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Job 1:6-22
One day, when the angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord,
Satan also came among them.
And the Lord said to Satan, "Whence do you come?"
Then Satan answered the Lord and said,
"From roaming the earth and patrolling it."
And the Lord said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job,
and that there is no one on earth like him,
blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil?"
But Satan answered the Lord and said,
"Is it for nothing that Job is God-fearing?
Have you not surrounded him and his family
and all that he has with your protection?
You have blessed the work of his hands,
and his livestock are spread over the land.
But now put forth your hand and touch anything that he has,
and surely he will blaspheme you to your face."
And the Lord said to Satan,
"Behold, all that he has is in your power;
only do not lay a hand upon his person."
So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
And so one day, while his sons and his daughters
were eating and drinking wine
in the house of their eldest brother,
a messenger came to Job and said,
"The oxen were ploughing and the asses grazing beside them,
and the Sabeans carried them off in a raid.
They put the herdsmen to the sword,
and I alone have escaped to tell you."
While he was yet speaking, another came and said,
"Lightning has fallen from heaven
and struck the sheep and their shepherds and consumed them;
and I alone have escaped to tell you."
While he was yet speaking, another messenger came and said,
"The Chaldeans formed three columns,
seized the camels, carried them off,
and put those tending them to the sword,
and I alone have escaped to tell you."
While he was yet speaking, another came and said,
"Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine
in the house of their eldest brother,
when suddenly a great wind came across the desert
and smote the four corners of the house.
It fell upon the young people and they are dead;
and I alone have escaped to tell you."
Then Job began to tear his cloak and cut off his hair.
He cast himself prostrate upon the ground, and said,
"Naked I came forth from my mother's womb,
and naked shall I go back again.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord!"
In all this Job did not sin,
nor did he say anything disrespectful of God.
Ps 17:1bcd, 2-3, 6-7
R./ Incline your ear to me and hear my word.
Hear, O Lord, a just suit;
attend to my outcry;
hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.
R./ Incline your ear to me and hear my word.
From you let my judgment come;
your eyes behold what is right.
Though you test my heart, searching it in the night,
though you try me with fire, you shall find no malice in me.
R./ Incline your ear to me and hear my word.
From you let my judgment come;
your eyes behold what is right.
Though you test my heart, searching it in the night,
though you try me with fire, you shall find no malice in me.
R./ Incline your ear to me and hear my word.
Luke 9:46-50
One day the disciples were arguing about which of them was the most important. But Jesus knew their thoughts, so he took a little child and stood him by his side. Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. And listen: the one who is found to be the least among you all, is the one who is the greatest."
Then John spoke up, "Master, we saw someone who drove out demons by calling upon your name, and we tried to forbid him because he doesn't follow you with us." But Jesus said, "Don't forbid him. He who is not against you is for you."
Today, the Church remembers Saint Jerome, patron saint of translators and, in the opinion of many, the first specialist in biblical exegesis. The collect prayer for the day says: «O God, who granted the presbyter Saint Jerome a gentle and lively love for Sacred Scripture, make your people feed on your word with greater abundance and find in it the source of life.»
Saint Jerome, in the history of the Church but also in universal history, is a very important figure from the 4th and 5th centuries to our days. It is surprising and even humorous that in today’s Gospel, Jesus, responding to the disciples’ question about who is the most important, declares: «Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the least among you is the most important.» And that’s it. As we are certain that God sees into the depths of our hearts, we suppose that Jerome attained the simplicity of a little one before the Lord. Also, that we, if we recognize our essential smallness and helplessness, will be welcomed by His mercy.
We can examine our lives and sincerely answer the question: Who is important to me, really? I suspect that, except for many cases in the family sphere where the primacy is held by the child, the sick, or the elderly, the «important» ones are those who please us the most or can benefit us the most: those who have power or authority, the rich, the famous, the most attractive, the most brilliant… Those who provide us with emotional or economic well-being and power.
Jesus is definitely a subversive: he asks us to change our criteria of value with our neighbor and put the little ones first, because whoever welcomes them welcomes Him. To put more love in them, in deeds and words, to care for them, to listen to them. Also to respect them because even with the good intention of helping, we might use the «condescension» of those who believe themselves superior. All of this is often hardly gratifying to our fallen human condition. Like the first disciples, we can only do it by following the Lord and embracing his cross. Let us feed on his word with greater abundance and find in it the source of life.
Virginia FernándezToday we hear the beginning to the book of Job. Job is not historical but a reflection, mostly in a poetic form, on the existence of evil, particularly as it comes to good, innocent and God-fearing people. For his answer, because he lacks the perspective of eternal life, the author cannot go beyond this: God is wise, we are too small to understand him. God knows. Leave everything to him. Be patient and trust him.
Childlike, but not childish... We are God’s children, yet not infants. We have to grow up constantly to the maturity of Christ, to remake with the help of the Spirit, our unity, the center of ourselves.
Lord our God,
your Son Jesus Christ became a child of people.
He made children the privileged symbol
of the truly adult disciple.
May we have the openness and receptivity
of the child: humble, authentic,
and open to your love and to your gifts.
For only then will you fill our emptiness
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
– For those who are the greatest in the Church, that they may serve with great dedication and without looking down on them the weakest, the poorest, those wounded in life, we pray:
– For the mighty of this earth, that they may care about the rights, the dignity and the well-being of especially the lowliest under their charge, we pray:
– For those who work in lowly jobs shunned by others, for those who have unhealthy and dangerous tasks, for those who care for the old and the handicapped, that we may appreciate them and that the Lord may reward them, we pray:
Lord God, we come before you
with our human wisdom:
self-assured, sophisticated, and world-wise.
Make us see, Lord,
that we have to accept your wisdom,
the wisdom of trust and simplicity,
the wisdom that is hard to fully accept,
the wisdom of Jesus crucified.
Only then are we ready to accept
a God who became man and dwells among us,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord.
Our God and Father,
we are your sons and daughters, your children,
and you are our Father.
May we all grow up
to the full maturity of Jesus Christ,
for this is your wish, Father,
that we retain the openness to you of the child,
yet that we reach the full adulthood
of Jesus Christ, God like you,
yet your loyal Son and fully human.
He is our Savior for ever.
“Whoever welcomes a child in my name welcomes me, says Jesus.” Let us love children and learn from them; forget the ridiculous competition to be the greatest. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
