Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of Saint Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs

First Reading: Hosea 11:1-4, 8e-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 80:2ac, 3b, 15-16
Gospel: Matthew 10:7-15
Daily readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070926.cfm

Hosea gives us one of the most tender portraits of God in the entire Old Testament today. Not the thundering judge, not the distant sovereign — a parent teaching a child to walk. "It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms. I drew them with human cords, with bands of love. I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks." And still they drifted. Still they turned away. And yet: "My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred. I will not give vent to my blazing anger. For I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you; I will not let the flames consume you."

This is the God who sends the Twelve out in today's Gospel. Not a demanding taskmaster dispatching servants. A parent who has bent down, taken them in arms, taught them to walk — and now sends them out to do the same for others. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. Cure the sick. Raise the dead. Cleanse the lepers. Drive out demons. Travel light. Wish peace to every house you enter. The mission flows from the relationship, not the other way around.

Today we also remember Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and his 119 companions, martyrs of China, canonized by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000. Augustine was not a priest when his story began. He was a soldier, assigned to escort a French bishop to his execution in Beijing. During that long march, he watched Bishop Dufresse face suffering and death with a peace that had no human explanation. Augustine began to listen. He asked for baptism. He entered seminary and was ordained — the first native Chinese diocesan priest in history. He was later arrested, tortured, and refused to renounce his faith. He died in prison in 1815. A soldier converted not by an argument, but by watching someone carry the cross without flinching. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. Augustine received it watching a man die in peace. He gave it back with his life.


A few questions to sit with today:

1. Do I experience God the way Hosea describes — as one who bent down to teach me to walk, who drew me with bands of love? Or does my image of God feel more distant and demanding?

2. Is there someone in my life right now who is being slowly converted not by my words but by watching how I face difficulty? What are they seeing?

3. "Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give." What have I received freely from God that I have been slow to pass on to others?

4. Where today did I sense the Holy One present among me — in a person, a moment, a quiet grace I almost missed?


One small thing for tomorrow:

Think of one person who shaped your faith — a parent, a teacher, a priest, a friend — whose witness did what Augustine Zhao Rong's bishop did for him: showed you what it looks like to carry the cross in peace. Tomorrow, say a prayer of gratitude for them by name. If they are still living, consider telling them.


Lord Jesus, you taught me to walk. You took me in your arms before I knew your name. And still I drift, still I turn toward other things, still I need you to bend down again and draw me back with bands of love. Thank you for not letting the flames consume me. Help me to live what I have received — to give freely what was given to me freely, to carry the cross the way Augustine Zhao Rong and his bishop carried it: not with performance, but with a peace that only you can give. Through the intercession of Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and all the martyrs of China, who gave everything they had received, make me generous with what I have been given. Amen.


If you'd like to share: who is someone whose witness — the way they carried suffering or lived their faith — quietly changed you? Give them a moment of honor in the comments.