August 12, 2025
Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 414
Reading 1
When Moses had finished speaking to all Israel, he said to
them,
"I am now one hundred and twenty years old
and am no longer able to move about freely;
besides, the LORD has told me that I shall not cross this Jordan.
It is the LORD, your God, who will cross before you;
he will destroy these nations before you,
that you may supplant them.
It is Joshua who will cross before you, as the LORD promised.
The LORD will deal with them just as he dealt with Sihon and Og,
the kings of the Amorites whom he destroyed,
and with their country.
When, therefore, the LORD delivers them up to you,
you must deal with them exactly as I have ordered you.
Be brave and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them,
for it is the LORD, your God, who marches with you;
he will never fail you or forsake you."
Then Moses summoned Joshua and in the presence of all Israel
said to him, "Be brave and steadfast,
for you must bring this people into the land
which the LORD swore to their fathers he would give them;
you must put them in possession of their heritage.
It is the LORD who marches before you;
he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you.
So do not fear or be dismayed."
Responsorial Psalm
Deuteronomy
32:3-4ab, 7, 8, 9 and 12
R.(9a) The portion of the Lord is his people.
For I will sing the LORD's renown.
Oh, proclaim the greatness of our God!
The Rock–how faultless are his deeds,
how right all his ways!
R. The portion of the Lord is his people.
Think back on the days of old,
reflect on the years of age upon age.
Ask your father and he will inform you,
ask your elders and they will tell you.
R. The portion of the Lord is his people.
When the Most High assigned the nations their heritage,
when he parceled out the descendants of Adam,
He set up the boundaries of the peoples
after the number of the sons of Israel.
R. The portion of the Lord is his people.
While the LORD's own portion was Jacob,
his hereditary share was Israel.
The LORD alone was their leader,
no strange god was with him.
R. The portion of the Lord is his people.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The disciples approached Jesus and said,
"Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
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.
"See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.
What is your opinion?
If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the stray?
And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it
than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081225.cfm
Commentary on
Deuteronomy 31:1-8
We come to the last part of Deuteronomy which tells of the
last days of Moses. Today’s reading deals with handing on the baton of
leadership to Joshua.
Moses knows that his end is near. He tells the people that
he is already 120 years old (probably not to be taken too literally) and no
longer capable of being their leader. This is not a reference to any physical
disability. The reason is that God has forbidden him (and Aaron) to lead the
people into the Promised Land:
…the Lord has told me, ‘You shall not cross over this
Jordan.’ (Num 20:12)
We read about this in last Thursday’s First Reading (Num
20:1-13).
The people need not fear because Yahweh will be with them as
they conquer the land:
The Lord your God himself will cross over before you. He
will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them.
And he gives his encouragement to Joshua who will take his
place as their leader:
Joshua also will cross over before you, as the Lord
promised.
Yahweh will treat the resident peoples as he treated Sihon
and Og the Amorite kings and their country—he wiped them out. He will put the
resident peoples at the Israelites’ mercy and will deal with them exactly as
laid down by the commandments he gave.
Moses passes on Yahweh’s message to the people:
Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them,
because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or
forsake you.
The Lord’s exhortation is often given through his servants
to the people of Israel. So also to Joshua, to Solomon and to Hezekiah’s
military officers. By trusting in the Lord and obeying him, his followers will
be victorious in spite of great obstacles.
Then Moses summoned Joshua in the presence of all the people
and told him also to “be strong and bold”. He would have the privilege of
leading the people into the land which Yahweh long ago had sworn to his
ancestors he would give to his people. And he has no need to worry because
Yahweh will show the way, will be together with his people and not let them
down. Moses tells them:
Do not fear or be dismayed.
Reading this account, it is difficult sometimes not to feel
that we have here, to some extent, a rationalisation of their entering someone
else’s territory and taking it by force from its legitimate inhabitants, pagans
though they may have been. The same questions arise in the establishment of the
State of Israel in the last century and even more so in the establishment of
Israel’s settlements beyond its internationally recognised borders.
The history of the Church also is not without examples of
‘God’s will’ being used to justify behaviour that later seems altogether
unacceptable.
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Commentary on
Matthew 18:1-5,10,12-14
Today we come to the fourth of the five discourses which are
the distinctive characteristic of Matthew’s Gospel. This one focuses on the
Church (and is called the “Discourse on the Church”), the Christian community,
and in particular the relationships among its members.
The reading begins with Jesus asking the question:
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
By implication, this question is asking about the greatest
in the Christian community—a sign of the Kingdom.
Jesus answers the question very simply by putting a child in
front of his disciples. To become the greatest is to become a small child.
Why? Children have many precious qualities. They are born
free of prejudice and they are totally open to learning. It is these qualities,
which we tend to lose as we grow up, that we need to enter the Reign of God. We
need to be totally open and free of prejudice when it comes to listening to
God, and to allow ourselves to be fully teachable, malleable and flexible. Then
we will be ready to receive everything that God wants us to have, and to become
everything God wants us to become. Furthermore, to welcome a person who has
these qualities in Jesus’ name is to welcome Christ himself.
From that the Gospel moves on to another related
consideration. It skips a passage which deals with those who cause others to
fall into sin and the kind of punishment such people deserve. Instead, it moves
from children to the “little ones”. The “little ones” are not just children,
but the weaker ones in the community, and they may be adults. But they are the
ones who can very easily be led astray by the bad example which others give.
And there are severe penalties for doing this (which are mentioned in the
omitted passage).
This is emphasised by the parable of the lost sheep. God is
compared to a shepherd who has lost just one sheep out of a hundred. When he
finds it again he is happier than over the other ninety-nine which have not
strayed. As such, the Gospel concludes:
So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one
of these little ones should be lost.
