Why did Jesus set the childlike humility as the measure of greatness and the requisite to be able to enter of heaven?

The little ones are not only the children, but also the poor.

Become like children: the child is held up as a model for the disciples

not because of any supposed innocence of children

but because of their complete dependence on, and trust in,

their parents. So must the disciples be, in respect to God.

St. Pontion, pope, martyrs/ 52. Hippolytus, prest, martyrs

1st Reading: Ezekiel 25-34

Listen then, son of man,

 Saint Dominic

Canonized 13 July 1234,

Dominic came face to face with the then virulent Albigensian heresy at Languedoc.

His fellow preachers gradually became a community, and in 1215 Dominic founded a religious house at Toulouse,

the beginning of the Order of Preachers or Dominicans.

Saint Dominic, was a Castilian-French Catholic priest and the founder of the Dominican Order.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The time is coming – it is Yahweh

St. Jane Frances de Chantal, religious

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28c

On the fifth of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of king Jehoiachin)

 "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David."

"Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

The woman persists, and Jesus praises her for her for faith.

She insists she deserves to be amongst God’s children even if her circumstance denies it.

Jesus said, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish."

St. Sixtus II, pope & martyr/ St. Cajetan, priest

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Jeremiah 31:1-7 

Yahweh declares

 Jesus publicly identifies himself as the bread that came down from heaven.

Jesus' claim is beyond their comprehension.

Jesus unequivocally identified himself “The bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”

Jesus will give his body literally. will be for the life of the world.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

1 Kings 19:4-8

He himself disappeared

 In the Jewish tradition, if three witnesses agree to a common account, it should be treated as a fact.

Peter, James, and John consider that glorious moment a confirmation of Jesus’ authority alongside Moses and Elijah.

What is common to these experiences is that it opens up the mind and heart to a realm where one encounters the divine.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

I looked and saw the following:

St. LAWRENCE was born in Spain,

This holy martyr, in the first half of the 3rd century, is marked by piety and charity.

Pope Sixtus II entrusted him with the care of the archdiocese. As the deacon responsible for charitable activities in the diocese of Rome,

Saint Lawrence administered goods and catered to the needs of orphans, widows, and the poor generally.

Saint Lawrence was burnt on a gridiron. Saint Lawrence’s martyrdom is a supreme testament to love.

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

2 Corinthians 9:6-10

Remember: the one

Build on the Christological theme of “Who is Jesus”?

The crowd demands the bread. Jesus claims to be the bread .

The crowd wants to know something, and Jesus answers with a different kind of information.

Evolving revelation of who Jesus is through encounter.

Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Jeremiah 28:1-17

Denying one’s self and taking up one’s cross are the small gate and narrow path that leads to life.

Only by uniting our suffering in life to that of Jesus can we carry our crosses.

There is a “self-forgetfulness” as you relativize your own life

and care for the life of others – a true death that we let in without violence.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, virgin & martyr

1st Reading: Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7

See, there on the mountains,

 Jesus  offers himself as someone who quenches our thirst, strengthens us against trials, and fills us in our hunger.

He does not only fill us, he gives us endless reserves if we stick with him.

The bread that filled their stomachs, The sign is about who Jesus is. 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15

In the desert the whole community