Responsorial Psalm (Is 38:10, 11, 12ABCD, 16)
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Once I said, “In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years.”
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071522.cfm
The Song of Hezekiah is the basis of today’s responsorial psalm—one of the more hauntingly tragic poetic passages in the Scriptures. Stephen Hutchinson, a British artist, was fascinated with the stairway of Ahaz mentioned in the first reading and in response created The Stairway of Ahaz (2018). Saint Bonaventure fostered the intellectual development of the Franciscans and thought of Christ as the “one true master.”
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Saint Bonaventure, bishop & doctor, July 15
