Wednesday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 14, 2021

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 and 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.”

“You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and you have revealed them to the childlike.”  As St. Thomas Aquinas points out in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus did not choose Aristotle and Plato to be his disciples, but rather Peter and Andrew.  And the Lord chose fishermen rather than philosophers to be his instruments in spreading the Gospel in order to show his power.  If a painter is skilled and has the best brushes and paints, it is not surprising when he paints a nice landscape.  We expect that from him.  But if a painter is able to make an even more beautiful picture with gummy paint and old brushes, then it is remarkable.  In the case of the Apostles, the Lord chose to use not even paints and brushes but tar and rags, and with these he painted the most wonderful, colorful, skillful painting in all of history.  This shows that he is truly God.  He chooses to spread the Gospel today through you and me.  Regardless of our worthiness or skill, if we allow him to apply us to the canvas of this world, he can continue this picture, and so bring people to stand in awe of it, and worship him.