Like little children

Monday, September 26, 2016 26th Week in
Ordinary Time
First Reading: Jb 1: 6-22
Gospel Reading:
Luke 9:46-50
One day the disciples were arguing about which of them was the most important. But Jesus knew their thoughts, so he took a little child and stood him by his side. Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. And listen: the one who is found to be the least among you all, is the one who is the greatest.”
Then John spoke up, “Master, we saw someone who drove out demons by calling upon your name, and we tried to forbid him because he doesn’t follow you with us.” But Jesus said, “Don’t forbid him. He who is not against you is for you.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Children today are the stars in our wide screens, the come-ons in our advertisements and the attractions at our parties and gatherings. Those who maltreat them can go to prison (Republic Act 9269). On the other hand they can commit crimes without having to worry about imprisonment (Republic Act 9344). What a great privilege it is to be a child today, at least in the Philippine context!
It was not so in the time of Jesus. Children then were powerless. Like slaves they were accorded no rights and there were no special laws protecting them. This helplessness made their dependence on adults more pronounced. This caught Jesus’ attention because it provided an excellent backdrop of his teaching on openness and dependence upon God. In today’s Gospel reading Jesus gave tribute to children when he said, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me” (verse 48).
Since the world of children has dramatically changed from the time of Jesus to our present time, we need to identify what traits children used to possess that open heaven’s gates to anyone possessing the same. What is the essence of childlikeness that takes adults to the heights of spirituality?
“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them,” wrote James Baldwin. The quality of children’s openness to the influence of adults is the quality that Jesus would like to find in our openness to the power of God. When we remain open to God the way children are open to adults, God’s grace can flow in us according to the measure we need to soar high in spirituality. Then we can rightly claim some rights to heaven, for Jesus said that it is to children that the kingdom of God belongs. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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