Opening
There is something rather wonderful about the way a child enters a room. Adults generally enter carrying their importance with them. They bring their appointments, their responsibilities, their accomplishments, and sometimes their grievances. A child is more likely to arrive carrying a stone, a broken toy, or an urgent question about a beetle.
And yet, in this morning’s Gospel, Our Lord places a child beside Himself and tells the Apostles that they have misunderstood greatness.
The disciples are concerned with rank. Christ is concerned with welcome. They are wondering who will stand highest. He points to someone who scarcely reaches their waist.
As another working week begins, we bring before God our ambitions, our responsibilities, and our desire to be useful. May He teach us that the measure of a life is not how important we appear, but how faithfully we receive Him in those whom the world considers small.
Opening Verse
Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth shall declare thy praise.
Invitatory
Antiphon: Come, let us rejoice in the Lord, who raises up the lowly.
Psalm 94 (95) — A Call to Praise
Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God, and a great king above all gods.
For in his hand are all the ends of the earth: and the heights of the mountains are his.
For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us.
For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
To day if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts:
As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said: These always err in heart.
And these men have not known my ways: so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Come, let us rejoice in the Lord, who raises up the lowly.
Psalmody
Psalm 41 (42) — The Soul Thirsts for God
Antiphon 1: My soul thirsteth for the living God; when shall I come before his face?
As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God.
My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?
My tears have been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to me daily: Where is thy God?
These things I remembered, and poured out my soul in me: for I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God:
With the voice of joy and praise; the noise of one feasting.
Why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou trouble me?
Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my countenance, and my God.
My soul is troubled within myself: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and Hermoniim, from the little hill.
Deep calleth on deep, at the noise of thy flood-gates.
All thy heights and thy billows have passed over me.
In the daytime the Lord hath commanded his mercy; and a canticle to him in the night.
With me is prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God: Thou art my support.
Why hast thou forgotten me? and why go I mourning, whilst my enemy afflicteth me?
Whilst my bones are broken, my enemies who trouble me have reproached me;
Whilst they say to me day by day: Where is thy God?
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me?
Hope thou in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my countenance, and my God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon 1: My soul thirsteth for the living God; when shall I come before his face?
Old Testament Canticle — Ecclesiasticus 36
Antiphon 2: Lord, show forth thy mercy, and gather thy people into thy peace.
Have mercy upon us, O God of all, and behold us, and shew us the light of thy mercies:
And send thy fear upon the nations, that have not sought after thee: that they may know that there is no God beside thee, and that they may shew forth thy wonders.
Lift up thy hand over the strange nations, that they may see thy power.
For as thou hast been sanctified in us in their sight, so thou shalt be magnified among them in our presence,
That they may know thee, as we also have known thee, that there is no God beside thee, O Lord.
Renew thy signs, and work new miracles.
Glorify thy hand, and thy right arm.
Gather together all the tribes of Jacob: that they may know that there is no God besides thee, and may declare thy great works: and thou shalt inherit them as from the beginning.
Have mercy on thy people, upon whom thy name is invoked: and upon Israel, whom thou hast raised up to be thy firstborn.
Have mercy on Jerusalem, the city which thou hast sanctified, the city of thy rest.
Fill Sion with thy unspeakable words, and thy people with thy glory.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon 2: Lord, show forth thy mercy, and gather thy people into thy peace.
Psalm 18:2–7 (19:1–6) — The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
Antiphon 3: The heavens declare the glory of God, and all creation proclaims his praise.
The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands.
Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night sheweth knowledge.
There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not heard.
Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world.
He hath set his tabernacle in the sun: and he as a bridegroom coming out of his bride chamber,
Hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way: his going out is from the end of heaven,
And his circuit even to the end thereof: and there is no one that can hide himself from his heat.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon 3: The heavens declare the glory of God, and all creation proclaims his praise.
Short Reading
Jeremias 15:16
Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was to me a joy and gladness of my heart: for thy name is called upon me, O Lord God of hosts.
Short Responsory
Lord, teach us the way of humility.
Lord, teach us the way of humility.
Let us receive the least of thy children in thy name.
Lord, teach us the way of humility.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
Lord, teach us the way of humility.
Gospel of the Day
Luke 9:46–50 — Douay-Rheims
Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time.
Catholic Index
+1
46 And there entered a thought into them, which of them should be greater.
47 But Jesus seeing the thoughts of their heart, took a child and set him by him,
48 And said to them: Whosoever shall receive this child in my name, receiveth me; and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth him that sent me. For he that is the lesser among you all, he is the greater.
