1st Reading: Deut 31:1-8
2nd Reading: Mt 18:1-14
There is a story about a wise and holy man who was confronted by a bandit who wanted to take his life.
Wise man said, "Before you take my life, just grant me one wish. Cut that branch from that tree."
With one stroke of the sword, the bandit cut off that branch.
Wise man said, "Now put that branch back on the tree."
Bandit said, "Now that's stupidity. Anybody would know that it can't be done."
Wise man said, "It is also stupidity to think that it is mighty to use the sword to cut and kill. But real might is to build and heal. Those who do so are really the mighty.
In the Gospel, Jesus said that if we don't change and become like little children, we will never enter the Kingdom of God.
But it is not just like being little children. It is to be like little children of God.
The real power and might of the little children of the Kingdom is that they build bridges and heal broken relationships.
The spirituality of the little children of the Kingdom is that they face the complex problems of this world with simple Gospel truth.
When we build and heal with Gospel truth, we are indeed the children of the Kingdom of God.