Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Revealed To Children
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. God uses Assyria as an instrument to punish God’s people for their infidelity. Isaiah scolds the king of Assyria, a mere instrument, for acting and thinking as if he were God himself; he will be punished for this presumption.
Gospel. To see God, to know that he is with us, to hear the message of the gospel, one must have the openness and receptivity of a child and be aware of one’s poverty. Salvation is given. Those who are filled with their own wisdom cannot hear or welcome him, for they try to conform God and the gospel to their own ideas, not theirs to God’s.
Opening Prayer
Lord of heaven and earth
from whom all good things come,
We bless you with Jesus, your Son
for revealing to us how much you love us.
Make us humble and receptive to your gifts,
that we may be open to the good news
for you to show yourself to those
who are aware of their poverty.
Fill that poverty with your tenderness
and with the certainty that you care for us
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading
Assyria, God’s Instrument
Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff of my fury!
Against a godless nation, I send him, against a people who provoke my wrath, I dispatch him, to plunder and pillage, to tread them down like mud in the streets.
But the mind of his king is far from this, his heart harbors other thoughts; what he wants is to destroy, to make an end of all nations.
For the king says: “By my own strength, I have done this and by my own wisdom, for I am clever. I have moved the frontiers of people, I have plundered treasures, I have brought inhabitants down to the dust, I have toppled kings from their thrones.
As one reaches into a nest, so my hands have reached into nations’ wealth. As one gathers deserted eggs, so have I gathered the earth’s riches. No one flapped a wing or opened its mouth to chirp a protest.”
Does the ax claim more credit than the man who wields it? Does the saw magnify itself more than the one who uses it? This would be like a rod wielding the man who lifts it up; will those not made of wood be controlled by the cudgel?
This is why the Lord Sabaoth is ready to send a wasting sickness upon the king’s sturdy warriors. Beneath his plenty, a flame will burn like a consuming fire.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 94:5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 14-15
R. (14a) The Lord will not abandon his people.
Your people, O LORD, they trample down,
your inheritance they afflict.
Widow and stranger they slay,
the fatherless they murder.
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
And they say, “The LORD sees not;
the God of Jacob perceives not.”
Understand, you senseless ones among the people;
and, you fools, when will you be wise?
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
Shall he who shaped the ear not hear?
or he who formed the eye not see?
Shall he who instructs nations not chastise,
he who teaches men knowledge?
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
For the LORD will not cast off his people,
nor abandon his inheritance;
But judgment shall again be with justice,
and all the upright of heart shall follow it.
R. The Lord will not abandon his people
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The Father and the Son
At that time, Jesus said:
“Father, LORD of heaven and earth, I praise you because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to simple people.
Yes, Father, this was your gracious will.
Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father. 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.
Prayers of the Faithful
– For the clever and the learned, that Jesus may teach them to become little and humble, so that Jesus may teach them the Father’s love, we pray:
– For all of us, that God make his Son known to us deeply and lovingly, we pray:
– For those who serve the poorest, that they may not get discouraged and through their service come to know God better, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Our mighty God,
you are partial to the poor.
From your own gifts
we bring before you bread and wine.
Make us as genuine and simple
as these offerings,
that we may understand readily
the simple story of your forgiveness and love,
which you tell us through your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
We thank you in the poverty of our hearts
that you have let us eat from Jesus’ table
notwithstanding our little faith
and our lukewarm love.
Keep accepting us the way we are,
help us to be and do better
and to render wholehearted service
to our brothers and sisters in need.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
REFLECTIONS
Matthew 11: 25 - 27
Today's Gospel passage speaks of Jesus’ thanksgiving prayer. He thanks the heavenly Father for revealing the mysteries of God to ordinary people.
While the scribes, religious scholars, and temple authorities rejected Jesus, the Word of God, the simple and ordinary people in villages accepted him. The self-proclaimed intellectuals sought to find faults with Jesus, but the poor, the sick, and those living on the margins of society flocked to him for his message of comfort, acceptance and love. Jesus does not condemn wisdom and intellectual power, but what he condemns is the intellectual pride of the learned.
As the passage closes, Jesus introduces himself as the Son of God, explaining his mission - to reveal the true face of God to humanity. “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” John, the evangelist, puts this differently when Jesus says, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn.14:9). Here is what Jesus says: If you want to see what God is like, what God’s mind is like, what God’s heart is like, who God is, and the relationship God has with people, then look at me!
A saying goes, “It is the heart, not the head, that is the home of the gospel.” It is not our learnings that keep us from God’s grace, but the pride that keeps us away from it. Many learned intellectuals of our times fall into this danger. Because they think that believing in God is foolish, they reject God. We accept the message of the Gospel not because of our foolishness but rather because of our humility. To those who look at everything with the excitement and openness of a child, God’s mysteries are revealed.
Developing an attitude that “I know it all” or “No one needs to tell me” will put a community, or a family or the Church in trouble. It is a challenge for pastors and leaders of Church communities in our time to put aside our pride and ego and be humble before God’s people.
Children are characterised by openness, wonder, and non-judgment, and the Gospel invites us to emulate these qualities. This requires humility. We become humble when we realise we don’t have all the answers. We can then stand in wonder before the mystery of God