Dear Friends,
Some Bible scholars call today’s Gospel St. Matthew’s most precious pearl. In this passage Jesus addresses his father revealing his identity within the Trinity. He says, “I give praise to you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. All things have been handed over to me by my Father.” The essence of God’s life, the essence of the Trinity, is this play of giving and receiving. The Father forgetting himself gives to the son. And the Son forgetting himself gives to the Father. And that gift of self is so strong and charitable we call Him the Holy Spirit. God’s own life is the looking toward the other with infinite charity. And we are called to live in the midst of that charity. And all of this has been revealed to little ones. Little ones get it because little ones are always dependent. Little ones always look to another to have their needs fulfilled. Little ones wait to receive. Little ones can’t run their own show. Little ones look to another for direction. This is our Lord’s spiritual program, the heart and soul of his teaching; to be little, to be humble, is to receive everything from the Father. And Jesus wants to live his life within in us; he wants to live his life within each one of us, where he will continue to receive from the Father. As St. Paul once wrote, “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” Are we little enough to receive? Humble enough to receive everything the Father wants to give.
By the world’s standards the little ones are the unskilled and ineloquent. But as Psalm 18 says, “Thou hast made the tongues of these infants eloquent, so that their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” In other words, the voice of the humble is heard everywhere.
I have a story about one of those humble voices heard everywhere. I’ve written of her before because she’s one of my favorites, Maria Goretti. July 6th was her feast day and so I have to mention her. Maria was born in 1890 in Northern Italy. She was born into a poor farming family and her father died when she was very young. Her mom struggled to put food on the table for Maria and her five siblings. Even though young, Maria worked hard to help her mother. On a hot July day in 1902 Maria sat outside mending a shirt while looking after two sleeping babies, everyone else was in the field working. A neighborhood boy by the name of Alexander came to the house. This boy had been in the habit of always pestering Maria with unwanted advances. She always resisted and told him to go home. On this day, however, he dragged her into the house and because of her resistance he attacked her with a knife stabbing her repeatedly.
An ambulance brought Maria to the hospital and it was seen at once that she couldn’t possibly survive. In those next few hours Maria, while enduring a lot of pain, showed more concern for her family and the man who attacked her than she did for herself. She prayed for Alexander and she forgave him, hoping to one day “See him in Heaven”, she said. “I want him in Heaven with me.” Maria Goretti is a saint today not because she resisted her attacker but because she forgave him. She offered forgiveness at a moment of deep physical pain when no one would have blamed her if she had thought only of herself. She was only 11. She didn’t want revenge. She thought of the other. She was merciful instead of being hardhearted. And for this she is a saint.
By the world’s standards the little ones are the unskilled and ineloquent. But as Psalm 18 says, “Thou hast made the tongues of these infants eloquent, so that their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” In other words the voice of the humble is heard everywhere. The voice of the saint is heard everywhere.
Little ones are not dominated by ego; everything does not depend on a little one. Little ones are quick to forgive. Think back to when you were a kid and how quickly you forgave your sibling after a knockdown drag-out fight. Maybe you didn’t have to say a word, you just started playing together again. The fight was soon forgotten. Little ones respond to promptings of God without the ego getting in the way. They cooperate with grace.
In the Gospel our Lord says, “You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned.” The wise and the learned that Jesus was referring to are those who rely on themselves. Depending on themselves to complete their own agenda. Living life on their own terms, instead of God’s terms, with the mindset of, “My life, my rules. My body, my rules.” They are not like children receptive and obedient to the Gospel. When we live this way it can be a burden, because everything depends on me.
Our Lord then said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.” Now Jesus is the ultimate little one. He is the son who receives everything from the Father. And to be yoked to Jesus means that we too receive from the Father. We receive from the Father through Jesus. We don’t have to be burdened by trying to do it on our own. Our Lord then says, “And you will find rest.” This rest is not the rest we find while reclining in a lazy boy, this rest is fulfillment and joy and peace. To be yoked to Jesus means living in intimacy with the Father where we find fulfillment, joy, and peace.
I want to end with an analogy about what it means to live in this yoke to live in this divine joy and fulfillment and peace. Have you ever gone with your father to a place where you’ve never been, maybe on a vacation or to attend a sporting event in a big city like Detroit or Chicago? And then at the end of the day when you’re tired you come back to the car. Your dad tells you to get into the backseat. And there you are in the back seat, you don’t know where you are, you don’t know the way home, but you trust, you trust that your father will get you home safely. And your trust is so complete that you fall asleep, knowing you’ll arrive home safely. To be yoked with our Lord means living in intimacy with the Father, sitting in that backseat, knowing he’ll bring us home safely.
Pax et Bonum,
Fr. Christopher J. Ankley