How terrible, then, if one of us is responsible for
someone’s being separated from God forever! Sadly, sometimes it feels like that
happens quite a lot in our society and in our Church.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1193g/
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Ordinary
Time
Opening Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God, your
Spirit made us your children, confident to call you Father.
Increase your Spirit within us
and bring us to our promised inheritance.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus
Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Matthew 18: 1-5, 10, 12-14
At this time the disciples came to Jesus and
said, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?' So he called a little
child to him whom he set among them. Then he said, 'In truth I tell you, unless
you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of
Heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the
greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. 'Anyone who welcomes one little child like
this in my name welcomes me.
'See that you never despise any of
these little ones, for I tell you that therein heaven are continually in the
presence of my Father in heaven.
'Tell me. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep and one of
them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go in search
of the stray? In truth I tell you, if he finds it, it gives him more joy than
do the ninety-nine that did not stray at all. Similarly, it is never the will
of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.
Reflection
Here, in Chapter 18 of the Gospel
of Matthew begins the fourth great discourse of the New Law, the Discourse of
the Community. As has already been said before (on Monday of the 10th Week of
the Year), the Gospel of Matthew written for the communities of the Christian
Jews of Galilee and of Syria, present Jesus as the new Moses. In the Old
Testament, the Law of Moses was codified in the five books of the Pentateuch.
Imitating the ancient model, Matthew represents the New Law in five great
Discourses:
(a)
The Sermon on the Mountain (Mt 5: 1 to 7: 29);
(b)
the Discourse of the Mission (Mt 10: 1-42);
(c)
The Discourse of the Parables (Mt 13: 1-52);
(d)
The Discourse of the Community (Mt 18: 1-35);
(e)
The discourse of the Future of the Kingdom (Mt
24: 1 to 25: 46).
The narrative parts which are
inserted among the five Discourses describe the practice of Jesus and show how
he practiced and embodied the New Law in his life.
The Gospel today gives the first
part of the Discourse of the Community (Mt 18: 114) which has as key word “the
little ones.” The little ones are not only the children, but also the poor
persons, those who are not important in society and in the community, and also
the children. Jesus asks that these “little ones” should always be the center
of the concern of the communities because “The Father in Heaven does not will
that one of these little ones should be lost” (Mt
18: 14).
•
Matthew 18: 1: The question of the disciples
which provokes the teaching of Jesus. The disciples want to know who is the
greater in the Kingdom. The simple fact of this question reveals that they had
not understood anything or very little the message of Jesus. The whole Discourse of the Community, is in order
to make them understand that among the followers of Jesus the spirit of service
should prevail, the gift of self, of pardon, of reconciliation and of
gratuitous love, without seeking one’s own interest and one’s own promotion.
•
Matthew 18: 2-5: The fundamental criterion: the
little one and the greater one. The disciples ask for a criterion so as to be
able to measure the importance of the persons in the community: “Who is the
greater in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus answers that the criterion are the
littler ones! The little ones are not socially important; they do not belong to
the world of the great. The disciples have to become children. Instead of
growing up, to the heights, they must grow down and toward the periphery, where
the poor and the little ones live. In this way, they will be the greater in the
Kingdom! The reason is the following: “Anyone who receives one of these little
ones receives me.” Jesus identifies himself with them. The love of Jesus for
the little ones cannot be explained. Children have no merit. It is the complete
gratuity of the love of God which manifests itself and asks to be imitated in
the community of those who call themselves disciples of Jesus.
•
Matthew 18: 6-9: Do not scandalize the little
ones. These four verses concerning the scandal to little ones are omitted from
today’s Gospel. We give a brief commentary on them. To scandalize the little
ones means: to be the cause for them to lose their faith in God and to abandon
the community. Matthew keeps a very hard phrase of Jesus: “Anyone who
scandalizes even one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better
for him to have a mill stone tied around his neck and then be thrown into the
sea.” It is a sign that at that time many little ones no longer identified
themselves with the community and sought another refuge. And today, in Latin
America, for example, every year, approximately three million persons abandon
the historical Church and go toward the Evangelical churches. This is a sign
that they do not feel at home among us. What is lacking in us? Which is the
cause of this scandal of the little ones? In order to avoid the scandal, Jesus
orders to cut the foot or take out the eye. This phrase cannot be taken
literally. It means that we should be very firm, strict in fighting against
scandal which draws the little ones away. We cannot, in any way, allow that the
little ones should feel marginalized in our community; because in this case,
the community would not be a sign of the Kingdom of God.
•
Matthew 18: 10-11: The angels of the little ones
are in the presence of the Father. Jesus recalls Psalm 91. The little ones take
Yahweh as their refuge and make the most High their fortress (Ps 91: 9) and
because of this: “No disaster can overtake you, no plague come near your tent;
he has given angels orders about you to guard you wherever you go. They will
carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone” (Ps 91: 10, 12).
•
Matthew 18: 12-14: The parable of the one
hundred sheep. According to Luke, this parable reveals the joy of God on the
conversion of a sinner (Lk 15: 3-7). According to Matthew, it reveals that the
Father does not want that not even one of the little ones be lost. In other
words, the little ones should be the pastoral priority of the Community, of the
Church. They should be in the center of the concern of all. Love toward the
little ones and the excluded should be the axis of the community of those who
want to follow Jesus; because it is in this way that the community becomes the
proof of the gratuitous love of God who accepts all.
Personal Questions
•
Who are the poorest persons of our neighborhood?
Do they participate in our community? Do they feel at home, or do they find in
us a cause to withdraw?
•
God the Father does not want any of the little
ones to get lost. What does this mean for our community?
Concluding Prayer
Your instructions are my eternal heritage, they are the joy of
my heart.
I devote myself to obeying your statutes, their recompense is
eternal. (Ps 119: 111112)
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