Joshua 24:14-29
Matthew 19:13-15
In today’s first reading. Joshua has “gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem,” as we saw in yesterday’s first reading and he gave a litany of remembrance of God’s wonderful deeds in their lives. Joshua then exhorts the Israelites to make a decisive confession of faith by publicly declaring who will rule their hearts. Joshua warns the Israelites about serving “strange gods.” Today those “strange gods” could be money and possessions. They could be our successes and achievements. Or maybe our strange god is making sure we always get what we want and always have our way.
When we look back over our lives, we discover that we forsake the true God for strange gods all the time. Joshua warns the Israelites about serving “strange gods.” Today those “strange gods” could be money, power, respect, and possessions. They could be our successes and achievements. Or maybe our strange god is making sure we always get what we want and always have our way. When we look back over our lives, we discover that we forsake the true God for strange gods all the time. We need to think back and remind ourselves of the wonderful deeds the Lord has done for us and jubilantly declare always with a true heart commitment saying ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’. Count your blessings.
In today’s Gospel, we see that children are blessings from God and no one or nothing should stop them from encountering Jesus. There are various methods of teaching children about Christ and the Catholic faith. Apart from the Sacred Scriptures, Sacred Tradition and Catechesis, there are two other important methods(books) through which our children and we too can deepen our knowledge in the faith. The lives of the saint and prayer books. The stories of the saints help us believe that we too can become saints, friends of God and bring our families to the knowledge of truth and salvation. We pray that as children of God, we too may continue to grow in childlike faith and trust in Jesus. With children all over the world, we are the friends of Jesus.
Fr Joseph Osho