Toby Paul was my aunt’s youngest son. He had biliary atresia at birth, a condition where the bile ducts do not develop normally. The doctor gave him only six months to live, yet the Lord allowed the baby to live for four years.

Despite his yellowish skin and distended stomach, Toby enjoyed life. He went to the mall, rode a bike, and ate at restaurants with his family. He’d kneel before the altar and pray the rosary nightly with his family. Once, his mom asked him, “Did you pray to the Sto. Niño for a miracle?” He said, “I did but He didn’t answer me.”

The Lord did answer Toby’s prayer but in a different way. One day, his liver failed. He prayed the Our Father in his final hours. Before he breathed his last, he said there was a lady asking him to come to her. Maybe it was Our Blessed Mother who came to bring him to heaven. We saw Jesus through Toby’s prayerfulness and kindness. We will forever remember our beloved angel gone too soon.

Dina Pecaña (dina.p@shepherdsvoice.com.ph)

reflect

“There is a kind of wisdom in children, a kind of knowing, a kind of believing that we adults do not have.” (Adam Gidwitz)

“God my Friend, it’s time to go, but before I do, I hope You know, I am thankful for my blessing, too, and God my Friend, I love You.” (from “God My Friend,” a prayer by Michael J. Edger III)

St. Jane Frances de Chantal, pray for us.

Moses reassures the Israelites that God will go before them to conquer the land of Canaan and defeat all their enemies. Moses who symbolizes the Law cannot enable the people to take possession of the Promised Land. Instead, Joshua will be the one to do this for them. Like the Israelites, let us have deep faith and confidence that the Lord will win the battles for us.

¹ When Moses had finished speaking to all Israel, ² 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. ³ 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. ⁴ 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. ⁵ When, therefore, the Lord delivers them up to you, you must deal with them exactly as I have ordered you. ⁶ 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.” ⁷ 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. ⁸ 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 32:3-4, 7, 8, 9, 12

R: The portion of the Lord is his people.

³ For I will sing the Lord’s renown. Oh, proclaim the greatness of our God! ⁴ The Rock—how faultless are his deeds, how right all his ways! (R) ⁷ 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) ⁸ 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) ⁹ While the Lord’s own portion was Jacob, his hereditary share was Israel. ¹² The Lord alone was their leader, no strange god was with him. (R)

Gospel | Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

Jesus often used children as an example to teach His disciples a spiritual truth. Here, they want to know which of them is the greatest in the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells them that they need to have a change of attitude and be as humble as a little child if they want to be great in His Kingdom. 

Gospel Acclamation

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.

¹ The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” ² He called a child over, placed it in their midst, ³ and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. ¹⁰ “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. ¹² 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? ¹³ And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. ¹⁴ In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read 2 MACCABEES 9 - 10 today.

Last year, there was a horrific accident in Cotabato that caused the death of seventeen people packed tightly in a van. They were all burned to death when the van exploded into flames after being hit by a dump truck. Reports said that among the seventeen people was a mother with her little toddler. Sensing that everyone inside was at death’s door, she threw her little child out the window to possibly offer the child a greater chance of survival.

The mother was no less than heroic. She could have held on to her child for both of them to die together. But she thought it better to part with the child and toss him away through the small window to open him to future possibilities. She loved her child and valued him more than her own life at that point.

The Lord used the figure of a child to answer a question thrown at him:“Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” But Christ did not answer the question directly. Instead, He used a child to teach us what greatness is like—greatness that only a child can convincingly portray, for a child is naturally humble.

A little child can be helpless and dependent. That goes with the natural process of growth. But that trait of helplessness and attitude of dependence, manifested without guile and without the need for pretense, are what make a child lovable and adorable. They are honest and sincere. No second guessing—what you see is what you get.

That child thrown out of the burning van had no voice, no choice. But it is the likes of him that the Lord calls “blessed.” Are you? 

Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

reflection question

What traits of a child do you want to develop in yourself?

Lord, bless the children in our midst. May we, adults, learn from them. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ___________________________________________