One Minute Reflection, AnaStpaul.com

“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”    

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Reading through today’s Scripture passages, a mixture of emotions might rise up. From the Book of Wisdom comes anger (a plan to bring down the righteous through the actions of sinners), possible guilt from the Letter of James, where we might have been jealous or angry about someone or something, and, putting ourselves into the shoes of Jesus’ disciples, guilt over admitting they were figuring out who was the greatest among them, and confusion and possibly even fear over Jesus’ prediction of his own death at the hands of evil men. In other words a real slice of fallible human nature! Who hasn’t fallen victim at one time or another to one or more of those faults? Which leads to the question of Why? Why aren’t we satisfied with all God has given us, beginning with life itself? Once upon a time, when I was in studies in the 1960 working to my Economics degree, I asked the teacher, relating to the basic law of supply and demand, what happens if you have all your material needs satisfied, and your demand no longer exists – you don’t want anything else! The professor solemnly opined that you had reached the state of “hither bliss”. I guess that meant heaven here and now, total material satisfaction. Is such a state ever possible? We can always see others with more money, talents, self-confidence, or whatever, comes to mind, and feel oppressed or short-changed in some way. Which is all grist to the Devil, pure catnip to the Evil One, who will make merry with our doubts and jealousies. Hence the concluding thought in today’s gospel, that the one who is last, least, among us is the first, and to be that, Jesus shows, we must be like a child, innocent of everything, open and trusting and eager to trust and love and experience the joy of life. 

Yes, I can hear myself say, and be open to being robbed, the butt of jokes, the easy touch, the sitting duck for just about anything. Do I really want that? Does anyone want that? So, I ask myself, what does the Son of Man, God among us, really mean when he seems to be demanding such risky attitudes and behavior? Does Jesus suggest that we all should be gullible and offer ourselves on the sacrificial block to the first one who comes to take advantage of us? Clearly not, but what then? After all, look what happened to Him! Intriguing readings today therefore, with much food for thought. One cannot believe that the Lord is asking us to be defenseless and open to hucksters of all kinds. Again, then what? Well, just remember a few other words of the Lord. From Matthew 10:16: “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. St Paul says: “So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15). And St. James in today’s second reading says we should attain “the wisdom from above [which] is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity”.

Not easy, true, but whoever said the virtuous life is easy? We have to work to be the kind of people God is asking us to be, even if it provokes the anger of the unrighteous (which it often does). But, as ever, we are not left alone to battle evil. We have the Lord with us always, the one who conquered evil; we have a voice which can ask for his help, and we have the faith which can get us through anything. Doesn’t all that mean we are, at that point, the child that Jesus is asking us to be? Then we should be always trust in God, and act accordingly.

The Infant of Prague, Church of Our Lady of Victories, Prague, Czech Republic (2024).

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