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Saturday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day
Saint Hippolytus of Rome (?-c.235), priest and martyr
The Refutation of all heresies, 10, 33-34

"Behold, my servant whom I have chosen"

This is our faith…: God sent his Word (Jn 1,1) to reveal himself in person before men’s eyes that the world, when it saw him, might be saved… We know he became man, of the same clay as ourselves. If it had been otherwise it would have been futile for him to command us to imitate him as our lord (Jn 13,14-34). If this man were of a different nature, how could he ask me to do as he did, I who am weak by nature? Where, then, would be his goodness, his justice?

To make us thoroughly understand that he is no different from us he desired to bear fatigue and know hunger (Jn 4,6); he did not refuse thirst or to find rest in sleep. He did not refuse suffering, he became subject to death and openly manifested his resurrection. In all these things he offered his own humanity as a firstfruits so that you, in your own suffering, might not lose courage but, recognising that you yourself are man, might also wait for what the Father has given to him…

Thanks to your knowledge of the true God you will have an immortal and imperishable body like the soul itself. You will receive the Kingdom of heaven as your inheritance because you acknowledged the King of heaven while you lived on earth. You will live in the presence of God, “co-heir with Christ” (Rm 8,17). You will no longer be dominated by desires, suffering and sickness because you have become divine in nature… “Christ is God above all” (cf Rm 9,5)… and have given the perfection of the new man to the old man (Col 3,9). He called it his image from the beginning (Gn 1,27) and, through this likeness, he has shown his lovingkindness for you. If you obey his holy commandments, if you imitate He who is good in being good, you will become like him.