August 19, 2023
by Tom Purcell
Creighton University's Heider College of Buine
click here for photo and information about the writer

Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 418

Joshua 24:14-29
Psalm 107:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Matthew 19:13-15

Praying Ordinary Time


Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer

Rediscovering the Corporal Works of Mercy

Have you ever wondered if the disciples occasionally felt frustration or even resentment toward the large crowds following Jesus?  These were men and women (although we know little of the women, there were some/many) who loved Jesus so much they gave up all their livelihoods, perhaps their homes and families, to follow Him.  They heard and felt His direct and personal call to them to “Follow Me” and they said yes.  They traveled with Him across Galilee and suffered physical deprivations and verbal abuse from many of their neighbors and countrymen.  They knew they loved Jesus, but likely wondered and had doubts about where this whole movement was going.

I can imagine some resentment in today’s short excerpt from Matthew – the disciples “rebuked” those parents and others who brought the children to Jesus so they could feel His touch and perhaps receive a cure for whatever ailments they suffered.  I imagine the disciples felt protective of Jesus.  Although they didn’t sign up for the job, by default they became a security detail for Him.  As the crowds increased in size, with more jostling, human interactions, clamoring for attention and generally more challenges, they must have felt frustrated and anxious and concerned for Jesus’ (and their own) safety.  But they also could have felt resentment and frustration – these crowds were commanding more attention from Jesus, leaving Him with less time to spend with His faithful committed followers. 

I can imagine Jesus gently rebuking the disciples with a just a glance, a look that said “I am disappointed in you – you know what I am about – why would you prevent these children from being near me?”  For Jesus, as He demonstrated and said many times, faith of the type children have was key to His message and ministry.  In one sense children were His target audience – they were pre-disposed to His message.  He tried, many times unsuccessfully, to educate their elders to be more like their children, rather than vice versa – as He said “. . . the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

What kind of faith do young children possess?  Watch little children as they interact with family and each other.  Of course, there are exceptions, but until they learn otherwise, young children generally are trusting, love unconditionally, are generous, uncorrupted, empathetic.  They see good and do not recognize bad.  A child’s natural reaction would be trust, to give and not calculate the cost, to hug instead of recoil, to smile and welcome instead of turning away.  A child is more open to seeing the world as a place of wonder to be savored instead of a place to be feared and avoided.

I think Jesus reminds us to be open to the child-like impulses in us all – to love and act and be more innocent and trusting and generous.  I think Jesus holds up the child as an example of what His call to be loving and compassionate and open to all God’s creations requires.  It seems to me that to answer His call we need to unlearn what moved us from our childish naturalness to guarded adulthood.  St. Paul famously wrote “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, etc. . . .”  I think Jesus might have said “When I was a child, I loved as a child, saw good in people, I opened my heart and arms to them, I comforted them, I was there for them.  I was like the bird on the branch singing with pure joy for the gift of creation.  I was mesmerized by the lilies in the field in their beauty and simplicity.  Now that I am a man, I need to find that child within me again.”    

My prayer today is to find the simple grace of that child within me as I navigate the complicated life of being an adult in our modern world.

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