“Let the children come to me!” Who says that? Maybe: A clown at a kids’ party? Santa Claus? Perhaps a Librarian at story time?
Can you think of any more? Perhaps we can, or perhaps we don’t want to… Children require a lot of responsibility and work, and usually end up needing something that we selfishly struggle to give them in the day-to-day busyness of life: LOVE!
If we have attended at least one or two weddings, we have heard the readings about love being patient, kind, and several other great qualities that we often lack. Why was Jesus asking for the children, you may ask? Probably, because He was tired of the adults and their needs. Not that their needs were bad, but they are far different from the needs of children. Children usually come with big dreams and a sense of expectancy. As adults, we tend to approach Him with conditional desires and doubtful dispositions.
We have all heard the saying that the Lord helps those who help themselves, but guess what? Nowhere is that written in Sacred Scripture! The opposite is more accurate! Think about it, Christ’s heart is always drawn to the most humble and needy, to those like the lost sheep (Luke 15: 4-6). He is closest to the broken-hearted with crushed spirits (Psalm 34: 19).
The Daily Miracles Abound!
Coming to Jesus as a child involves vulnerability, a quality we prefer to keep well-hidden as adults. Think about how we prepare ourselves for Mass. Do we come as children with excitement, ready to experience full love and contentment? Or do we come with preconceived notions of what we expect to happen? After all, we are receiving God’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity! As adults, we seem to lose our sense of wonder and excitement. We forget to expect the unexpected!
We experience such miraculous things from the hand of God: a sunrise, physical and mental healings, fellowship among family and friends, peaceful rest, delicious food and nourishment, health, reconciliation…just to name a few! Daily miracles abound!
From time to time, like the disciples in today’s Gospel, we may fall into the judgmental role of rebuking others according to our failures and shortcomings. However, as noted in the Gospel today, we are reminded that the kingdom of God belongs to “such as these.” Are we “such as these? Well, pending the day or moment we can be, but we need to always be ready for humility in our knowledge of who God is and what He is asking of us.
Jesus wants us to come away from all that keep us in bondage to be with Him in Heaven! Our job is to practice by giving him all the things that keep us from being like children. Lack of trust is our biggest barrier. We know he wants us to trust Him. He wants us to come to Him for everything that we need, so why not start now? Perhaps, by the time we are ready to be with Him, we will have experienced a little bit of heaven along the way.
