Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
In the Gospel today, the Lord explicitly tells us that we have to become like little children in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. There are two primary reasons for this. First, children possess an acute ability to wonder in amazement that we, as adults, have often lost. I was once holding my one year-old nephew near a window as a robin alighted on the sill just outside. To me, it was just a bird. I had seen a million birds before. No big deal. But to my nephew, it was an absolute miracle. His little eyes widened as he experienced a new creature for the first time and thought, “What is THAT?!” To me, the robin was ordinary and unworthy of attention. To him, it was captivating and miraculous. As adults, we often become so desensitized to the miraculous reality of human existence. We have lost the ability to see God in the details of everyday life. We will not be able to perceive God’s presence in our lives until we once again become like little children.
The second thing about children is that they are totally dependent. They have no pride in their abilities to provide for themselves because they know they cannot. The wisdom of the world tells us that we have to become the biggest, the strongest, the most popular, the most influential. The wisdom of God tells us that we cannot even sustain ourselves in existence for a single instant. Everything that we are and have in every instant of existence comes totally from God. There is nothing we could ever do to earn His love. He offers it totally and freely at each moment of our lives. The only thing that we have to do to receive and enjoy this infinitude of blessings each day is to become once more like little children.