Tuesday of 19th Week, Year II: reflection

Childlikeness: our vade mecum for the heavenly journey

Reading: Mt 18:1–5,10,12–14

Have you been worried about where and how to begin the heavenly race, which saint to follow his/her footsteps, and which religious book to make your vade mecum? Worry not, the help you seek is at your fingertips.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus gives us a simpler figure whose life we should imitate if we want to enter the kingdom of God, a figure that is right before our eyes and would not require making any extra effort to search about his/her lifestyle from religious books and sites. He said: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Dear friends, Christ is inviting us to imitate the virtues of little children if we want to gain entrance into God’s kingdom. Among the child-like qualities, humility, innocence/purity, honesty and total trust stand out. Children are naturally humble and depend on their parents for everything; they trust and obey their parents because they believe their parents love them and will always give them the best; they are pure in heart because they know no evil and can’t plan any evil.

Like little children, we are to pursue our ambitions with humility; we are to trust and obey God always, believing that He knows the best and will always give us the best at all times; we are to purge from our hearts all evils plans and sins so that our childhood innocence will shine out once more; and we are to avoid all traces of crookedness so that honesty and simplicity will mark every step we take.

May your Tuesday be richly blessed. Amen

Fr Isaac C. Chima