Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
We know that Christ tells us to become like children, but what does that mean? Our readings today tell us that it requires trust and humility.
We always think that following God’s will and proclaiming His teaching entails hardship. Why else are we Catholics so reluctant to speak up about morality or to correct misunderstandings of the faith to others in conversations with non-Catholics? We think it is not worth the social stigma. And if we do speak up, we only have treasure in heaven to look forward to because we will get nothing but grief for it on earth.
However, Ezekiel is asked to proclaim God’s words that are only lamentation, wailing, and woe. When he eats this scroll of doom-filled words, though, it is sweet. Ezekiel trusts that the Lord’s plan is not only delayed gratification, but means goodness for me and others right now. How childlike!
When Jesus tells the disciples that the greatest in the kingdom is like a child, He then tells the Parable of the Lost Sheep. We are so used to this parable that we might think it was a normal shepherd’s practice. Like heck it is! It is the inversion of good sense to seek some dumb lost one over a herd of ninety-nine. But we are meant to identify with that lost sheep, and with childlike humility, allow ourselves to be found. Our quest for glory, to elbow out from others and make our own way has caused unwitting exile. Only the humble will admit error and be found.
Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known by her given name Edith Stein. She was born into a Jewish family, became an atheist philosophy professor, but then converted to Catholicism and became a Carmelite nun. Because of her Jewish ethnicity she was seized by the Nazis and died at Auschwitz concentration camp. She sought the heights of prestige for a woman in her day, only to put simple trust in the gospel over secular wisdom, and to humbly accept poverty, consecrated chastity, and obedience along with martyrdom. To become a child to enter the kingdom takes heroic courage too.
Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections