Children
Christ's tender love for children is reflected in the Church's care of her children
OUR SAVIOR was conversing with His Apostles at a house in which He was a guest, when a group of mothers and children approached. The mothers may have heard that Jesus was about to leave the neighborhood, and they were anxious to have Him bless and pray over their children before He left. It was a pious custom for mothers to seek this favor from the hands of rabbis and doctors whom they revered; in seeking the blessing from Jesus they were showing high regard for His holiness, goodness, and power.
The Apostles rebuffed the group as troublesome intruders. They may have objected to having their own conversation with Jesus interrupted, or they may have objected to anything that would further tire our Lord.
When Jesus saw what was happening He was displeased with the Apostles. Gathering the children around, He told His followers that God's kingdom is for those who are like children, that is, for those who are innocent, humble, obedient, and simple; that, in fact, those who do not receive the kingdom of heaven as little children will not enter it.
Today we are the children of the Church. As Christ gathered the children around Him to bless them, the Church, our Mother, gathers us, her children, to bestow her heavenly favors upon us. In Baptism, First Communion, and the administration of the other Sacraments, the Church is forming in us that childlike innocence and simplicity that prepares us for the heavenly kingdom.
"Amen I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God as a little child will not enter into it."
MARK 10:15
THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS has had strong appeal to the hearts and minds of children in all ages of the Church. Through the process of canonization the Church has crowned the heroic virtue of several young people: among the best known of them is Saint Aloysius.
SAINT AEOVSIUS GONZAGA (1568-1591) was the eldest son of an Italian nobleman who wished his son to follow him in the soldierly and diplomatic life; so, it was to these things that the very young boy's interests were directed.
When Aloysius was seven, he began to give quite serious attention to his own religious development. He faithfully recited daily the Little Office of Our Lady as well as the Penitential Psalms. His confessors testified of him later that never in his life did he commit a mortal sin. Such was the completeness of his early surrender to God!
When, at the age of seventeen, he announced his intention of entering the Society of Jesus, his father offered strong opposition; but the boy won out and was admitted to the novitiate on Nov. 25, 1585. Submitting himself completely to the discipline, he advanced to the study of theology and to the reception of minor orders.
When a plague broke out in Rome in 1591, Aloysius was one of those who gave personal service to the sick and who themselves contracted the plague. He passed from the plague to a serious fever that slowly brought him to a holy death about midnight of June 20, 1591. Canonized in 1726, he is now the protector of students and the patron of Christian youth.
OUR SAVIOR was conversing with His Apostles at a house in which He was a guest, when a group of mothers and children approached. The mothers may have heard that Jesus was about to leave the neighborhood, and they were anxious to have Him bless and pray over their children before He left. It was a pious custom for mothers to seek this favor from the hands of rabbis and doctors whom they revered; in seeking the blessing from Jesus they were showing high regard for His holiness, goodness, and power.
The Apostles rebuffed the group as troublesome intruders. They may have objected to having their own conversation with Jesus interrupted, or they may have objected to anything that would further tire our Lord.
When Jesus saw what was happening He was displeased with the Apostles. Gathering the children around, He told His followers that God's kingdom is for those who are like children, that is, for those who are innocent, humble, obedient, and simple; that, in fact, those who do not receive the kingdom of heaven as little children will not enter it.
Today we are the children of the Church. As Christ gathered the children around Him to bless them, the Church, our Mother, gathers us, her children, to bestow her heavenly favors upon us. In Baptism, First Communion, and the administration of the other Sacraments, the Church is forming in us that childlike innocence and simplicity that prepares us for the heavenly kingdom.
"Amen I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God as a little child will not enter into it."
MARK 10:15
THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS has had strong appeal to the hearts and minds of children in all ages of the Church. Through the process of canonization the Church has crowned the heroic virtue of several young people: among the best known of them is Saint Aloysius.
SAINT AEOVSIUS GONZAGA (1568-1591) was the eldest son of an Italian nobleman who wished his son to follow him in the soldierly and diplomatic life; so, it was to these things that the very young boy's interests were directed.
When Aloysius was seven, he began to give quite serious attention to his own religious development. He faithfully recited daily the Little Office of Our Lady as well as the Penitential Psalms. His confessors testified of him later that never in his life did he commit a mortal sin. Such was the completeness of his early surrender to God!
When, at the age of seventeen, he announced his intention of entering the Society of Jesus, his father offered strong opposition; but the boy won out and was admitted to the novitiate on Nov. 25, 1585. Submitting himself completely to the discipline, he advanced to the study of theology and to the reception of minor orders.
When a plague broke out in Rome in 1591, Aloysius was one of those who gave personal service to the sick and who themselves contracted the plague. He passed from the plague to a serious fever that slowly brought him to a holy death about midnight of June 20, 1591. Canonized in 1726, he is now the protector of students and the patron of Christian youth.
posted by Big Heavy | 8:12 PM
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