When we read newspapers or magazines, we often notice that individual articles repeat, and we get the impression that the periodicals review one another. It happens that we open a periodical and say to ourselves: I already read that a week ago in another magazine…” We can have the same feeling every Sunday at Holy Mass when listening to the Gospels. We can also say to ourselves: I already know that, I could even quote it from memory… Most of the passages describe Jesus’ miracles or commandments.
However, today’s Gospel escapes these ideas because its content is Jesus’ prayer and the advice he imparts to the apostles and, therefore, to us. Jesus’ prayer reflects his view of those willing to follow him, from whom he chose his closest collaborators. He did not go to consult the famous teacher and rabbi Gamaliel, nor Nicodemus, nor even to the Pharisees and scribes, whom to choose, but he chose fishermen, shepherds, farmers, and a tax collector, and chose them as his closest collaborators. From them, he raised future evangelists, the first pope and bishops, who were full of faith, love, courage, and wisdom.
The Church also acted similarly in the future, choosing not only the rich and educated but also the simple, poor, and uneducated. Let us remember the “poor man,” Francis of Assisi, and his revival of the Church, and Catherine of Siena, a girl without an education who wrote letters to popes and kings. We venerate her as a teacher of the Church, or John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests and confessors, who did not gain wisdom in schools but in prayer. We have many examples of little ones who became great in the eyes of God, as well as in the eyes of believing and even unbelieving people. This story teaches us a great lesson that God does great things through little ones. That is why Jesus said: I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little ones.
The second lesson from today’s Gospel is contained in the sentence: Only the Father knows the Son, and only the Son—and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him—knows the Father. This sentence can be expressed in two words: the gift of faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, point 1814, says: Faith is the divine virtue that helps us to believe in God and in everything that he has told us and revealed to us and that the Holy Church proposes to us to believe, because he is the Truth itself. Through faith, man freely gives himself to God. The believer therefore strives to know and fulfill God’s will… The lesson for us is to nourish this undeserved gift of faith we have received and pass it on to all who desire it.
The third lesson is contained in the sentence: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. In a world that has known roaring dictators, in a world in which we have experienced a system of class struggle and hatred, silence and humility are considered weakness or even cowardice. A quiet and humble person is considered a zero, who can do nothing, is silent, agrees with everything, fights for nothing, and therefore achieves nothing. So when Jesus calls us to learn meekness and humility from him, should we consider him a zero or insignificant? However, if we read the Gospels carefully, we will notice that he was able to swim against the current; he dared to seek the company of sinners to show them the way to conversion and salvation; he did not allow himself to be influenced by the angry crowd, and therefore he forgave the woman – a sinner, he was able to deal decisively with the hypocritical Pharisees and scribes and say to them: Woe! He took a whip and drove the merchants and buyers out of the temple. He presented an innocent child as a model for those who want to achieve salvation. He accepted a shameful sentence, the cross and crucifixion. To insults and mockery, he had only one response: Father, forgive them…
Jesus shows us that in silence and humility, there is strength and courage to know the truth, to proclaim it, to defend it, and to speak it. This is also confirmed by the recent past, when things might not have come this far if the Christians of the fifties and seventies of the last century had had more courage to profess their faith, attend church, and send their children to religious instruction. Then it was too late to cry over spilled milk, over the fact that children and grandchildren were unbaptized and unbelieving.
At a time when it was fashionable among the intelligentsia to deny the existence of God, the brilliant scientist Louis Pasteur publicly declared: Since I have known God’s revelation, I have the faith of a Breton peasant. And if I knew the word of God even better and more thoroughly, I would have the faith of a Breton peasant woman. Humility knows how to admit mistakes, does not flatter the rich who hold power, but rather serves the weak and the poor, and stands up for the truth. Humility does not take revenge, does not hold grudges, and knows how to forgive. Let us remember today’s message from Jesus: pray, ask for the gift of faith, and learn humility to find rest for your souls!
