Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time A-1
Entrance Antiphon Ps 13 (12):6 O Lord, I trust in your merciful love. My heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord who has been bountiful with me.
Collect Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, always pondering spiritual things, we may carry out in both word and deed that which is pleasing to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Scripture today: James 5:13-20; Psalm 141:1-3 and 8; Mark 10:13-16 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)
Jesus and the child Over the decades I have often heard variants of the expression, “the good old days.” By that I mean that I have often heard sentiments that express a sadness that things have deteriorated from how they used to be. Of course, there is some truth in this. Society has become more secular in its culture, even if there were plenty of individuals who were very secular in previous times. Forms of practical atheism and religious agnosticism seem to have spread to a greater extent than used to be the case. And so we could go on. But there have been many decided advances. I am convinced that education is of a much higher quality than it used to be, and pedagogy in our schools is much better. Another advance, I think, is the appreciation of the value and dignity of the child. Of course, there are anomalies in this. Abortion is much more prevalent today than it was, say fifty years ago. Nevertheless, for those children who do make it to birth, in general their rights are now supported much more than previously. If there is a case of child abuse the processes of the law swing into action in the child’s defence. The child tends now not to be overlooked. The Christian ought rejoice in this greater appreciation of the child and his needs and rights because Christ mentions the child in our Gospel passage today. If Christ is God the Son made man — which he is — and if he is the way and the truth and the life for man — which he is — then what greater blessing could there be for a child than to come into contact with the living Jesus? In our Gospel today we read that people were bringing little children to Jesus to have them touch him. Throughout the Gospels we read of people trying to touch Jesus, and even just to touch the hem of his garments. They knew that if they did this they would be healed of their infirmities. Contact with Jesus brought healing and life, and he himself said that he had come to bring life in abundance. So the friends and families of children brought them to him for them to touch him. From that touch, they were confident there would come a blessing for their child.
What was our Lord’s response to the children being brought to him? He warmly encouraged it, and was indignant with his disciples for making it difficult out of a misplaced concern for his convenience (Mark 10:13‑16). Imagine the delighted smile that appeared on the face of Christ as each child was presented to him. Imagine the love that emanated from his eyes as he gazed on each child, perhaps looking not only into that child’s heart but looking ahead to what life would bring for that child. A child can turn out well, and a child can turn out badly. Consider our Lord’s own disciples. Consider the Twelve. Each was once a child. John the beloved disciple was once a child, as was Simon Peter and James. How well they turned out! They became, as St Paul called them, the pillars of the early Church and Simon himself the Church’s visible Rock. Judas was once a child too. He grew up, was a youth, a young man and in his adulthood was called by Christ to be one of the Twelve. But how badly he turned out! He was once a child. As Christ gazed into the eyes of each child presented to him perhaps he thought of his own childhood and of what life had brought for him. We read that he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. The prayer of Christ is very powerful indeed and we must assume that Christ’s blessing was a very great thing in the life of those children. As we think of this scene we are reminded that the greatest thing we can do for a child is to bring that child into personal contact with the living Jesus and his word. We read in St Paul that in Christ is contained every heavenly blessing. Therefore it is so important that the child be brought into contact and union with Christ. In our Gospel scene the parents of those children did this. Let all parents do the same. From the child’s earliest years, let parents bring their children to Jesus. Jesus resides in his body the Church. He is encountered in his word as read and proclaimed by the Church, and in the Sacraments. How tragic if a child grows up and has little or no contact with the living Jesus.
Our Lord holds up to us all the dispositions of simple openness to him that we could say is characteristic of the child. The readiness of the child for love and for reality is easily translated into readiness for the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these, our Lord says. And what is the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God in the first instance is Jesus himself. God’s presence and lordship is found in him, and we become citizens of that kingdom by entering into union with him. Let us then be like children brought to our Lord for his blessing.
(E.J.Tyler)