Be Childlike. Be Communion.

July 18, 2018

Jesus reveals the things of His heart in today’s gospel. First He gives thanks to the Father for choosing the childlike to reveal His truth. When I think of being childlike these days, I look to the elderly that I serve. Their lives are simple, humble, and dependent. They are honest and open and say what they mean. They pretty much get to play all day. They entrust their personal lives and space to the caregivers that serve them. They recognize their needs and limitations. They have special insight into life from the perspective of the innocence of their dependence on others to help them with the basic necessities of life. They teach me to be a gracious recipient of love, care, and kindness. They allow me into their long years of life as a sponge to soak up their wisdom, and their experience. They are vulnerable, but they trust those that care for them. They are beautifully receptive to tenderness. Sometimes they just need to be held or hugged. I find these qualities to be the same that would ultimately describe a childlike faith and today Jesus tells us that these are the ones that His Father chooses to whisper revelation to. How can I become one of these? I need to lay down my grown-up-ness and my independence and practice all of the above. Jesus is very close to the childlike and all I want is to be closer and closer to Him. 

Last, but not least Jesus teaches us is that we need to know Him in order to know the Father, and we need to know the Father in order to know Him. This is a basic revelation of the concept of the Trinity. Soon the Holy Spirit will enter the conversation and that concept will be complete. Our God is relationship and reminds us that we too were made for communion with one another. We know the Father through Jesus Christ and as followers of Christ, people should know Jesus through us. 

Today’s gospel is short, but so sweet. Be childlike. Be communion. How will I be today? Have a childlike day and it is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 IS 10:5-7, 13B-16

Thus says the LORD:
Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger,
my staff in wrath.
Against an impious nation I send him,
and against a people under my wrath I order him
To seize plunder, carry off loot,
and tread them down like the mud of the streets.
But this is not what he intends,
nor does he have this in mind;
Rather, it is in his heart to destroy,
to make an end of nations not a few.

For he says:
“By my own power I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd.
I have moved the boundaries of peoples,
their treasures I have pillaged,
and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned.
My hand has seized like a nest
the riches of nations;
As one takes eggs left alone,
so I took in all the earth;
No one fluttered a wing,
or opened a mouth, or chirped!”

Will the axe boast against him who hews with it?
Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it?
As if a rod could sway him who lifts it,
or a staff him who is not wood!
Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
will send among his fat ones leanness,
And instead of his glory there will be kindling
like the kindling of fire.

Responsorial Psalm PS 94:5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 14-15

R. (14a) The Lord will not abandon his people.
Your people, O LORD, they trample down,
your inheritance they afflict.
Widow and stranger they slay,
the fatherless they murder. 
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
And they say, “The LORD sees not;
the God of Jacob perceives not.”
Understand, you senseless ones among the people;
and, you fools, when will you be wise?
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
Shall he who shaped the ear not hear?
or he who formed the eye not see?
Shall he who instructs nations not chastise,
he who teaches men knowledge?
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
For the LORD will not cast off his people,
nor abandon his inheritance;
But judgment shall again be with justice,
and all the upright of heart shall follow it. 
R. The Lord will not abandon his people

Alleluia MT 11:25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MT 11:25-27

At that time Jesus exclaimed: 
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”