Unless you become like a little child . . .

“Christianity is the only religion where you grow-up to be children,” an interesting insight coming from one of my graduate theology priest professors. Then there is the other side of the coin, “All grown ups were once children . . . but only a few of them remember it,” so wrote Antonio de Saint-Exupery in his classic tale, The Little Prince.

So what did Jesus mean when he said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18:3)”?

The typical sermon I have heard has been heavy on dependence.  While children do depend totally on their parents, this is a very small slice of the pie.  Not only that, children during Jesus’ time lived a far different reality than most children in our society today.
 
First and foremost, was a child’s typical life expectancy.  Almost one half of children died before reaching puberty.  This was due to disease and malnutrition in a population where seventy percent lived in poverty that could be made even worse by drought.  Such entrenched poverty existed for more than five hundred years, not just a few generations.  

The children who survived had no social rights or voice, and were part of a tightly structured family unit where everyone knew his or her place.  Also, the Romans conquered Israel in 63 B.C. and as one resource put it, Rome’s soldiers were “killing machines.”  Thus brutality was often an ordinary occurrence and life at best was terribly uncertain.  

Sad to say this description surrounds the lives of many children in foreign countries even today.  

Yet, in spite of these adverse conditions or maybe because of them, children are considered a gift from God. Jesus could see beyond the lack of social standing of children as he himself experienced being the eternal Child of his beloved Abba.  How often he must have looked into the sky and the fields delighting in how his Father clothed the flowers in splendor and fed the singing birds. In sum, Jesus is the model of being childlike: trusting, curious, open to wonder, spontaneous, with hunger for learning, teachable, forgiving, filled with a zest for life and laughter.
 
Yet for many children today, their childhood has been stolen or destroyed.
So what can we do to help children be children?  We can begin with intercessory prayer:
 
True prayer always calls for a response. Here are a few suggestions for you to consider helping a child be a child. If you gave at Christmas, thank you. If not, consider making a donation when children really need help which is during summer and into the fall.

• Hope House (361)852-CARE. They are always in need of diapers.
• West Side www.wshhcc.org Children’s books, art supplies, group games
• The Ark (361) 241-6566. Call before you donate to find out what is needed.
• Restore New York is a safe haven for women over the age of 18 who have escaped human trafficking. If the woman is under 18, she is sent to one of Restore’s partnering organizations. restorenyc.org.
• St. Mary’s University in San Antonio has established Marianist Mission (Marianist Mission, Mount Saint John, 4435 E. Patterson Rd., Dayton, OH 45481-0001). One can sponsor a child either in India or Kenya for $125. This donation pays for both meals, uniforms, books and tuition fees for a year.
• Other Catholic colleges and universities will most likely have similar programs.

Resolutions at the beginning of the New Year help us return to the basics of self-care, both physically and spiritually. Perhaps you might consider the most radical or basic resolution, that is, to seek the grace of becoming like a child. Abba, our Father is waiting.