Daily Gospel Reflection for January 23, 2022

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

With those children old enough to understand.

Let those words sink in: “with those children old enough to understand.”

From the book of Nehemiah, the Jewish people, exiled in Babylonia, had returned to a city in ruin and a people ignorant of the faith. To revive the faith, Ezra the priest interpreted the law from “from daybreak till midday . . . so that all could understand what was read” beginning “with those children old enough to understand.”

In our culture, where fewer and fewer men and women know or embrace the faith, parents/grandparents struggle, worry, and ask: Where do we begin? How will our children have faith within the ruins? We. Start. Now. “With those children old enough to understand.”

We cultivate faith by soothing our crying infant and by acting tenderly with our toddlers. We read story books about Jesus to our preschoolers and teach them how to pray.

And like Jesus, we “unroll the scroll” of Scripture in our homes with the eyes of our children upon us. We interpret God’s words—God’s laws—according to each child’s age and understanding. And as first preachers to our children and grandchildren, we start now by preaching of God’s loving presence to “those children old enough to understand.”

The way out of despair and destruction is through God’s words of “Spirit and life.” The Gospel writer Luke recorded the events “so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.” These are the beautiful teachings we must pass on to “those children old enough to understand.”

Our culture declines, but there is a way forward, and it starts with us! We. Start. Now. “With those children old enough to understand.”

Ponder:

How will you pass on the words of Spirit and life to your children/grandchildren?

Pray:

Dear Lord, Help us to unroll the scrolls and pass on Your beautiful teachings to our children/grandchildren. May they live by Your words of Spirit and life.

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Where do we begin? How will our children have faith within the ruins? We. Start. Now. “With those children old enough to understand.” #dailygospel

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