“Jesus seeing the thoughts of their hearts, took a child and set him by him, and said to them: Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me; and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me.” -Luke 9:47-48
In the past, people saw children as a blessing from God. Married couples prayed and earnestly asked God for children. Both men and women found immense joy and fulfillment in raising their children. Devastatingly, the exact opposite is true for many people today. Children are seen as a burden to many. Many young couples choose to go “child free” and never have children. Many families that do have children choose to only have one or two and then permanently mutilate themselves to block having anymore. Several people who do have children complain about them often. Some even go so far as to say they regret the children they do have. This is truly devastating to both our society as a whole as well as to every person. In this Gospel, Jesus has the cure to this selfish and self seeking culture. The cure is not easy, but it will bring incredible joy and fulfillment. And it is, in fact, a cure that we need, because there is something truly sick about how we treat having children.
What is the Cure?
So what cure does Christ offer? Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me. We must surrender our fertility wholly to God, and have a generosity of spirit with the one who is so generous to us. Practically, this has several meanings which the Catechism beautiful lays out:
2366 Fecundity is a gift, an end of marriage, for conjugal love naturally tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church, which “is on the side of life”teaches that “each and every marriage act must remain open ‘per se’ to the transmission of life.”This particular doctrine, expounded on numerous occasions by the Magisterium, is based on the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act.
2367 Called to give life, spouses share in the creative power and fatherhood of God. “Married couples should regard it as their proper mission to transmit human life and to educate their children; they should realize that they are thereby cooperating with the love of God the Creator… They will fulfill this duty with a sense of human and Christian responsibility.”
2371 “Let all be convinced that human life and the duty of transmitting it are not limited by the horizons of this life only: their true evaluation and full significance can be understood only in reference to man’s eternal destiny.”
Surrender
This is not an easy teaching, but it is absolutely necessary for our salvation that we follow it. By surrendering our own wills to God in this, we will find true and lasting fulfillment, joy, and peace. Children are one of the greatest gifts God can bless a family with!
