25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Typically, when we think of a child, we think innocence, purity, and one who is not too overwhelmed or concerned with the dealings of the world.

However, a child in the days of Jesus was quite different, a child was not seen as a person with dignity, authority or worth. A child, in fact, given their high mortality rate, was seen as a servant and as a commodity more than anything else. 

Therefore, for Jesus to place a child in their midst and then tell the people that they are to imitate this child was almost insulting, but, at the same time, a reminder that to be a child is to practice the greatest virtue of all, the virtue of humility.

Because, to be first, in the eyes of God, is to be last in the eyes of the world, we spend such a large part of our lives trying to succeed in the eyes of the world, trying to be the best, the strongest, the most independent, the greatest this world has ever seen.

Yet, what happens, as is bound to happen, in doing so, we start to forget, we forget who we were, where we came from, and most importantly, the reason we are there to begin with, because, what happens is oftentimes we forget God.

There are thousands of these stories, one more tragic than the other, because, no matter how hard we try to succeed without Him, it is impossible, because we cannot deny who we are, we cannot avoid He who is the very source of our lives. 

In fact, while the saints seemed fearless, one of their greatest fears in life and one that weighed heavily upon them was the fear of abandoning God, of looking upon their popularity and their fame not as God exalting them, but, rather, as the result of their own talents. Or, of being so overwhelmed by suffering, persecution and pain that, instead of remaining strong and steadfast they would run. 

In fact, St. Pio, whose feast would have been this Sunday, is a perfect example of this. He was stripped of all of his faculties as a priest, which meant he was unable to say Mass, hear confessions, anoint in any public manner, though he was able to say Mass privately. Yet, while his response could have been outrage, anger, frustration or sadness, all he did was simply say: “God’s will be done,”…then he covered his eyes with his hands, lowered his head, and murmured, “The will of the authorities is the will of God.”

That is what it means to practice humility, to recognize that humility is for us and teaches us, because it reminds us what we have always known, we are not God. We are, in the other way of understanding children, dependent upon a loving Father, and He doesn’t care what we are in this world, He doesn’t care how successful we truly are, He only cares that we love Him, praise Him, and like a child, come to Him often when we need help and also when everything is fine.

In fact, when a child succeeds he runs to his parents to tell them the good news and likewise when he fails, he too goes to his parents looking for consolation.

Our Gospel today reminds us of this, that we should not be afraid to be last, to be unknown, to be the least in this world, because true success is simple, it is spending eternity with our Heavenly Father and all the holy angels and saints.