by Gloria Maité
In today’s reading of the Gospel at the Catholic Church, Jesus urges each of us to be like children:
"The disciples approached Jesus and said,
'Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?'
He called a child over, placed him in their midst, and said,
'Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever becomes humble like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.
See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.
What is your opinion?
If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the stray?
And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it
than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost'."
(Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18:1-5.10.12-14)
This week at the Vedanta Society we have many of these little ones attending the Children Camp. They create so much uncertainty! Their little hands reaching hidden places, their feet running faster than their minds, their shining eyes and smiles breaking through all routines, rhythms, and ideas of organization that the life at the center usually holds. What to do with so much vulnerability and fearlessness? “Become like children,” says Jesus, and I wonder if I have grown up too much to fit through the door of the Kingdom of heaven.
I think, what it means is we shouls be simple and guileless and without attachment like children. Gospel cannot tell us to be disorderly or silly like them, just as it cannot tell us to be small-sized like them.
ReplyDeleteSChaitanya
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna says "once you realize God alone is the doer you become pure" in my opinion one of the main things children have that we lack is purity, when they "sin" they dont beat themselves up and expect perfection, they just exist in the moment and dont hold guilt
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, what is special about children is the lack of "I-conciousness". Before they develop the illusion of an 'I', they talk about themselves in the third person. They don't think so much about what they are. That's why they also don't ask whether they are big(ger) or small(er) and that's why they can be truly humble.
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