ONE PATH TWO ITINERARIES

Reflections on the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Wisdom 2:12,17-20; James 3:16-4:3; Mark 9:30-37

Jesus is on his way with his disciples to Capernaum, which is for Mark, the place par excellence of new beginnings, and this time, he sets on a definitively new journey to Jerusalem, which would indeed be his last. They pass through Perea (Mark 10:1), Jericho (10:46), and Bethany and Bethphage (11:1). But the Gospel shows us that this decisive journey is actually composed of two opposing itineraries. To the disciples, this ascent of the Davidic messiah to Jerusalem has a deep political significance and therefore their preoccupation is the quest for the first place. Their itinerary to Jerusalem (the political, religious, and economic capital of the time), is understandably animated by the debate about their future position in the hierarchy. The itinerary of Jesus, on the other hand, is the path to his complete self-sacrifice in the forthcoming confrontations, condemnation, crucifixion, death, and resurrection that await him in Jerusalem. His itinerary is animated by a different logic, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all”.

Jesus knows what they have been arguing about. His response, however, is interesting. He does not criticise them or give a long speech about the importance of humility. Instead, he uses the occasion as a pedagogical moment on how to bridge the huge gulf between the two itineraries. He takes a child, embraces it and then places the child in their midst as if to say, here is my response to your debate about who is the greatest. He says, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me”. True greatness in discipleship is not about positions in a hierarchy but recognising the presence of Jesus in littleness and the little ones alike. In placing the child before them, Jesus addresses the danger of our obsession with perfection and greatness which risks losing sight of our littleness or the little ones around us.

A fragile French woman, who died as a Carmelite nun at the young age of 24, spent a considerable part of her life contemplating this image of a child. She would eventually be declared the patroness of missions and one of the only four women doctors of the Church. We are, of course, referring to Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who has left us the fruit of her contemplation in what we know today as the ‘Little Way of Spiritual Childhood’. Pius XII (before becoming Pope) said, “Thérèse has one mission and one doctrine: like her whole person, it is humble and simple; it can be summed up in two words: Spiritual childhood. Mother Agnes of Jesus (Pauline Martin), Thérèse’s second eldest sister, once asked her the meaning of spiritual childhood. The saint replied, “It is recognizing our nothingness, our poverty, our weakness, our sin; It's expecting everything from the Good Lord as a child expects everything from his Father; It's worrying about nothing; but abandoning ourselves in trust to the love of Jesus”.

We often become obsessed with perfection and greatness. We want to be presentable, likeable and appreciated. So much so that our weakness and littleness become a matter of shame that needs to be hidden. To the ‘Little Flower’, God wishes us to be what we are. He wants us to be true before Him, poor or rich, empty of ourselves so He can fill us with His love. This is the radical newness of spiritual childhood: to be true, totally, to one’s path. Spiritual Childhood and the Little Way does not mean being naive or gullible. It is not about living in nostalgia about the long-lost blissful ignorance of our childhood. It is about realigning our life’s choices, priorities, and attitudes to the truth about ourselves. Thérèse does not confuse desire with reality. She wanted to be true in her spiritual life, with all her imperfections, and she sought to be ‘received’ as she was.

To receive a child as the guiding light of our itinerary, we need to experience God embracing our littleness. Observe how Jesus embraces the child before challenging his disciples to receive it. The realisation of her littleness inspired Thérèse to search for an “elevator to climb the rough staircase of perfection”. And when she found it, she wrote, “The elevator that should lift me to Heaven is your arms, O Jesus! For this, I don't need to grow; on the contrary, I need to remain small, becoming smaller and smaller.” The arms of Jesus, who lovingly received the child of today's gospel, also awaits to receive us in our littleness so our itinerary can merge with his kenotic journey to Jerusalem. May the experience of being received by the Lord in our littleness, inspire us to welcome the little ones whom God has carefully placed in our one path of faith.