It is beautiful to see how Our Lord Jesus links a childlike attitude with peace of soul. But perhaps it is not surprising, because we all know that children are much more carefree than adults, weighed down by life's problems, real or invented. St. Josemaría Escrivá, who knew so much about spiritual childhood and wrote so powerfully about it, expressed it so beautifully in his work Camino: "Being children, you will have no sorrows: children soon forget their troubles and go back to their ordinary games. -Therefore, with abandonment, you will not have to worry, since you will rest in the Father." (n. 864). This is what Jesus tells us in today's Gospel: "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to the little ones." There are things that only children understand and there is a peace that only children enjoy. And so continues Our Lord: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls."
These precious words in turn make me think of those delightful lines from Psalm 131: "But I quiet and temper my desires, like a child in its mother's arms; like a child satiated so is my soul within me.". The more we learn to be like a child before God, the more peace of soul we will acquire.
It is not surprising that Jesus made it a condition for entering the kingdom of heaven to be like children (cf. Mt 18:3).
In the first reading, the Church offers us another childlike quality, which also leads to peace. We are presented with the Messiah the king entering Jerusalem, "poor and riding on a donkey". In his humility, "shall proclaim peace to the peoples".
Humility always brings peace. And children are humble by nature: they take their littleness for granted and we could even say that it becomes their strength, for it attracts our compassion and protection towards them. Next, the second reading, in inviting us to live "spiritually" in the Holy Spirit, also reminds us that it is He who activates in us the gift of piety and, with it, our sense of divine sonship. Although not given in this reading, the chapter, from Paul's epistle to the Romans, goes on to say.You have received a Spirit as children of adoption, in whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father. This same Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God". Thus, the lesson of this week is clear: led by the Spirit to become more and more like children, with their humility, we will attain a deep peace and come to know God with that insight reserved for children and which refuses to be denied to us. "the wise and learned".
Homily on the readings of Sunday 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
