Posted by The WORD in other words (2010) by Father Flavie Villanueva SVD – Saint Jude Shrine, Manila
Monday 26th Week in Ordinary Time
A famous writer, John Wilmot, once remarked:
“Before I got married, I had six theories about bringing up children. Now I have six children and no theories.”
His experience reminds us that life teaches lessons that no theory can fully explain. Love, especially the love between parents and children, is learned not from books but from relationships.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus addresses His ambitious disciples, who were arguing about who among them was the greatest. In response, He placed a child before them and said:
“Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the One who sent me” (Luke 9:48).
A child is a remarkable symbol. Children are dependent because they rely on the care, protection, and guidance of others. They are also vulnerable because they trust easily, feel deeply, and open their hearts without reservation. It is precisely these qualities of simplicity, trust, and openness that Jesus proposes as the pathway to true greatness in the Kingdom of God.
Yet while Jesus points to children as signs of the Kingdom, we cannot ignore the reality that countless children in our neighborhoods and cities are wounded by neglect, abuse, poverty, violence, and rejection. Many wage a daily battle against circumstances that deprive them of the security and love they deserve.
How tragic when the home, which should be a dwelling place of love, becomes a place of fear; when hope is replaced by despair, and faith by indifference. The family is meant to reflect the heart of God, where love flourishes and every person is valued.
Today’s Gospel invites us to ask ourselves:
- How am I making a home for my children?
- How do I welcome the wounded children around me?
- Do people find acceptance, safety, and compassion in my presence?
For parents and all who care for children and young people, one of the greatest legacies we can leave is not wealth or success, but helping them become better persons than we ourselves have been.
The poet Kahlil Gibran expressed this beautifully:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their house dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot
visit not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make
them like you.
For life goes on not backward but tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living
arrows are sent forth.
The Archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might that His arrow may
go swift and far.
Let your bending in the Archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves
Also the bow that is stable.
May our homes become places of love rather than fear, of hope rather than despair, of faith rather than indifference. And may all who enter our lives find, through us, a glimpse of the Father’s welcoming heart.
Prayer
Father of mercy, teach us to receive one another with the simplicity, trust, and openness of a child. Help us to create homes where love flourishes and faith grows. May we always remember that we are Your beloved children, and may our hearts remain open to all who seek a place of welcome and belonging. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
One comment