Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Tuesday, 25 February 2014 - Catholic Meditations

Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Tuesday, 25 February 2014 - Catholic Meditations

Meditation: Mark 9: 30 They went out from there, and passed through Galilee. He didn’t want anyone to know it. 31 For he was teaching his disciples, and said to them, “The Son of Man is being handed over to the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, on the third day he will rise again.”

32 But they didn’t understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

33 He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing among yourselves on the way?”

34 But they were silent, for they had disputed one with another on the way about who was the greatest.

35 He sat down, and called the twelve; and he said to them, “If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.” 36 He took a little child, and set him in the middle of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, doesn’t receive me, but him who sent me.”

7th Week in Ordinary Time

Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me. (Mark 9:37)

Have you ever felt as if you were the only one not invited to a party? Or that the people around you didn’t care about you? It’s an empty feeling, this sense of insignificance. It’s as if your entire life hasn’t made a difference to anyone.

Imagine how the child in this Gospel story felt. Back in Jesus’ era, children were considered to have about the same social standing as women and slaves: they were only slightly more valued than property. At least until Jesus spoke!

Picture this child sitting quietly in the corner of the room or working hard to serve all the people who had crowded the house where Jesus was preaching. He was probably feeling small and insignificant around this famous miracle worker and all his followers.

But then the question came up about which of the disciples was greater. How surprised that child must have been when Jesus came over and moved him out in front of everyone. He probably didn’t expect Jesus to put his arms around him and declare that treating him with respect and welcome was the same as welcoming Jesus. Can you picture the boy’s face when he heard these words? Can you imagine the warmth and the sense of worth that this child felt? Jesus had picked him!

Jesus loves you in the same way that he loved the child in that story. Perhaps you feel as if you have been huddling in a corner, feeling unimportant, unloved, or unworthy. You may wonder why Jesus would bother with you when there are so many other people out there who are better than you or who do more important work than you. But that doesn’t matter. Jesus has picked you. He wraps his arms around you and shows you off to the angels in heaven!

Today, keep that image of Jesus’ welcoming embrace in your mind as you encounter any challenges to your self-worth. Rest in his arms, and know that he loves you and has chosen you to be his very own.

“Lord, help me remember that you are always with me and have prepared a place in heaven just for me. Jesus, I want to rest in your arms today.” Amen!

James 4:1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members? 2 You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask. 3 You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures. 4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”[a] 7 Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Footnotes:

a. James 4:6 Proverbs 3:34

Psalm 55: 7 Behold, then I would wander far off.

    I would lodge in the wilderness.”

Selah.

8 “I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm.”

9 Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language,

    for I have seen violence and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they prowl around on its walls.

    Malice and abuse are also within her.

11 Destructive forces are within her.

    Threats and lies don’t depart from her streets.

23 But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction.

    Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days,

    but I will trust in you.

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