Our Daily Bread: Zech 8:1-8; Luke 9:46-50

The one who is least among you is the greatest.

From the prophet Zechariah, we hear of the poignant dreams of refugees who want only to grow old watching their children play in the safe streets of their homeland. Today’s world includes many such exiles, and their dreams are much the same. Have we forgotten Jesus’ promise that as we welcome the stranger, so shall we be welcomed; as we regard the poor, so shall we be regarded? Or as Jesus says in today’s Gospel, "greatest" and "least" have a different meaning in the kingdom. Jesus, fear for the future makes us cautious and less generous to others.

*Be the Lord of our fear so that we might not disdain the least.