Monday 10 July 2023

Today is Monday the 10th of July, in the 14th week of Ordinary Time.



Juliano Ravanello sings, Adoro Te Devote:
Godhead here in hiding, Whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas
Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas
Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit
Quia te contemplans totum deficit
Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Fílius
Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius
In cruce latebat sola Deitas
At hic latet simul et humanitas
Ambo tamen credens atque confitens
Peto quod petivit latro pœnitens
Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor
Deum tamen meum te confiteor
Fac me tibi semper magis credere
In te spem habere, te diligere
O memoriale mortis Domini!
Panis vivus, vitam præstans homini!
Præsta meæ menti de te vivere
Et te illi semper dulce sapere
Pie pellicane, Jesu Domine
Me immundum munda tuo sanguine
Cujus una stilla salvum faceret
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere
Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio
Oro fiat illud, quod tam sitio
Ut, te revelata cernens facie
Visu sim beatus tuæ gloriæ. Amen

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew.


Matthew 9:18-26

While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district.

In the bustle of the town, the woman touches Jesus’ cloak rather than speaking to him. This is also curiously intimate – something truly just between the two of them. ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’

How do I encounter the Lord in the busyness of my day?

Does prayer ever seem to be ‘too late’?


The request from the leader of the synagogue and the hesitant gesture of the woman are both signs of faith.

I think back to times when I have been struggling.


How do I approach the Lord in times of need?

As we listen to the passage again, see how Jesus does not meet the expectations of the crowd, but answers the prayers of those with faith. How does this resonate with me?

“Take heart.” In these last moments of prayer, I ask the Lord to open my heart to be aware of his love for me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.