Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13, 30-32 / Matthew 19:13-15
The gospel passage of today is very heart-warming, yet at the same time, rather perturbing and maybe also disturbing.
It was heart-warming to see that people were bring their little children, and probably even the infants in their arms, to Jesus for Him to lay His hands on them and say a prayer.
It goes to show that people see Jesus as a holy person, as one who has the heart of love, and so they ask Him to pray and bless their children.
What is perturbing and disturbing is that the disciples were turning them away. Why would the disciples want to turn away such humble and commendable requests?
Well, if anything, the preceding passage was about marriage and divorce and the difficulties of marriage.
With the discussion of such a serious topic being broken by such commendable, mundane requests, the disciples thought it was an appropriate time for such thing.
Yet Jesus deemed it important enough to attend to such requests. And indeed it was important enough, and just as important as the topic on marriage and divorce.
Children are the fruits of love of a marriage union, and certainly the parents would want their child to walk the right path and grow into a good and God-loving person, and hence their request for Jesus to bless their children.
But if ever the parents view their children as security for the future and with other selfish motives, then it would not be likely that they would ever care about their children's spiritual growth.
So by all means bless your children, and whenever possible, have them blessed by the priests too.
Although the proverb in the 1st reading is ruled out by the Lord Himself (the fathers have eaten unripe grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge), yet another way of looking at it can be this ...
The parents have tasted the sweetness of the Lord's blessing, and may their children continue to taste the sweetness of the Lord.