49 And John answering, said: Master, we saw a certain man casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us.
50 And Jesus said to him: Forbid him not; for he that is not against you, is for you.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise be to thee, O Christ.
Benedictus — Canticle of Zachary
Luke 1:68–79
Antiphon: He that is the lesser among you all, he is the greater.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant:
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning:
Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us:
To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament,
The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear,
In holiness and justice before him, all our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: He that is the lesser among you all, he is the greater.
Intercessions
Let us pray to Christ, who welcomed the little children and taught His disciples the greatness of humility.
Response: Lord, make our hearts like unto thine.
For the Holy Father, bishops, priests, deacons, and all who serve the Church: that their authority may always be exercised in the spirit of Christ, who came not to be served but to serve.
Lord, make our hearts like unto thine.
For those who govern nations and communities: that they may remember the forgotten, protect the vulnerable, and seek the common good rather than personal distinction.
Lord, make our hearts like unto thine.
For children, especially those who are neglected, frightened, orphaned, or without a secure home: that they may find protection, affection, and the love of Christ in those who receive them.
Lord, make our hearts like unto thine.
For parents, grandparents, teachers, and all entrusted with the care of the young: that they may recognize the dignity of every child and teach by patience and example.
Lord, make our hearts like unto thine.
For those beginning another week of work: that we may pursue excellence without vanity, accept correction without resentment, and rejoice in the good accomplished by others.
Lord, make our hearts like unto thine.
For the sick, the lonely, the unemployed, and those whose suffering is hidden from the world: that they may know they are never forgotten by God.
Lord, make our hearts like unto thine.
For all who have died, especially those who departed this life without earthly recognition or companionship: that they may be welcomed into the everlasting joy of the Father’s house.
Lord, make our hearts like unto thine.
For ourselves: that we may recognize Christ in the person who interrupts our plans, needs our patience, or can offer us nothing in return.
Lord, make our hearts like unto thine.
Our Father
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Concluding Prayer
Almighty and merciful God, who dost reveal the greatness of thy kingdom in the humility of thy Son, turn our hearts away from pride and the desire for earthly distinction.
Grant that we may receive the little ones in thy name, rejoice in the good accomplished by others, and perform our daily duties with patience and charity.
May we seek not to be first in the eyes of men, but to be faithful servants in thy sight.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
Amen.
Blessing
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
The Paradox of the Day
The man who insists on being the greatest makes his world smaller; the man willing to be least discovers a kingdom large enough for everyone.
Chesterton for the Morning
From G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, Chapter IV, “The Ethics of Elfland”:
“If a man would make his world large, he must be always making himself small.”
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
A Chestertonian Meditation
The Child Who Interrupted the Argument
There is a particular kind of argument that can only take place among people who are convinced they are doing something terribly important.
The Apostles were having one of these arguments.
They had left their ordinary occupations to follow the Messiah. They had witnessed miracles, heard the secrets of the kingdom, and been entrusted with extraordinary responsibilities. It was only natural, perhaps, that they should begin to wonder how the responsibilities would be distributed.
Someone would have to be in charge.
Someone would have to be second in charge.
And surely there ought to be some recognition for those who had been present from the beginning.
Then Jesus placed a child beside Himself.
One imagines the conversation stopping rather abruptly.
The child had no credentials. He had not preached a sermon, healed a leper, or walked upon the sea. He probably had no particular interest in the question under discussion. If asked which Apostle ought to be greatest, he might have pointed to whichever one had most recently given him something to eat.
Yet Christ chose him as the answer.
It is one of the great comic reversals of the Gospel: twelve grown men discussing their importance, and the Lord of heaven and earth answering them with someone who probably needed help tying his sandals.
But there is something more serious here than a gentle joke at the Apostles’ expense.
Christ does not merely tell them to become humble. He tells them to receive the child.
That is a rather different command.
It is possible to admire humility from a distance. It is possible to write about it, praise it, and even congratulate oneself on having acquired a respectable quantity of it.
Receiving a child requires something considerably less theoretical.
It requires making room.
A child may interrupt a conversation, spill something, ask an inconvenient question, or require attention precisely when attention is wanted elsewhere. Children have an extraordinary ability to reveal how much of our peace depends upon the world behaving according to our instructions.
And Christ says that receiving such a little one in His name is receiving Him.
The Incarnation has made the ordinary world a rather dangerous place for anyone determined to keep religion confined to respectable occasions.
