💖 HOMILY - AUGUST 17 💖

First Reading - Joshua 24:14-29

Gospel - Matthew 19:13-15

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that God created human beings "to know him, to love him, and to serve him." This sentence highlights God's purpose for our creation. Today's readings reiterate the purpose of our existence as outlined in the Catechism and invite us to live according to that purpose.

The first reading, taken from the book of Joshua, outlines the purpose of God's saving action in bringing people to the Promised Land. Joshua, as an envoy of God, explains God's expectations from the people. He invites the people to serve the Lord who was worshipped by their ancestors (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.) and who recognized His jealous love for them. The phrase "serve him" is repeatedly used in the passage to emphasize God's demand that the people love and serve Him.

The Gospel of the day helps us understand how we can employ humble service to God. It narrates that children visited Jesus with their parents, who wanted Jesus to bless them. The apostles, disturbed by the gathering of the children, decided to chase them away, but Jesus used this occasion to teach a lesson from the children. He says: "...Let them come to me, for to such as these, the kingdom of heaven belongs." By saying this, Jesus teaches that those who are humble and dependent on God can come to Him and receive the gift of heaven. In Jewish society, a child was considered insignificant and dependent on their parents, with no identity apart from them. When Jesus says the kingdom of heaven belongs to children, He points to the role of the child in relation to their parents, indicating that a person approaching the kingdom must be dependent on God, which fosters humility before Him.

Dear friends, yesterday we reflected on the theme of choosing God as the goal and purpose of our lives. Today's readings help us go a step further and discover that we choose God in order to love and serve Him. As Joshua stressed in the first reading, we are called to "love and serve the Lord," and the Gospel reading emphasizes the disposition required to love and serve the Lord: humility and trustful dependence on God.

We certainly desire to love and serve God, but what often prevents us from doing so is our arrogance and pride. Arrogance makes us proud of ourselves and leads us to reject God, but the virtue of humility brings us to our knees to accept and love Him as our Lord. This affirms that we need God. Let's not allow our arrogance to rule and blind us. Let's choose God as the master of our lives and be ready to love and serve Him in our brothers and sisters and those in need.

May God help us become humble and loving servants of God.