Covenant and Children

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to integrate the blessings and woes of a Covenant Relationship with God through accepting Jesus' invitation.

Blessing of Children

The reading from the Book of Joshua describes a Covenant Ceremony upon reaching the Promised Land.

n. [24:14] Dt 10:12; 1 Sm 7:3; 12:24; Tb 14:9.

o. [24:15] Dt 30:15–19; Jgs 2:11–13.

p. [24:19] Ex 20:5; 23:21; 34:14; Lv 19:2; Dt 5:9.

q. [24:26] Gn 28:18; 31:45; Jgs 9:6.

r. [24:27] Jos 4:1–9; Gn 31:48, 52; Dt 31:19, 21, 26.

s. [24:28] Jgs 2:6.

t. [24:29–31] Jgs 2:7–9. (Joshua, CHAPTER 24 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 16 reflects on the presence of God.

* [Psalm 16] In the first section, the psalmist rejects the futile worship of false gods (Ps 16:2–5), preferring Israel’s God (Ps 16:1), the giver of the land (Ps 16:6). The second section reflects on the wise and life-giving presence of God (Ps 16:7–11). (Psalms, PSALM 16 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus affirms the Blessing of the Children.

* [19:13–15] This account is understood by some as intended to justify the practice of infant baptism. That interpretation is based principally on the command not to prevent the children from coming, since that word sometimes has a baptismal connotation in the New Testament; see Acts 8:36. (Matthew, CHAPTER 19 | USCCB, n.d.)

Gladyce Janky comments that in the words, “The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these,” she hears an invitation.  How might life change if we spent more time in the present, sitting with Jesus rather than worrying about the things of the world? 

How might my day be different if I start the morning by approaching God with joy and gratitude, a sense of wonder and trust that miracles will happen today?  Would it be easier to Find God in All Things, even in the places where I do not want to look? 

I have read that children during Jesus’ time had few, if any, rights.  Even today, despite laws that seek to protect them, it is often the youngest members of society who suffer the most.  In this reading, I hear Jesus calling adults (like me) to help children run to Him.  This awareness pricks my conscience, leading me to ask myself several questions.  How do I help children “see” Jesus?  What injustice(s) am I choosing to ignore, perhaps because it seems too big to tackle?  What might change if I sit with Jesus, asking Him to help me see what is possible at this time and within the concrete circumstances of my life? (Janky, 2025)

Don Schwager quotes “To such belongs the Kingdom,” by Epiphanius the Latin (late 5th century).

"Why did the disciples keep the children back? Not because of the children's wickedness but because it was not the right time. They did not want the Lord to be tired by the great crowd. To them he said, 'Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.' For children are ignorant of wickedness. They do not know how to return evil for evil or how to do someone an injury. They do not know how to be lustful or to fornicate or to rob. What they hear, they believe. They love their parents with complete affection. Therefore, beloved, the Lord instructs us that what they are by the gift of nature, we should become by the fear of God, a holy way of life and love of the heavenly kingdom - for unless we are alien to all sin just like children, we cannot come to the Savior." (excerpt from INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 25) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Joshua asks “What legacy do you most want to bequeath to your loved ones?”

How does your choice to follow the Lord—no matter your age—leave a legacy for your loved ones?

All of the ways you have loved and served the Lord and your neighbor stand as a testimony. Each choice to obey him or to put him first in your life lays the foundation for the inheritance your loved ones will receive. Every instance in which you treated someone with respect or kindness, each time you gave of yourself for someone else, helps build the most important and valuable legacy you could ever leave.

So take Joshua’s words to heart and ask yourself today, Whom will I choose to serve?

“Come, Holy Spirit, and inspire my every choice. Teach me how to build up a spiritual legacy for my loved ones.” (Meditation on Joshua, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler reflects on the texts of today. Joshua renews the Covenant with the people of Israel. Life in Egypt has influenced the Israelites and the other people who left with them. He is a jealous God and amid henotheism worship of the God of Israel alone is asserted. In Matthew’s Gospel, parents bring some children to Jesus who declares the Kingdom belongs to such as those who are innocent, trusting, with wonder and awe, joy, and simple people of integrity. Friar Jude notes a goal of our spiritual life to sort out that which keeps us from embracing the Kingdom.

Fr Richard Rohr, OFM, describes contemplation as a practice of putting on “the mind of Christ.

We cannot know God the way we know anything else; we only know God subject to subject, by a process of mirroring. In Paul’s words, this is the “mind of Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 2:16). It really is a different way of knowing, and we can recognize it by its gratuity, its open-endedness, its compassion, and by witnessing the way it is so creative and energizing in those who allow it. 

Truly great thinkers and cultural creatives take for granted that they have access to a different and larger mind. They recognize that a Divine Flow is already happening and that everyone can plug into it. In all cases, it is a participative kind of knowing, a being known through and not an autonomous knowing. The most common and traditional word for this change of consciousness was historically “prayer,” but we trivialized that precious word by making it functional, transactional, and supposedly about problem-solving. The only problem that prayer solves is us! (Rohr, n.d.)

We express thanksgiving for our connection to children who Jesus recognized as people who radiate the qualities that reflect the Way to the Kingdom of God.

