Yesterday at the 9:30 a.m. Sunday Mass I heard the voices of children. I love to hear them calling out during Mass even during my homily. It is always a sign to me that our parish is alive when we hear the voices and cries of the children. We always want to make the children feel welcome and we also want their parents to feel comfortable even when their children are not on their best behavior or acting like little angles. We are a church family welcoming the young and the old, the quiet and those crying out.
Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel these children preach even when or especially when they are calling or crying out. What do children teach us? Jesus tells us that they show us how to receive Jesus and so receive God. Jesus’ disciples had been arrogantly arguing about which of them is the greatest. Jesus shows them a little child and declares: “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
Who is the greatest? Jesus tells the disciples that “the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.” So, this little child, the least among them, shows these disciples how to be great in the eyes of God.
God speaks to us through the children of our parish. God invites us to trust Him with the same joy and trust of a little child. Let us listen to the voices of the children.