Today’s 1st reading gives us a powerful definition of man in general. He is created in the image of God. He rules the earth. Strength, power, righteousness, and love are his, yet he can choose evil over good. In particular, man’s days on earth are “like those of grass.” The wind comes and swipes him away. They are quickly forgotten.
He is a paradox because, as the psalm says “the Lord’s kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.” That is, to those who love him with reverence he gives fatherly care, friendship and everlasting happiness.
In a sense, both Sirach and the psalm are abstract, idealistic. In the Gospel, Jesus concretizes their meaning by showing how he dealt with children. He draws them to himself. He embraces them. He protests the attitude of the apostles who see them as useless pests, distractions from the gospel Jesus is anxious to teach. We are left with the question: What is the essence of Jesus’ teaching and to whom does he give it? Or better, Who has the mind to receive it?
Resolve: Today is the first Saturday of the month, a day dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I shall ask her to obtain for me the grace to capture the meaning of the readings in today’s Mass and to impress that meaning on my thoughts and actions, as the days of this month unfold.