|
The Catholic Calendar for Tuesday, August 13, 2002 The Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word: Ezekiel 2:8--3:4 Psalm 119:14,24,72,103,111,131 Matthew 18:1-5,10,12-14 A reflection on today's Scripture . . . . "Truly I say unto you, unless you become like little children. . ." Now this is one of those deceptively simple scriptures. But we might ask echoing another biblical character, "How can I become a child again, I'm all grown up." In what do we find childlikeness? Children trust. They trust with every part of themselves. This is one of the reasons why a crime against a child is particularly hideous. The criminal violates a deep, holy trust . Children also love without question. You have to train a child to hate. The natural impulse is to reach out to others, it has to be reined in and stifled. Children believe and take things literally. They believe nearly everything they are told and they believe it with everything in them. We can approach some of these characteristics. We can certainly begin to trust God. How do we do it? Moment by moment we surrender to His grace. We accept that what has come to us has come from His hand and is meant for our good and our growth. We can love. This may be harder because too many of us do not understand that love is not simply a feeling. Love is action and feeling. If we love someone, we're naturally inclined to do things for that person. Every action of every day can be an action for God. In so doing, we turn our life into a prayer and we enter into a childlike simplicity of prayer, dependence and love. With this condition comes the peace that Jesus Christ promised us. We enter into the kingdom of God in small steps, a child's steps with compassionate love and understanding. We share the kingdom with a child's love--embracing all of those near us and accepting them as the images of Christ that they are. - JuandelaCruz, T.O.Carm. ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) YOU CAN HELP to evangelize the Word of God! Please recommend our website to your friends and Catholic webmasters at: http://www.borg.com/~joachim/DailyMeds.html (case sensitive) Also, the meditations are now in weblog form at http://dailymed.blogspot.com/ ARCHIVED Meditations: http://www.abcsoffaith.com/quiet/quietplace.html and at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] For ALL communications, including subscribe/unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (c)1986-2002 The Way, The Truth, The Life. Permission granted to make reprints of the meditations or to post on any web page, except for profit. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms (c)1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copy-right owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.Text from the New American Bible:http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm Lives of the Saints: http://www.christdesert.org/public_texts/martyrology/ |
Title: Meditation: Tuesday, August 13, 2002