God may arrive in the person who needs help carrying groceries. He may arrive in the student who asks the same question for the fourth time. He may arrive in the elderly neighbour who wants to talk when we have somewhere else to be.
He may even arrive in the colleague whose suggestion is better than our own.
That last possibility brings us to the second half of the Gospel.
John reports that the disciples have encountered a man casting out devils in the name of Jesus. They have forbidden him because he does not belong to their company.
The man is doing good, but he is not doing it under their supervision.
This, apparently, is a problem.
Our Lord tells them not to forbid him.
There is a subtle connection between the two incidents. The Apostles want to establish their importance within the group, and then they want to establish the importance of the group over someone outside it.
Christ dismantles both ambitions.
The child is to be received, and the outsider doing good in His name is not to be hindered.
The kingdom is not a private club whose members must protect their prestige.
It belongs to Christ.
This does not mean that truth is unimportant, that the Church has no authority, or that every religious claim is equally sound. Christ has already entrusted His Apostles with a real mission.
But authority is given for service, not possession.
The good accomplished by another person does not diminish the good entrusted to us.
A candle loses nothing when another candle is lit.
Chesterton understood something essential about this kind of humility. He saw that pride makes the universe smaller because it places the self at the centre of everything.
A proud man cannot fully enjoy a mountain because he is occupied with his own position upon it. He cannot appreciate another person’s achievement without comparing it to his own. Even a beautiful morning becomes an occasion for considering whether he has received sufficient credit for noticing it.
The humble man has a considerable advantage.
He is free to be astonished.
He can look at a child and recognize a miracle rather than an inconvenience. He can look at another person’s success and find a reason for thanksgiving. He can look at the heavens and discover that their greatness does not threaten his dignity.
Indeed, their greatness is part of his delight.
This is why the psalm appointed for this morning is such a fitting companion to the Gospel.
The heavens declare the glory of God.
They do not declare the glory of the observer.
The sunrise over an ordinary Kansas field does not require our approval. The birds begin their work without waiting for a committee to recognize their contribution. The river continues its course whether or not anyone has arranged a suitable audience.
Creation is wonderfully indifferent to our little contests for precedence.
And yet it is not indifferent to us.
The God who made the heavens has also made the child standing beside Jesus. He has made the person whose work goes unnoticed, the parent who rises early, the teacher preparing another lesson, and the worker who quietly repairs what someone else has broken.
Their dignity does not depend upon applause.
Nor does ours.
This is worth remembering on a Monday morning, when the world begins measuring things again.
There will be appointments to keep, decisions to make, problems to solve, and work that genuinely matters. Christianity does not require us to abandon excellence or pretend that responsibility is unimportant.
The Apostles were not wrong to understand that they had been entrusted with a great mission.
They were wrong to imagine that greatness consisted in being greater than one another.
A person may lead an organization, build a machine, teach a class, manage a household, or undertake a difficult work of charity with genuine excellence and still remain humble.
Humility does not mean doing poor work.
It means remembering whose work it ultimately is.
It means being willing to learn from someone younger, to acknowledge a mistake, to accept help, and to give credit without calculating how much remains for ourselves.
It means recognizing that the person standing beside us is not an obstacle to our importance.
He may be the very person through whom Christ is asking to be received.
And there is another truth in this morning’s Gospel that should not be overlooked.
The child does not make himself great.
Christ places him beside Himself.
That is the whole secret.
Christian greatness is not achieved by becoming impressively small, as though humility were another competitive sport. It is received through nearness to Christ.
We do not have to manufacture our worth.
We have already been loved into existence.
We do not have to secure a position in the kingdom by pushing someone else aside.
There is room beside the Lord.
Perhaps that is the thought to carry into this morning.
When someone interrupts us, we might remember the child.
When someone else succeeds, we might remember the man casting out devils.
When we feel overlooked, we might remember that Christ sees the thoughts of the heart.
And when the temptation comes to establish our importance, we might look at the enormous morning sky and remember that its Maker once settled an argument among His closest friends by placing a small child beside Him.
The Apostles were looking for the highest place.
Christ showed them the place nearest Himself.
And it was occupied by someone very small.
Closing Invocation
Lord Jesus, give me the grace to welcome thee in the least of thy children, to rejoice in the good accomplished by others, and to seek no greatness apart from thy love.
Let me do today’s work faithfully, receive its interruptions patiently, and leave its honours in thy hands.
Amen.
Chesterton Radio