Today's Gospel reminds me of an incident I experienced in a church a number of years ago. There was a family with little children including a baby. During mass the parents tried to keep the children quiet, then the baby started to cry. They church had no crying room. After mass an older parishioner told the family they weren't wanted at the church, that they should not come back. To see the look on the parents' faces was heart breaking. They had come because they had that strong desire to adore and honor the Lord and receive him in Holy Communion. This was their faith. This was the faith that they had their children baptized into. It is a shame that the family was rejected the same way the parents and their children were rejected by the disciples. But in both cases, there was a happy ending.
Jesus rebuked the disciples and freely opened his arms wide to the little ones. God so loves us not matter how old we are, or difficulties, or infirmities. In the case of the family, the parish priest took notice and in the manner of Christ, wrapped his vestment covered arms around the parents in a warm embrace and asked them to continue to come, that the person was in error, that they were wanted. He befriended them. As the children grew they became some of the first altar servers at the parish.
The point? Everyone has their place. Everyone is needed. Those little children who hang around their parents knees at the church, they need to be welcomed by us, not rejected. It is they who reteach us what it is to live in innocence.
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