References

Janky, G. (2025, August 16). Daily Reflection August 16, 2025 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-august-16-2025 

Joshua, CHAPTER 24 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/joshua/24?14 

Matthew, CHAPTER 19 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/19?13 

Meditation on Joshua. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/?utm_content=buffer5c902&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer 

Psalms, PSALM 16 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/16?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Paul: A Christ Mystic: Weekly Summary. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/paul-as-mystic-weekly-summary/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Let the Children Come to Me. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=aug16 

Righteousness and Service

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with our need to ponder our role on our life journey and the faith, hope, and charity we hope will be our legacy for the future.

A legacy for the future

The reading from the Book of Wisdom confirms the Destiny of the Righteous

* [3:1–12] The author affirms that, for the righteous, sufferings are not punishments but purification and opportunities to show fidelity, whereas for the wicked suffering is truly a punishment.

* [3:6] Offerings: the image is that of the burnt offering, in which the victim is completely consumed by fire.

* [3:7] Judgment: the Greek episkopē is God’s loving judgment of those who have been faithful to him; the same word is used in 14:11 for the punishment of the wicked at God’s judgment. Cf. also v. 13. (Wisdom, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 34 offers praise for Deliverance from Trouble

* [Psalm 34] A thanksgiving in acrostic form, each line beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In this Psalm one letter is missing and two are in reverse order. The psalmist, fresh from the experience of being rescued (Ps 34:5, 7), can teach the “poor,” those who are defenseless, to trust in God alone (Ps 34:4, 12). God will make them powerful (Ps 34:5–11) and give them protection (Ps 34:12–22). (Psalms, PSALM 34 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus exhorts the attitude of a servant.

* [17:7–10] These sayings of Jesus, peculiar to Luke, which continue his response to the apostles’ request to increase their faith (Lk 17:5–6), remind them that Christian disciples can make no claim on God’s graciousness; in fulfilling the exacting demands of discipleship, they are only doing their duty. (Luke, CHAPTER 17, n.d.)

Edward Morse comments that the disposition that puts the Lord’s needs first is not easy.  We like to be served more than to serve.  We like to be honored more than to honor.  We like to receive gratitude more than to be grateful.  The contrary disposition that Jesus is teaching us to follow can also be costly in a world where others find it foolish and easy to exploit.  Can we trust God to follow him in those times? 

Lord, like the apostles, we cry out to you, “please increase our faith.”  We are prone to forget and to lose hope, particularly in the midst of tough times and struggles.  Save us from envy.  And help us to encourage one another, remembering that “Grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with his elect.”  Thanks be to God. (Morse, 2023)

Don Schwager quotes “We are called to humble service,” by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.

"You do not say to your servant, 'Sit down,' but require more service from him and do not thank him. The Lord also does not allow only one work or labor for you, because so long as we live we must always work.

"Know that you are a servant overwhelmed by very much obedience. You must not set yourself first, because you are called a son of God. Grace must be acknowledged, but nature not overlooked. Do not boast of yourself if you have served well, as you should have done. The sun obeys, the moon complies (Joshua 10:12-13; Baruch 6:60), and the angels serve... Let us not require praise from ourselves nor prevent the judgment of God and anticipate the sentence of the Judge but reserve it for its own time and Judge." (excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 17.7-10) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Wisdom 2:23–3:9 comments that we may struggle to believe in eternal life, for our loved ones or for ourselves. But this struggle is familiar to Jesus. His prayer in Gethsemane reveals his anguish as he faced the cross (Matthew 26:36-45). But trusting the Father, he offered himself up to death. After passing through this refiner’s fire, Jesus arose and shone forth, “as sparks through stubble” (Wisdom 3:7).

So bring him your heartaches, confusion, and pain. He will walk beside you and your loved ones through the valley of the shadow of death until the day when his victory will be your own, and “the faithful shall abide with him in love” (Wisdom 3:9).

“Lord, help me to trust you in this life so that I may rejoice with you in eternity.” (Meditation on Wisdom 2:23–3:9, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the theme of the passage from Wisdom to address the question of the Greeks about eternal life. The Greek influence in the Book of Wisdom is evident in the concept of the separation of the soul and body in eternal life. Friar Jude recalls the Baltimore Catechism as he reminds us of our participation in the Love of the Father and the Son as we take up the Cross of service.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, and the CAC Staff share about the mission of the Christian Contemplative Movement.

Our dream is that Contemplative Christianity will be a robust movement of spiritual transformation that millions of people can participate in meaningfully and thoroughly. Social science research suggests it takes 3.5% of a population to create a seismic shift in attitudes on any given subject. Therefore, as an organization founded by Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr, rooted in Christian traditions of action and contemplation, and positioned on the edge of the inside of the world’s largest religion, we seek to contribute to a movement of contemplative renewal in service to a great spiritual turning. Our aim is to support the conditions necessary for the catalytic growth of a contemplative Christian path for at least 3.5% of people in our national and international landscape. (Rohr, 2021)

We seek the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit as we come to understand our role as servants of the Lord and the people who we encounter daily in the hope that mercy, patience, and compassion will accompany our action and reflect Christ.

References

Luke, CHAPTER 17. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved November 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/17?7 

Meditation on Wisdom 2:23–3:9. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved November 14, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/11/14/829984/ 

Morse, E. (2023, November 14). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved November 14, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/111423.html 

Psalms, PSALM 34 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/34?2 

Rohr, R. (2021, September 22). Christian Contemplative Movement. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-special-note-from-fr-richard-the-christian-contemplative-movement-2023-11-14/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 14, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=nov14 

Wisdom, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/wisdom/3