Gospel and Word of the Day - 16 July 2025

A reading from the Book of Exodus
3:1-6, 9-12

Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.
Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire
flaming out of a bush.
As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush,
though on fire, was not consumed.
So Moses decided,
"I must go over to look at this remarkable sight,
and see why the bush is not burned."

When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely,
God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
He answered, "Here I am."
God said, "Come no nearer!
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground.
I am the God of your father," he continued,
"the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.
The cry of the children of Israel has reached me,
and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.
Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

But Moses said to God,
"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh
and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
He answered, "I will be with you;
and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you:
when you bring my people out of Egypt,
you will worship God on this very mountain."

From the Gospel according to Matthew
11:25-27

At that time Jesus exclaimed:
"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."

"The action of the Holy Spirit is the source of the deepest inner joy. Jesus Himself experienced this particular "exultation in the Holy Spirit" when He said: 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure' (Luke 10:21; cf. Matthew 11:25-26). In the texts of Luke and Matthew, these words of Jesus are followed by His statements about the Son’s knowledge of the Father by the Son and the Father’s knowledge of the Son: knowledge that the Son communicates to those "little ones." It is therefore the Holy Spirit who also gives to the disciples of Jesus not only the power of victory over evil, over "evil spirits" (Luke 10:17), but also the supernatural joy of discovering God and life in Him through His Son. The revelation of the Holy Spirit, through the power of the action that fills all of Christ's mission, will also accompany the apostles and disciples in the work they will carry out by divine mandate. Jesus Himself announces this to them: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses... to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Even when they encounter persecutions, imprisonment, and interrogations in courts on this path of testimony, Jesus assures them: "At that time, you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you" (Matthew 10:19-20). People speak; an impersonal force can move, push, destroy, but it cannot speak. The Spirit, on the other hand, speaks. He is the inspirer and the comforter in the difficult hours faced by the apostles and the Church: another qualification of His action, another light shed on the mystery of His Person. (St. John Paul II, General Audience, 19 September 1990)