Memory of the Saints and the Prophets

Memorial of Saint Sergii Radonezhsky. A monk, he founded the Lavra (monastery) of the Most Holy Trinity near Moscow. Remembrance of the evangelical pastor Paul Schneider who died in the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald in 1939.

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Matthew 11,25-27

At that time Jesus exclaimed, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This Gospel passage quotes a prayer that Jesus addressed to His Father: "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent you have revealed them to infants." Jesus blesses and thanks his Father who has revealed the Gospel of the Kingdom to infants. A small group of men and women who follow him are in front of Jesus. Not many of them are wise and intelligent; most of them are fishermen, low-profile workers, people who do not belong to the upper-class. When any important people approached Jesus (like the wise Nicodemus), they were asked to "be born again," to be little again; otherwise they could not enter the Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom, indeed, belongs only to the little ones. The one who is little admits his/her limitations and frailties. He/she realizes a need for God, searches for Him and into His hands puts his existence. The Gospel passage, however, does not despise the wise and the learned, warns those who think as the Scribes and the Pharisees, that is those who are so pompous that they don't need anyone, not even God. This feeling of self-sufficiency not only keeps far from God, but easily turns into contempt for others. On the contrary, the disciple knows that all is from God and from Jesus who has revealed Him. We hardly feel like the wise and the learned Jesus mentioned. We are, practically speaking, wise about our habits, our judgments that prevent us from being amazed. We are so learned that we do not need to listen to anyone, anymore; we believe we can get along without others. Faith is the trust of the little ones who have not understood everything, but who feel powerful because they are loved and they obey Jesus' Word. Definitely, the little ones are not those who do not understand, or those who "believe anything." Only trust, in fact, allows us to see what is otherwise invisible. We all can be little: this is the way of humility, which really makes us great. Despite our meanness, the Lord chose us to share with Him God's great dream for this world. The dream is to gather all people around God, to praise Him and live in peace.