Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:1-14
A pleasing incident is recorded of Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary. Hundreds were coming to him with their needs, their questions, and their heart-hungers, and he was weary almost to utter exhaustion in days and nights of serving. At last he said to his attendant: “I must sleep! I must sleep! If I do not, I shall die. If anyone comes — whoever comes — waken me not, for I must sleep.” He then retired into his tent, and his faithful servant began his watch. It was not long, however, till a pale face appeared at the tent-door. Xavier beckoned eagerly to the watcher and said, in a solemn tone: “I made a mistake; I made a mistake. If a little child comes, waken me.”
There is something in this wondrously like the Master. He never was so weary but the coming of a little child awoke all His love. His interest in children appears throughout all the Gospels.
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