”Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven”

Today at Holy Mass in the Gospel of St Matthew…Jesus puts forth a question for this friends to ponder…."Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?”…..And the answer he gives to them is rather shocking…"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”…Our world simply does not work this way…Those who are humble in many circles of society - “Don’t make It”…They get over looked……In many corners of society they are invisible…Go into any Catholic Church for daily Mass and see who is there…Whether the Church is located in the wealthiest neighborhood in Manhattan to the poorest neighborhood in West Virginia….The same “cast of characters” are there…..So the questions today to consider are - Why should we aspire to be child-like?….Notice I said child-like and not child-ish….Why should we aspire to be humble?……How we answer those questions will determine what is important to us….And our answers are given without us saying a single word…Our life choices give the answers and tell the world were we stand - Whether we are a Catholic Bishop or a street sweeper…..Humility is the foundational virtue of all the virtues…..It opens us up to God….A humble person listens to God……Takes a “back seat to God”……Allows God to lead the way and dictate life’s many choices…..This is the only way we arrive at our final destination…..And become the people God intended us to be…..God can not “mold us” if we are rigid or full of pride….Jesus goes on in the Gospel today….”And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me”…..When we encounter one of these “children” as described to us by Jesus today…Do we welcome them?…Are we kind to them?….Do we value them?….Or - Do we “take advantage” of them?…….Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe humbles himself everyday by taking the form a simple bread consecrated in the hands of a Catholic Priest….When I sit before the Blessed Sacrament I think to myself sometimes…”Why would the King of the Universe give me the time of day?”…..Does the CEO of the bank I work for give me the time of day?…..When was the last time the President of the United States gave you a call?….But Jesus, to this very day allows himself to be vulnerable….He becomes “small” and accessible….How about us?….Humility is truth - It allows us to understand who we truly are at our core in relation to God……..Knowing “you “ are not God and allowing God to be God - “Getting out of the way” of God, so he can form us….This is a vital mindset to acquire - A lot “rides on it”

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."

One of the many things I loved about Mother Teresa’s sisters is - They roll up their sleeves and take to the streets….No powerpoint presentations….No “red-tape”…..No bureaucratic non-sense, jumping through hoops to get something down…They see a need or a problem and they get to it!…..On Wednesdays in the afternoon the sisters in Lower Manhattan would give out meals to people who lived in boarding houses in Chinatown….If you were in Chinatown in New York and walking the streets, you would never know one of these boarding houses existed…..They were one room apartments rented to the poorest of the poor in New York…These “apartments” were as small as closets and were located two and three floors above the many businesses located in Chinatown…The Missionaries of Charity knew many of the people who lived there by name and would hand deliver food to them….The conditions in these “firetraps” in some cases was shocking….One such man who they would visit was mentally handicapped….When the sisters would knock on his door, he always seemed scared and would only open his door a crack to receive his meal…This man clearly is not equipped to “handle” the world around him, yet he has to “deal with the world” to survive all alone……….If we understand who we truly are in relation to God - We will care for people like that…Jesus tells us today at Mass…."See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father”……..Humility is Truth……Humility allows us to “see” what the world does not and in some cases even despises

“The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The command of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eye”

Today at Mass we are reminded to aspire to be child-like…What does that mean?….To be open to God - To trust our Heavenly Father - To take God at his word….To allow God to form us…..God can not do much for a person who is not child-like - Who believes they make the rules…..Only the humble will “inherit the earth” in the end…..And at Mass, we are also reminded that when we encounter one of these “little ones” in the world - That we “do not despise them” - Do we despise them? - Or for that matter do we even “see” them….………….…”Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven”…….JMJ

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