Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE LITTLE PRINCE TRAVELING WITH JESUS ​​CHRIST ALONG THE STREETS OF GALILEE

The theme of welcoming children it is important and central in this passage. The children, generally, they are not paralyzing fear. They tend to have a simple look even in the face of difficulties and know how to welcome the embrace of the Eternal Father. With an innocent and clear look, they are not without great insights and great truths. In fact, children often say what they think bluntly.

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Author:
Gabriele Giordano M. Scardocci, o.p.

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Meditation on the Holy Gospel of the 25th Sunday of ordinary time (year B)

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In his splendid masterpiece The little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry recounts in first person the imaginary encounter with the little prince, imaginative character with whom he begins a deep journey, between various planets and profound reflections on life and especially on childhood. He dedicates this book to a certain Werth, of which we know only what the Author illustrates:

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“I want to dedicate the book to the child this adult was a long time ago. All adults were first of all children ".

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On childhood issues, the Today's Gospel in its beautiful readings it contains Jesus' admirable teaching of service to one's neighbor and binds it to welcoming the little ones. In the text of the Holy Gospel it emerges above all that Jesus is on a journey:

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"During that time, Jesus and his disciples went through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know. In fact, he taught his disciples and told them: “The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him; ma, once killed, after three days it will rise again”. However, they did not understand these words and were afraid to question him ".

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On the way, Jesus announces this great mystery to them: passion, the Resurrection and therefore the Redemption. It is really difficult for the apostles to understand, on the contrary, this announcement gives rise to a profound fear. A fear that blocks, it paralyzes and does not allow even a simple clarifying dialogue. Fear is in fact the opposite of faith. There is a human fear in the face of an unforeseen event: it serves to activate our skills and knowledge to resolve the traumatic event. But there is also a profound fear that slows down our capacity for reflection and solution and above all paralyzes our entrusting ourselves to God. In deep fear, the sense of abandonment and trust in the God of Jesus Christ disappears.

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«They reached Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them: “What were you arguing about on the street?”. And they were silent. On the street, in fact, they had argued among themselves who was the greatest. Sitting down, he called the Twelve and told them: “If one wants to be the first, be the last of all and the servant of all "".

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Fear had brought the apostles to focus their attention on themselves to try to distract themselves; therefore they had begun to discuss about themselves improvising a sort of ranking on who was the best and most helpful. Jesus then intervenes; the Lord is aware of how much his beloved apostles have served and loved him. But it is not with a spirit of competition that this call must be lived. Being first and greatest means putting yourself at the service of God and others. This is the "fundamental law" of the Church. To work according to an authentic charity, alive and attentive to the need for truth, tenderness and eternity of our neighbor. We too can assimilate the teaching of Jesus: offer a service of charity, to be last in pride, in self-centeredness and perfectionism, to put God's love and simplicity at the center. In this service, we will be small living images of Jesus himself, true God and true man.

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«E, got a baby, placed him in their midst and, hugging him, he told them: “Whoever welcomes only one of these children in my name, welcomes me; and who welcomes me, does not welcome me, but the one who sent me "".

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The theme of welcoming children it is important and central in this passage. The children, generally, they are not paralyzing fear. They tend to have a simple gaze even in the face of difficulties and thus know how to welcome the embrace of the Eternal Father. With an innocent look, pure and clear, they are not without great insights and great truths. In fact, children often say what they think bluntly. Being then true and authentic servants of Jesus requires returning to this spirit of purity and innocence of spirit, not of the mind. A spirit that is always welcoming, with a look at the events that happen, that is not simply material or horizontal, but mainly confident and abandoned to the grace and action of God. Therefore welcome a contemplative gaze capable of embracing, with the light of faith, all of reality to grasp it, with divine amazement, goodness and beauty.

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We ask the Lord to become true authentic servants, through the intercession of our heavenly mother, Maria, to be credible witnesses of the Word of Eternal Life of Jesus.

Rome, 18 September 2021

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