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Friday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day
Saint Ignatius of Antioch (?-c.110), Bishop and martyr
Letter to Polycarp (69-155, saint, Bishop and martyr), 1-3 ; SC 10

"Like sheep in the midst of wolves"

I urge you, in the grace in which you are clothed, to press on in your race and urge everyone to be saved. Assert your office with all the diligence of flesh and spirit. Give your attention to unity for there is nothing better. carry your brethren as the Lord also carries you. Patiently bear with them all in love, as indeed you do bear with them. Devote yourself to unceasing prayer. Ask for greater understanding than you have. Be watchful, possessing a wakeful spirit. Speak to each one individually concerning God's way. “Bear the infirmities” (cf Mt 8,17) of each as a perfect athlete. Where there is more toil, there is greater gain.

If you only love the good disciples, this wins you no advantage. Rather, subdue by meekness the more annoying. Not every wound is cured by the same salve. Ease sharp pains with a hot compress. In everything “be wise as serpents” and always “harmless as doves”. You who are of flesh and spirit, humor those things visibly present before you but pray, too, that what is invisible may be manifested to you so that you may lack nothing and may abound in every spiritual gift.

As pilots invoke the winds and tempest-tossed mariners call for haven, this season invites you to return to God. Be temperate, as God's athlete. The prize is incorruption and life eternal... It is the part of a great athlete to suffer blows and to conquer. It is above all for God's sake we ought to endure all things that He, too, may endure us. Become more zealous than you are. Consider the times. Look for Him who is above all times, who is timeless, invisible, but made visible for our sakes – He who, beyond the touch of our hands, beyond suffering, yet knew the Passion for our sakes and endured every suffering.