26 May 2018 - like a child

Today's Readings (Audio)

People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them,

If we come to Jesus as children he will embrace us. He will touch us with his healing power. Children don't earn their place before Jesus. They have nothing to offer him. They can't prove they deserve his love. Yet he lavishes his love upon them. It is to such as these that the Kingdom belongs. We can become like them. We can embrace the Kingdom of God like a child. Indeed, we must.

Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it.

We find Jesus's loving touch in the sacraments of his Church. He wants to embrace us in each communion. He wants to anoint us when we are sick. He wants to forgive our sins when we confess them to the presbyters.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another
and pray for one another, that you may be healed.

We must approach Jesus in these sacraments. If we only approach the men through whom God administers them we may not receive all the grace he has for us. Like children, let our gaze not stop at the men around him but continue on to Jesus. Like children, let us trust that Jesus loves us and wants us near. 


The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.

The Church must pray fervently. In her prayers she brings the little children to Jesus. We must join in this fervent prayer. It can be fervent because we ourselves are small enough to trust in Jesus. We join this prayer to bring all the world close to him.

Then he embraced the children and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.

To be small is not a trick that requires a complex methodology. It means simply abandoning our pretense and coming before God as we are. 

For toward you, O God, my LORD, my eyes are turned;
in you I take refuge; strip me not of life.