August 20, 2026
Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14

Today is Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time. The Church celebrates the Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church. According to the recently published Roman Missal: St Bernard (c.1090-1153) was born into a noble family at Fontaines, near Dijon (France). In 1113 he joined the new monastery at Citeaux and went on to find the Cistercian house at Clairvaux. St Bernard became known as a noted theologian, preacher and controversialist, enjoying a correspondence with monarchs and popes. He managed to combine a life of action with one of mystical contemplation, as revealed in his writings. Declared a Doctor of the Church in 1830, he is known as “the last of the Fathers.”

Today, the passage from the Gospel of Matthew presents us with the parable of the kingdom of heaven spoken by Jesus. Let us now endeavor to understand it.

Jesus spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people again in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He sent his servants to call those who were invited to the feast, but they refused to come.” (cf. Matt 22:1-3)

In this king we see the shadow of the Heavenly Father, who loves His Son and has prepared a wedding feast for Him. Who, then, is the bride of His Son? Clearly, it is Jerusalem. The servants mentioned in the Gospel refer to all the prophets and judges sent by God to Israel in the Old Testament. They continually invited the chosen people of Israel to return to God and come to the feast. Yet, although those chosen people heard God’s call, they preferred to worship the gods of the nation’s rather than return to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

He sent other servants again, saying, “Tell those who are invited, ‘Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.'” But they paid no attention and went off, one to his own farm, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. (cf. Matt 22:4-7)

We might think: Our Heavenly Father is an impatient Father who, once rejected, no longer associates with people. However, in the passage above, we see a father who is exceedingly gentle and always ready to bestow upon us all kinds of graces. He sends His servants again to call the chosen people, so that they might come to the wedding feast for His beloved Son. Yet those chosen people not only refused but also killed the servants sent by God to call them.

Today, let us imitate the virtuous example of Saint Bernard and generously respond to God’s call to us. Now, let us pray to God: O God, who made of 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, God, for ever and ever.

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica