Today, The Church provides two key readings that seem to tell the faithful to be Catholics. The first is from Reading 1 ez 2:8-3:4“The Lord GOD said to me: As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you: be not rebellious like this house of rebellion, but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.”
What was given? “It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me, in which was a written scroll which he unrolled before me. It was covered with writing front and back, and written on it was: Lamentation and wailing and woe!
What was he given to eat? He said to me: Son of man, eat what is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat. Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. He said: Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.”
Is this a symbol for the wafer, The Body of Christ, given to the faithful at Communion, first at The Last Supper, since then, at Catholic Communion? When we consider that The Body of Christ is The Word of God, they symbolism becomes clearer to those who strive to see.
This lesson is reinforced in today’s Gospel Reading. It includes Mt 18: 1-5 “The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.”
We will not “enter the Kingdom of Heaven” unless we “become humble like this child”. If we think we are above receiving Communion in The Church He Founded, we are not being humble. Really, isn’t that all we need to know?
What are these passages? Warnings to those outside. If we choose to read and humbly heed, we must “become like children”. We will humbly obey and work to worthily receive The Sacraments. We’ve been warned.
If we do not heed the warnings, what excuse will we have? We will not be able to say, “No one told me. I wasn’t warned.”
