Daily Reading
First Reading
Ezekiel 2:8-3:4
But you, mortal, hear what I say to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you. I looked, and a hand was stretched out to me, and a written scroll was in it. He spread it before me; it had writing on the front and on the back, and written on it were words of lamentation and mourning and woe.
He said to me, O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. He said to me, Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it; and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.
He said to me: Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them.
Psalm
Psalm 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131
I delight in the way of your decrees
as much as in all riches.
Your decrees are my delight,
they are my counselors.
The law of your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Your decrees are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart.
With open mouth I pant,
because I long for your commandments.
Gospel Reading
Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven.
What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.
Reflection
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims God’s concern for children: “It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”
After completing her novitiate in Darjeeling, Mother Teresa made temporary vows and began teaching in the convent school there and working part-time as an aide at a small hospital.
Once a man arrived at the hospital with a bundle out of which protruded what appeared to be twigs. When Teresa looked more closely, she saw that they were the impossibly emaciated legs of a child, blind and near death. The man told the young sister that if she didn’t take the boy, he would throw him to the jackals.
Teresa’s journal takes up the story: “With much pity and love, I take the little one into my arms, and fold him in my apron. The child has found a second mother.” And then this passage dawned upon her: “And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.” This is the key to the mature practical spirituality of Mother Teresa: In serving the suffering and the poorest of the poor, one is serving Christ.