Reflection
The first reading today recounts the death of the king of Judah, Uzziah in 740BC and the call of the major prophet, Isaiah.
The Lord is attended by “seraphim”, also called the burning ones, due to their proximately to the throne of the Lord, and identified in Catholic tradition as the highest of the nine choirs of angels. They cry out: “holy, holy, holy”, expressing the superlative degree of the Lord’s perfection. Isaiah, hearing the Lord’s call, protests his unworthiness. He is approached by a seraphim who touches an ember from the Lord’s altar to Isaiah’s tongue, cleansing him of sin and expressing God’s direct contact and favor. Isaiah will hear the Lord’s question, “…who will go for us?”; Isaiah answers, as Samuel did, “…here I am.”
In the Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus reminds his recently called disciples of the persecutions they will face. More importantly, he assures them that the threat to their mortal bodies is not to be feared; their souls cannot be harmed. They enjoy the favor of the Father, through the intercession of Jesus. This providence is in the context of a mission: Christians should be witnesses of Christ and they should do so openly.
Today is also the Memorial of St. Benedict, born in Nursia about 480. Educated at Rome, he began the monastic life at Subiaco where he gathered disciples. He established his famous monastery at Monte Cassino where he composed the Benedictine Rule. That rule was subsequently adopted throughout Europe, eventually giving Benedict the title of patriarch of Western monasticism. He died in 547 and his rule is still read daily in all Benedictine houses and used as the basis for many spiritual reflections and life directions.