4 October 2025 Saturday, 26th week
Ba 4:5-12, 27-29; Luke 10:17-24
Homily
Dear Brothers,
Today's Gospel is taken from the series of teachings that Luke places together during Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, which we have been reading for the past few days, and which begin with the enumeration of the radical demands of following Christ: ‘No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God...’ Then Jesus sends His disciples out on mission two by two. And when they return, joyful at their success – they have succeeded in casting out evil spirits – Jesus reminds them that this was given to them. And it was given to them because they left everything to follow Christ and made themselves ‘little’.
And then Jesus himself rejoices as he speaks to his Father, because this message, hidden from the great and the powerful, has been revealed to those who have made themselves small. Little Thérèse, whose feast day we recently celebrated, always reminds us that this is also the meaning of Spiritual Childhood. Jesus, in the Gospel, never calls us to remain children. He calls us to ‘become children’. This is very different. To become a child, one must first become an adult and go beyond that. The path of spiritual childhood taught by Thérèse is the path of detachment that leads to freedom.
We celebrate today the memorial of saint Francis of Assisi.
Armand Veilleux