17 August 2026, Monday of the 20th week
Ezechiel 24l 15-24; Matt 19, 16-22
Homily
In the Prologue to his Rule, St Benedict, in a symbolic scene, describes God passing by in the public square and asking: ‘Who is the one who desires life?’ The monk for whom Benedict wrote his Rule is obviously the one who answers: ‘It's me! And at the end of the Rule, at the conclusion of chapter 72, which is the last written by Benedict (chapter 73 having been written earlier as the conclusion of the Rule in its first form), he recommends that we ‘prefer nothing at all to Christ; may he lead us all together to eternal life’.