June 23, 2026
Mass during Day: Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 7:6, 12–14

Today is Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time. According to the tradition of the Church, the Vigil Mass for the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist will be celebrated this evening. For pastoral reasons, we continue this year to provide reflections for both of these Masses. At the Mass celebrated during the daytime for the Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time, the Gospel text is taken from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew. Jesus continues His Sermon on the Mount.

We constantly make demands, based on the needs of daily living, upon our fellow human beings—each one created, like ourselves, in the image and likeness of God. From the moment we left our mother’s womb, we have asked our parents for food, so that we might survive in this fleeting world. When we came to school, we asked our teachers to impart, according to their knowledge of worldly things, the skills necessary for getting by in life. When we set out on a journey, we also ask those who provide travel services to offer us comfort along the way. For in our eyes, it seems entirely right to make such demands from them. And when they do not satisfy our various needs as we had hoped, we fly into a rage. For we have grown accustomed to being self-centered, accustomed to having everything done for us and every want supplied without effort. Because what we pursue is the ease of this present life, we are unwilling to embrace the counsel for life that Jesus Christ proposes to us.

Our Lord Jesus Christ calls all who would enter the Kingdom of Heaven to go through the narrow gate. This means setting down at that narrow gate whatever makes us physically bloated or inwardly swollen—that we may travel light, pass through the narrow gate, and follow the path that leads to the life Jesus bestows.

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord! Since we have received Baptism and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, becoming children of God, we need not be anxious about all that is needed in this present life. For such concerns belong to the children of this world, whose way is the broad road that leads to destruction. They follow their flesh and the evil that wells up from their hearts. But we have been born again in Christ through water and the Holy Spirit. Whenever we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and, by the power of that same Spirit, put to death the rash impulses of the flesh, we shall truly live forever, for we are children of God (cf. Romans 8:13–14). Although in this life we must inevitably undergo painful trials and testing temptations, yet all these things serve to strengthen our faith and produce within us the lasting fruits of the Holy Spirit. Thus we become able to discern the voice of God in our lives and to respond with conduct worthy of our vocation.

Grant, O Lord, that we may always revere and love your holy name, for you never deprive of your guidance those you set firm on the foundation of your love. 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