Tuesday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
Readings of the day: Deuteronomy 31:1-8; Responsorial Canticle: Deuteronomy 32:3-4ab, 7, 8, 9, 12; Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
To all grandparents here especially, and to all who have seen grandparents in action: Have you ever noticed how grandparents delight in their grandchildren? Is there not something special about a grandparent-grandchild relationship? Perhaps, unlike parents with their own children, a grandparent can spoil their grandchildren and then return them to their parents (all wound up, of course) at the end of their stay with Grandma and Grandpa.
In our first reading today, Moses has developed a grandfatherly relationship with the people he is leading home to Israel from Egypt. At “one hundred and twenty years old,” Moses is finally ready to retire; to hand over responsibility to Joshua for leading the people of Israel into the land God has promised them. Clearly Moses delights in the people of Israel. He shows concern for them and for young Joshua. The grandfatherly Moses’ parting advice to the people of Israel and to Joshua is to trust always in God: “He will never fail or forsake you.”
We know that Jesus did not have his own children or grandchildren. And yet he, even more than Moses, shows great delight in and concern for children; for the “little ones.” We hear in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus’ response to his disciples’ question, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”? Jesus places a child in their midst and says: “Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.”
Jesus’ concern for and delight in the “little ones” reaches to those who have gone astray like lost sheep. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who will leave “ninety-nine” sheep in the hills to search for and to bring home the one lost sheep. Jesus is like the father or grandfather who loves his children; his grandchildren without condition; who delights in them.
In this respect my grandfather (Mom’s dad), Frank Salt, who would have turned eighty-nine years old today, was a lot like Jesus or Moses. My Grandpa perhaps did not quite have the patience of Jesus or of Moses, but like them he delighted and had great loving concern for his children; his grandchildren; his great-grandchildren.
During one of my last visits to my grandparents’ home before they moved to be closer to my parents, Grandpa was, like Moses in our first reading, more noticeably unable “to move about freely.” But one sure way to increase his energy was to speak with him about his grandchildren or his great-grandchildren.
Not long before this particular visit, my sister Deanna and brother-in-law Tyler had visited with my niece Molly, who was then just old enough to walk and to get into everything! Grandpa and Grandma put out old magazines so that Molly wouldn’t get into the new ones, and then watched with great sport (and laughed about it weeks later when I visited) as she shredded all their old magazines.
What delight Grandpa had in his new great-granddaughter! It was like the delight Jesus and Moses had in the children; in those they led; the delight of a grandfather. Grandparents: I only ask that you take more time than Moses to enjoy your grandchildren. Do not wait until age one hundred and twenty to retire!
To all grandparents here especially, and to all who have seen grandparents in action: Have you ever noticed how grandparents delight in their grandchildren? Is there not something special about a grandparent-grandchild relationship? Perhaps, unlike parents with their own children, a grandparent can spoil their grandchildren and then return them to their parents (all wound up, of course) at the end of their stay with Grandma and Grandpa.
In our first reading today, Moses has developed a grandfatherly relationship with the people he is leading home to Israel from Egypt. At “one hundred and twenty years old,” Moses is finally ready to retire; to hand over responsibility to Joshua for leading the people of Israel into the land God has promised them. Clearly Moses delights in the people of Israel. He shows concern for them and for young Joshua. The grandfatherly Moses’ parting advice to the people of Israel and to Joshua is to trust always in God: “He will never fail or forsake you.”
We know that Jesus did not have his own children or grandchildren. And yet he, even more than Moses, shows great delight in and concern for children; for the “little ones.” We hear in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus’ response to his disciples’ question, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”? Jesus places a child in their midst and says: “Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.”
Jesus’ concern for and delight in the “little ones” reaches to those who have gone astray like lost sheep. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who will leave “ninety-nine” sheep in the hills to search for and to bring home the one lost sheep. Jesus is like the father or grandfather who loves his children; his grandchildren without condition; who delights in them.
In this respect my grandfather (Mom’s dad), Frank Salt, who would have turned eighty-nine years old today, was a lot like Jesus or Moses. My Grandpa perhaps did not quite have the patience of Jesus or of Moses, but like them he delighted and had great loving concern for his children; his grandchildren; his great-grandchildren.
During one of my last visits to my grandparents’ home before they moved to be closer to my parents, Grandpa was, like Moses in our first reading, more noticeably unable “to move about freely.” But one sure way to increase his energy was to speak with him about his grandchildren or his great-grandchildren.
Not long before this particular visit, my sister Deanna and brother-in-law Tyler had visited with my niece Molly, who was then just old enough to walk and to get into everything! Grandpa and Grandma put out old magazines so that Molly wouldn’t get into the new ones, and then watched with great sport (and laughed about it weeks later when I visited) as she shredded all their old magazines.
What delight Grandpa had in his new great-granddaughter! It was like the delight Jesus and Moses had in the children; in those they led; the delight of a grandfather. Grandparents: I only ask that you take more time than Moses to enjoy your grandchildren. Do not wait until age one hundred and twenty to retire!
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