Meditation: Matthew 11:25-27

Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Memorial)

Although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. (Matthew 11:25)

Think about the incredible advancements in technology that have come about in the past century. Computers that once took up entire rooms now fit on your desktop. People once doomed to die from horrible diseases now go on to live for many happy and healthy years. Airplanes and high-speed trains have made the globe much smaller. And yet the same problems that have dogged us for centuries—poverty, war, crime, abuse—are still around. Why can’t all this incredible knowledge help us tackle these issues?

The problem is that technology cannot reveal the most important truth of all: that we are children of God. Those whom Jesus calls “the wise and the learned”—the ones who rely only on brainpower—can’t quite understand this (Matthew 11:25). They can surmise that there is a God, but only God can reveal himself to us. We just have to be “childlike” and ask him to show us!

What does it mean to be childlike? It means acknowledging that we were created to have an ongoing relationship with God—a relationship of love, trust, and dependence. It means believing that God is committed to us as a father is to his children. It means keeping ourselves open to the promptings that God sends to us.

Here is one way that you can work on being more childlike in your day—even as you go about your very grown-up life. Make it a point to take some time to slow down. It’s easy to fill our days with activities, chores, and obligations and miss out on our relationship with God. Of course, there is much that we have to do each day, but it’s also vital that we not become consumed by it.

So spend time just enjoying God’s presence. Sit outside and absorb the sun, thanking your Father for the gift of its warmth. Or close your eyes, and imagine yourself taking a leisurely walk with Jesus. Put aside all the “grown-up” thoughts for just this time, and simply enjoy the Lord. Be like a child, and see what your Father reveals to you.

“Father, thank you for calling me your child! Help me to know you not just as the Almighty, but as Abba, my Dad.”

Exodus 3:1-6, 9-12
Psalm 103:1-4, 6-7

Homily of the Day

July 15, 2015

Getting to Know Jesus

The Lord Jesus came to reveal God his Father to us. He did this through his life, words and deeds. In the Gospel reading Jesus tells us that “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

We get to know the Father through the Son. It is through his gift of the Spirit that we get to know the Father.

At our baptism we became adopted children of the Father and began to share by his grace in his divine life. At our baptism we became members of Christ’s Church and were given a share in Christ’s mission through the Church. By faith we get to know the Father and to listen to Christ’s revelation of his Father. We are then called to make God’s presence and revelation shared with others.

Each one of us is called to be perfect, as the Father is perfect. Each of us is also called to bring and share God’s love and care to those who are discouraged and downtrodden, depressed and discriminated upon. Each of us is called to proclaim God’s mercy and love, kindness and care for all.

The Gospel reading confirms for us the necessity of getting to know, love and follow Jesus if we wish to get to know the Father.