Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 346

Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it.”
Then he embraced the children and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

In 2003 John Katz showed America the darker side of its love for dogs with his book, The New Work of Dogs, tending to life, love, and family. With several tragic stories, he showed how the animals disappointed their owners who wanted unconditional love from them; a commodity which they could not find among their neighbors, family, and friends. Some dogs were supposed to be companions to the sick and elderly, until the sick or elderly died and the animal were turned out of doors. Some slept with their owners to replace lost lovers; others provided children with a way to terrorize their enemies. Sone were nuisance ornaments because "every family should have a dog."  After the initial excitement they were too large, too demanding, and always in the way. Since there is no such thing as unconditional love, the animals suffered neglect, maltreatment, or death when they failed to do the work they'd been assigned. 

The same author might have written a companion piece about America's children. We are entertained by images and stories of darling children laughing, dancing, sleeping, or crying, but a huge percentage of our children grow up in poverty, suffer undernourishment and poor health care, and will never be given equal opportunities to education and careers. The single largest determinant of a child's future is the presence or absence of a father. 

Like the poor, minorities, and the disabled, in the world we have created, children should be seen and not heard. 

Ready access to abortion sorts children into categories of wanted and unwanted. Unwanted children may be destroyed before they're born, preferred children may be afforded prenatal care and, if necessary, fetal surgery. However, when the preferred child disappoints their parents, they may suffer a loss of standing in their homes. Or the loss of their homes. If the child was supposed to be their mother's lover, a stand in for an absent adult male, the tragedy reads like yesterday's news. Children are no more capable of unconditional love than dogs, cats, fish, and birds.

We should read today's gospel in view of the phony romance we attach to children, the responsibility of caring for children, the harsh realities of the world we create for them, and the hope they still represent. Jesus blesses the children for they are the powerless victims; he hears their cry with the cry of the poor, and he demands that we sacrifice for them the gifts we would give ourselves.