21 August 2026 Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40
Today is Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time. The Church celebrates today the Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope. The recently published Roman Missal introduces this saint as follows:
Saint Pius X (1835–1914) was born in Riese, near Venice, Italy, the son of a postman. Ordained a priest in 1858, he was one of the few Popes who had spent a substantial period in parish ministry. After serving as Bishop of Mantua and Patriarch of Venice, he succeeded Leo XIII as Pope in 1903. He strongly defended Catholic doctrine against modernism, which he described as “the synthesis of all heresies.” He also promoted the dignified celebration of liturgy. To fulfil the goal of “restoring all things in Christ,” he greatly encouraged the faithful to receive Holy Communion frequently.
Today, the passage taken from the Gospel according to Matthew presents to us the dialogue between a scholar of the law and Jesus. Through this conversation, Jesus teaches us the commandment of love. Let us try to understand it.
We often become like the well-trained scholar of the law in today’s Gospel (cf. Mt 22:34-36), who deliberately sought to test others according to his own desires, so that, by asking questions which they could not answer, he might appear to possess greater knowledge. For, in our own eyes, we often believe that we understand more than others. Therefore, when we question others, we frequently exhaust our own understanding of worldly things, seeking to exhaust the thoughts of others, so that our own vanity may be satisfied when we see that they are unable to respond. For we often think that by merely observing one of the commandments contained in the Ten Commandments which God gave to Moses in ancient times (cf. Ex 20:1-17), we have already fulfilled the Law. Thus, we neglect the infinite mercy of God revealed through the Law which He gave to humanity.
Indeed, “All who have sinned outside the Law will perish outside the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law. For it is not those who hear the Law who are righteous before God, but those who observe the Law who will be justified” (cf. Rom 2:12-13).
This means that those who are “outside the Law” refer to the Gentiles who did not know the Law of Moses; while those who are “under the Law” refer to the Jews who received the Law of Moses, including the scholar of the law who was speaking with Jesus. This well-trained scholar of the law intended to test Jesus according to his own understanding of the Law, yet he himself did not put the Law of Moses into practice in his life. Therefore, his final destiny was eternal loss.
From Jesus’ answer to this scholar of the law, we can see that Jesus did not change the Law, nor did He abolish any part of it. Rather, He fulfilled the Law. For the summary of the Law which God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself (cf. Mt 22:37,39).
The reason why we love God is because He first loved us. He did not spare His own Son, but offered His only begotten Son as an atoning sacrifice for us. The reason why we must love ourselves is because we are created by God according to His image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26). The reason why we must love our neighbors is because God has entrusted them to our care. We are not only called to care for them, but also to discover them actively, revealing to them God’s divine love and merciful countenance through our concrete lives and actions. On this Memorial of Saint Pius the Tenth, Pope, let us offer our prayers to God:
O God, who to safeguard the Catholic faith and to restore all things in Christ, filled Pope Saint Pius the Tenth with heavenly wisdom and apostolic fortitude, graciously grant that, following his teaching and example, we may gain an eternal prize. 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.
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