Jesus’ frequent mention of children can shed light on the nature of this Kingdom He speaks about, the Kingdom of his dear Father.

An instance occurs in Matthew’s 10th chapter when the disciples begin to chase youngsters away from the Lord Jesus. He gets annoyed at the Twelve for doing this, for they had presumed that children did not have much of a place in this new World Jesus has been proclaiming.

Jesus’ unusually strong rebuke reveals something missing in the disciples’ appreciation of who is to be included in the Kingdom of God. The opposite of shunning children, Jesus counters that they have a certain characteristic which in fact gives them entrance.

And that trait might be called “grateful acceptance.” Children receive things as gifts; they don’t insist that they have a right to what is being given. Down deep, they realize their total dependence on their parents. They don’t earn what they receive but are freely being given it. Their attitude is one of pure acceptance – and hopefully, grateful acceptance.

Cannot this childlike stance, total dependence on another, be a model for what St. Paul preaches as grace, the mind-set and the heart-set of gratefulness? The Kingdom of God is pure benefit. No one of us can bring it about or place a claim on it. It’s not our Kingdom but God’s, God’s world. Only those who appreciate it in this way, who receive it pure and simple as gift, may enter it

And so, Jesus’ annoyance at the disciples – them thinking that in some way they were more deserving of God’s favor than these bothersome little children. And The Lord’s forceful words: “Let the children come to me, for the Kingdom of God belongs to grateful people just like them”. And further, “whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a little child will not enter into it.”

That childlikeness, that grateful, unearned receptivity to God’s coming and invitation, is the lesson the Lord Jesus has been proclaiming ever since.

As Vincent so clearly makes this very point: “Ah! My brothers, it is not very difficult to find motives to love him; we need not go outside ourselves to find them, we need only consider the gifts he has made and daily makes us. And to oblige us still more he has made it a command. You can see that this subject, of itself, moves the will; when the soul in prayer takes fire at once, what need is there for reasons

(Volume: 11 | Page#: 234) Repetition of Prayer, 16 August, 1655 added on 6/28/2011