July 6, 2026
Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time / Optional Memorial of Saint Maria Goretti
Gospel: Matthew 9:18–26
Today is Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time. The Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of Saint Maria Goretti. The Roman Martyrology tells us: Saint Maria Goretti (1890–1902) was born in Corinaldo near Ancona, Italy, the third of six children. She was known for her cheerfulness and piety. At the age of twelve, while resisting an attacker, she was mortally wounded and shed her blood defending her chastity. Before dying in the hospital, she forgave her murderer. Her assailant was subsequently imprisoned and experienced a profound conversion of heart; he was present at her canonization in 1950 and later lived out his days as a Capuchin brother.
Today’s Gospel passage from Saint Matthew presents us with two accounts of healing by Jesus. I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.
First, Matthew tells us that an official came and knelt before Jesus, asking Him to restore his deceased daughter to life (cf. Mt 9:18). Who was this official? Matthew does not tell us. Luke identifies him as Jairus, the synagogue leader of Capernaum (cf. Lk 8:41). He could have commanded Jesus to come to his house to restore his daughter, yet he did not. Instead, as a father, he knelt before Jesus and begged Him to raise his daughter to life. He sets an example for us; the faith he demonstrated is admirable and worthy of our imitation.
Next, Matthew introduces us to another person in need of Jesus’ healing: a woman suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years (cf. Mt 9:20–22). She courageously stepped beyond the legal boundaries of her time, for the Law clearly stated that anyone with a flow of blood, or anything touched by such a person, was ritually unclean. She displayed a different kind of courage, marked by prudence; she did not touch Jesus directly but reached out to touch the tassel of His cloak. By her faith, she was healed.
Finally, I would like to reflect on what Jesus said when He arrived at Jairus’ house. He said, “Go away! The girl is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed Him (cf. Mt 9:23–24). When He said she was asleep, He intended to show that although the world saw her as dead, in God’s eyes she was still alive. For God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Do you recall what Jesus said to the Sadducees—who denied the resurrection—when discussing the resurrection? Jesus said to them: “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection from the dead do not marry, nor can they die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. Even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive” (cf. Lk 20:34–38).
Today, having received the Baptism of Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we are called to be His children. We must learn to view life and death through the lens of faith, live out the love of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ in our earthly lives, and worthily love this world—by meeting the Risen Lord Jesus Christ through firm faith, earnest hope, and the reception of His Most Precious Body and Blood.
O God, author of innocence and lover of chastity,
who bestowed the grace of martyrdom
on your handmaid, the Virgin Saint Maria Goretti, in her youth,
grant, we pray, through her intercession,
that, as you gave her a crown for her steadfastness,
so we, too, may be firm
in obeying your commandments.
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
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