First reading James 5:13-20
A good man’s heartfelt prayer has great power
If any one of you is in trouble, he should pray; if anyone is feeling happy, he should sing a psalm. If one of you is ill, he should send for the elders of the church, and they must anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over him. The prayer of faith will save the sick man and the Lord will raise him up again; and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. So confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, and this will cure you; the heartfelt prayer of a good man works very powerfully. Elijah was a human being like ourselves – he prayed hard for it not to rain, and no rain fell for three-and-a-half years; then he prayed again and the sky gave rain and the earth gave crops.
My brothers, if one of you strays away from the truth, and another brings him back to it, he may be sure that anyone who can bring back a sinner from the wrong way that he has taken will be saving a soul from death and covering up a great number of sins.
Responsorial Psalm 140(141):1-3,8
R: Let my prayer come like incense before you
O LORD, to you I call; hasten to me;
hearken to my voice when I call upon you.
Let my prayer come like incense before you;
the lifting up of my hands, like the evening sacrifice.
O LORD, set a watch before my mouth,
a guard at the door of my lips.
For toward you, O God, my LORD, my eyes are turned;
in you I take refuge; strip me not of life.
Gospel Mark 10:13-16
It is to such as these little children that the kingdom of God belongs
People were bringing little children to Jesus, for him to touch them. The disciples turned them away, but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. I tell you solemnly, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ Then he put his arms round them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.
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Trusting like children
There are very few moments in which we see Jesus getting angry, and one of those moments is in this passage. He saw how the disciples were sending the children away from Him, and He scolded them because their actions meant that they did not understand their Master’s values. For Jesus, the first in the Kingdom of God are the poor, the unseen ones without a voice in society. In the Jewish culture of Jesus’ time, the children were among the last and the unimportant ones among the people.
Jesus not only teaches us to recognise and welcome the poor and abandoned, but He also tells us that, to enter His Kingdom, we need to be like children, humble and dependant, who trust in God more than our own qualities and talents. It is to be poor in spirit by acknowledging that, as God’s children, He is the source of our life and love.
Reflective question:
Do I trust in God more than in myself?
Do I trust in God more than in myself?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year B” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD.
