We are all beloved children of God, our only Father, and we must have the heart of a child who is obedient to his father—innocent and pure, following after the heart of Jesus, our Lord. Just as no one is prevented from turning to the Lord, neither shall we prevent anyone whose heart is ready to receive the Lord.
We are individually accountable for our own sins. While it is true that some heinous sins are passed down to the children because their impressionable minds who see and learn from their parents commit the same sins, still the Lord, in His mercy, will forgive them if they repent for their own sins, just as he forgives us when we turn away from our own sins and return to him.
Lord Jesus, create in me a heart after yours and mould me into the person after your own heart. Amen.
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First reading
Ezekiel 18:1-10,13,30-32 ·
You, not your children, will suffer for your sins: so repent, and live
The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows:
‘Why do you keep repeating this proverb in the land of Israel: “The fathers have eaten unripe grapes; and the children’s teeth are set on edge”?
‘As I live – it is the Lord who speaks – there will no longer be any reason to repeat this proverb in Israel. See now: all life belongs to me; the father’s life and the son’s life, both alike belong to me. The man who has sinned, he is the one who shall die.
‘The upright man is law-abiding and honest; he does not eat on the mountains or raise his eyes to the idols of the House of Israel, does not seduce his neighbour’s wife or sleep with a woman during her periods. He oppresses no one, returns pledges, never steals, gives his own bread to the hungry, his clothes to the naked. He never charges usury on loans, takes no interest, abstains from evil, gives honest judgement between man and man, keeps my laws and sincerely respects my observances – such a man is truly upright. It is the Lord who speaks.
‘But if anyone has a son prone to violence and bloodshed, then this son shall certainly not live; having committed all these appalling crimes he will have to die, and his blood be on his own head.
House of Israel, in future I mean to judge each of you by what he does – it is the Lord who speaks. Repent, renounce all your sins, avoid all occasions of sin! Shake off all the sins you have committed against me, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why are you so anxious to die, House of Israel? I take no pleasure in the death of anyone – it is the Lord who speaks. Repent and live!’
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Gospel
Matthew 19:13-15
Do not stop the little children coming to me
People brought little children to Jesus, for him to lay his hands on them and say a prayer. The disciples turned them away, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children alone, and do not stop them coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ Then he laid his hands on them and went on his way.
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