside the church. This is when Jesus is taken away. Even though we sacramentally receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, this Body and Blood produce no effect whatsoever in our hearts, because we reject Jesus’ dwelling within us.
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord! Since we have received Baptism in Christ, received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and frequently receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we must, from the depths of our hearts, welcome Jesus, always under the light and guidance of the Holy Spirit, carry out the will of God, imitate Saint Elizabeth and the Blessed Virgin Mary, renounce all things of the world, and set out upon the path to eternal life that the Holy Spirit points out to us.
O God, Author of peace and lover of charity, who adorned Saint Elizabeth with the marvelous grace of reconciling those in conflict, grant, through her intercession, that we may become peacemakers, and so be called children of God. Through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, you and he and the Holy Spirit are God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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