Scripture:
Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 or 13:41c-62
John 8:12-20
Reflection:
The disciples approached Jesus and said,
‘Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?’
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
‘Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.’ -Matthew 18:1-5
This morning entering the local restaurant where I was meeting a friend for our regular Friday morning breakfast, I passed a booth with a mother and two young children, three and five years old, or something like that. The youngest, a little girl, caught my eye, so I waved and smiled. Immediately, her older brother joined in on the meeting and I waved at him too—a delightful encounter. I winked at mom and then on to securing a booth and waiting for my friend.
Such an encounter often reminds me of my first-year English class where we read and discussed George Eliot’s “Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe”. George Eliot was the penname of Mary Anne Evans for women wouldn’t be considered serious novelists in 1861 when it was published. Briefly, the plot is a marginalized weaver in the early 1800’s finds a child at his front door, takes the child in and raises the little girl all the while trying to find her parents. The child grows up, the parents are eventually discovered, but the young lady stays with the poor weaver. The poor weaver in the process gets involved in the community, gives up his infatuation with money, and reenters the life from which he earlier fled because of false accusations made against him. All this because of a child, a needy child, a needy abandoned child.
Jesus, help me heed your above admonition to your disciples in today’s gospel selection to receive the needy, child or adult, into my life and trust in your promise that truly I am receiving you.
Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.