Overview:

A Reflection for the Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels

A Reflection for the Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels

The disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?”
He called a child over, placed it 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 humbles himself 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.” (Mt 18:1-5, 10)

Find today’s readings here.

There is a purity to childhood.

Life is simpler but also more magical when we are children. It is a time of learning, a time when we are taught what is right and wrong, good and bad, moral and immoral. It is the time when our minds are most open. Yet childhood is something that we are encouraged to grow out of—often sooner rather than later. Do we not often see children being praised for being “mature” or “grown up” for their age? Society is so eager to tell children to move past their childish ways. I fear that this stance may be misguided.

Children are curious about the world they live in. They have a natural openness that we lose once we reach adulthood and become set in our ways. Because everything is so new, all that they experience is novel. There is an uncomplicated joy in the happiness of, say, outside play or the thrill of a swingset or a day at the beach. These are small, simple things, unburdened by the complications of adult life.

The question that needs to be asked is not when children will learn that adult life is this big complicated mess, but whether or not it needs to be that complicated in the first place.

Jesus puts it this way: “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” He frames the child’s perspective as one of humility. Things are only so complicated in the adult world because we humans introduce that complexity. Jesus is asking us to, at least for a moment, look upon the world as a child does: as a wonderful thing, filled with opportunity and enjoyment, not as a terrible and unforgiving place that we must fight.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones,” Christ says. There is wisdom in the way a child interprets this world. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if we were all a little more like the way we used to be.

Kevin Christopher Robles is the studio production associate at America. He was previously an O'Hare Fellow and intern.