Gospel (Mt 18,1-5.10.12-14) - At that time, the disciples approached Jesus saying: "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?". Then Jesus called a child to him, placed him among them and said: «Truly I say to you: unless you convert and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever becomes as small as this child, he will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes even one of these children in my name welcomes me. Be careful not to despise even one of these little ones, because I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and loses one, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains to go in search of the lost one? If he succeeds in finding it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that were not lost. So your heavenly Father does not want even one of these little ones to be lost."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Jesus, having finished his ministry in Galilee, is preparing to ascend towards Jerusalem where death and then resurrection await him. The evangelist notes that "at that moment the disciples approached Jesus" to ask him: "Who, then, is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?". It is a question that shows their distance from the teacher. In truth, it is a situation that continues to repeat itself even among today's disciples: how many times do we forget the Gospel because we are only worried about ourselves or our records! Jesus did not immediately respond with words; he took a child and placed him "in the middle", in the center of the scene, and turning to the disciples he said: "If you do not convert and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven". With these words begins the fourth long discourse of Jesus to the disciples, and it is a splendid reflection on the life of the Christian community. The beginning is already paradoxical: the disciple is not like an adult, a mature man, as we would have thought, but a child, a little one in need of help, support, a son. The disciple is a child who must always remain such, that is, in need of the Father to be helped, cared for, accompanied. And to the disciples who were struggling to understand, he explains that those who have responsibilities must still maintain the condition of "son", of child. Indeed, only he who is a son can also be a father in the community of believers. In the kingdom of God we always remain children. And Jesus warns against despising the disciples, the little ones: their angels are always before God. This means that God protects them. And it is in this wake that the extraordinary parable of the lost sheep that Jesus tells to show the quality of God's love for his children is grafted. He does the impossible so that none of his little ones are lost.