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Reflections for Sunday
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time - September 21, 2003
Jesus gathered the Twelve around him and said, "If anyone wishes to rank first, he must put himself last and be the servant of all."
Then he took a little child and stood him in their midst. He put his arms around him and said to them, "Whoever receives a child such as this in my name receives me. And whoever receives me receives not me, but the One who sent me."
Mark 9: 35-37
The Children of God
Inside each one of us is a little child. It is the child we started out as. When we came into the world, we brought joy and excitement to those around us. We were filled with vibrant new life. Everyone loved us. We were beautiful.
But life has been hard on most of us. Life is a long journey, and it has left us tired and footsore. We have been bruised by the harsh conditions of the places we have traveled. Some of the beauty of our youth is weathered and faded. Some of our inocence is lost.
But something within us has not changed. Hidden within us is that child who came into being when God touched us and put the spark of life in us. This child is no longer recognizable to anyone, not even ourselves. But it is the child whom God sees when he looks into our hearts.
In the eyes of God we never cease to be the beautiful child he created, and he never ceases to love us. His heart is stirred with the same joy and excitement over us today as he felt on the day he created us. God sees in us what we really are: a pure, innocent child, filled with life, beautiful to behold, to be loved with a never-ending love.
If we are to be fulfilled in the holiness for which we were created, we must rediscover the child within us who is loved by God. We must understand that our worth comes not from anything we make of ourselves, but from what God makes of us.
And the worth of every other person is just the same. Human distinctions mean nothing. The great and the small among us are all the same. We are all little children, brothers and sisters, hardly able to take care of ourselves and each other, but in the end kept safe in the hands our Father who loves us.
God our Father, you created us in your own image and filled us with your life-giving Spirit. You guide and protect us with a Father's love. May we live as your children, pure and innocent, and faithful to the love for which you created us. At the end of our journey on earth, may we be welcomed to the joy of heaven, where we long to rest with you in eternal life.
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