From the responsorial psalm: “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. Let my prayer come like incense before you.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 10:13-16)
People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Then he embraced the children and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
Jesus places childlike faith and trust in him as the primary way to belong to the Kingdom of God. What the disciples try to prevent, probably following customary treatment of children at that time, Jesus turns upside down and encourages. Not only does he tell the disciples not to prevent them from coming to him, he also sets them above all others as an example of how to open the heart to receive the Kingdom of God in order to enter it. And what does Jesus do when we draw near him? He embraces and blesses us with his divine presence. “Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,” we hear in the Gospel acclamation, “you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.”
God, strengthen my faith and trust in you. As a child’s faith and trust in their parents is strengthened in their loving touch and embrace, let me not hold back in coming to you for your touch. As I approach you in the Eucharist, Lord, help me come to know the love that never abandons me is placed in my hands to receive. There before me in the Blessed Sacrament your loving embrace awaits. In your blessing, protect me and give me the grace I need to humbly accept my dependence on you for everything that is good. Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.