Children and Reign of God

7th Week in Ordinary Time - Year 1 (Saturday, 2 March 2019)

Sir 17:1-15. Ps 103:13-14, 15-16, 17-18. Mk 10:13-16.

"Let the little children come to me."

These days many adults talk about the little child in them. Many would like that little child to be born in them. Considering what Jesus said about little children this might be a useful development. He invites us all to be like little children in their openness to the reign of God.

Parents can tell you stories about that candour. A mother told me how she was with her two children during a Eucharistic celebration when the parish priest asked whether anyone would be willing to take a child, a refugee from Africa, into their home for a month or two. He quoted Jesus saying that anyone who receives a child is receiving him. Her children looked up at her but said nothing. A week later the pastor repeated his appeal. Her daughters looked up at her again.

After Mass the first thing these children asked their mother was, “Can’t we take that child?” Their mother replied that she didn’t think it a good idea, and that seemed to end the conversation. But that night when she was putting her children to bed, her eldest daughter asked, “Don’t you think that Jesus would have done it?” At first the mother didn’t even know what her daughter was talking about. But then she understood. She said, “I think he would.”

That evening she discussed what had happened with her husband. They decided to contact their pastor and arrange things. The excitement at the breakfast table next morning was enormous!

Sarafina lived with them for about half a year. Her presence was a joy to the whole family. It was one of those cracks through which the reign of God broke through in our world.

(From: Entering the Lectionary.)