Love justice, you who judge the earth; think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart.
These words begin the book of Wisdom. And what better wisdom to pass on to “these little ones” whether you be a parent, grandparent, aunt, priest, teacher, etc.—or saint.
During the “Great Retreat of Rome” in 1865, Fr. Eymard wrote this meditation on March 13: I meditated on our Lord’s eucharistic meekness in his divine Sacrament: his kindness in receiving everybody, the great and the little, the rich and the poor, the young and the old; his affability in coming down to the level of everyone, of children, of the illiterate, etc; his patience in listening to them all as long as they wish, with all their aches and pain; his goodness in communion, giving himself to each one according to his condition….
Fr. Eymard concluded the reflection with a most interesting take on the “justice” of God::
But after death, Jesus will be the supreme judge, full of majesty and terrible, in his justice towards the one who resisted love in this life.
Jesus has strong words in today’s gospel for those who would “cause one of these little ones to sin” (Luke 17:2). The words of Saint Eymard point to great wisdom for any of us who have the opportunity to be with little ones. Tell them of God’s infinite love; his goodness; his “patience in listening to them all as long as they wish, with all their aches and pain”; and how in “his goodness in communion, he (gave) himself to each one according to his condition . . .”
Do I truly believe in the goodness of the Lord? That he wishes—Saint Eymard believed—to listen to me in all my aches and pains? And how is my patience for listening to the aches and pains of others, young or old?
Let Us Pray:
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
You know when I sit and when I stand;
You understand my thoughts from afar.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know the whole of it.
Behind me and before, you hem me in
and rest your hand upon me.
Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
(From today’s Psalm 139)
Daily Eucharistic Reflection – Center for Eucharistic Evangelizing (eucharisticevangelizing.com)
