Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection July 15, 2026
Wednesday – 15th Week in Ordinary Time
15th July 2026 (Wednesday)
Psalter: Week 3
Here are the Catholic Mass readings and a daily reflection for Wednesday, July 15, 2026, the Memorial of Saint Bonaventure. Isaiah warns an axe that boasts against the hand that swings it, and in the Gospel Jesus thanks the Father for hiding His truths from the wise and showing them to little ones.
Catholic Mass Readings
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Isaiah 10:5-7, 13-16
Thus says the Lord: Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I commend him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few; For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones. My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped.” Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood! Therefore the Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.
Psalm 94:5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 14-15 (R. 14a)
R/. The Lord will not abandon his people.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have revealed to little children the mysteries of the kingdom.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Matthew 11:25-27
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Wednesday – 15th Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Gospel Reflection
Main Point: God hides His deepest truths from the wise and the clever, and reveals them to little children. Not because knowledge is bad, but because pride cannot receive a gift. Only open, empty hands can.
1. Jesus prays out loud today, and His prayer is startling. “I thank you, Father, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.” God hides truth from the clever? That sounds backward. We assume the smartest people should grasp God best.
2. But look closer at what He means. It is not that intelligence is bad. It is that a certain kind of cleverness gets in the way. The person sure he already knows leaves no room to be taught. Pride closes the hand. And a closed hand cannot receive a gift.
3. The little child is the opposite. A child knows he does not know. He depends. He trusts. He receives without arguing. That open, empty-handed posture is exactly what God can fill. The deepest truths are not earned by the brilliant. They are given to the humble.
4. This is the detail we walk past. We think knowing God is mainly about being smart enough. Jesus says it is about being small enough. The scholar and the simple soul stand on level ground here. Both must come as children or not at all.
5. Then Jesus says something only He could say. “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” God is not a puzzle we solve from the outside. He is a Person who must open Himself to us. We know Him only because He chooses to be known.
6. So faith is finally a gift, not an achievement. We cannot think our way into the heart of God. He reveals Himself, and our part is to receive Him with the trust of a child. The genius and the unlettered grandmother are equally dependent on that grace.
7. This is the thread to Isaiah. God pictures Assyria as an axe, boasting as if its conquests came from its own strength. But an axe does not swing itself. “Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it?” The clever who trust their own minds are like that boasting axe. They forget the hand that gives them any power at all.
8. Saint Bonaventure is the perfect saint for this day. He was one of the greatest minds the Church has known, a brilliant theologian. Yet he taught that love reaches God more surely than intellect, and that we come to Him on our knees, not by cleverness alone. A giant of learning who insisted the child’s heart comes first. He held both, and never let his brilliance become a boasting axe.
My Practice: Your cleverness will not carry you into the heart of God. It may even be the thing blocking the door. So today, come to Him as a child. Set down the need to have it all figured out, the pride that keeps your hands closed, and simply receive. Say a prayer you cannot explain. Trust a truth bigger than your mind. Bonaventure had one of the sharpest minds in history and still knelt like a child. Kneel with him.
Read tomorrow’s Catholic Mass readings and reflection for July 16, 2026, or revisit yesterday’s reflection for the Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.
Thank You 🙏🙏🙏
Tags: Daily Mass Reflection, Ordinary Time, Gospel of Matthew, Catholic Mass Readings, July 2026
