Homily for Tuesday of the 7th Week in Ordinary Time

Several years ago, I attended a Youth Ministry conference in Colorado Springs. There were a number of workshops and, during one of these, someone made a comment about youth, calling them “the future of the Church.” The presenter responded by saying, “Young people are not just the future of the Church; they are a real part of the Church of the present as well.” Indeed, he was right and one day, it will be their duty to teach and carry on the faith long after we are gone. 

It is with tender devotion, then, that the Church prepares our youth for their First Communion and (a few years later) for their Confirmation as well as for their future role as teachers of the faith. In these sacraments we are welcoming them into the Church, receiving them into the family of faith. That welcoming children is of great importance is clearly evident from today’s Gospel passage. In it, Jesus identified Himself very closely with children; He went so far as to say, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Our Gospel passage today suggests that somehow it is in and through children that we can best encounter Jesus and His Father. Elsewhere, Jesus identifies Himself with the most vulnerable — the sick, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the imprisoned. Children, by definition, are among the most vulnerable; they are dependent on others for life in all its dimensions. Today’s Gospel passage suggests that ministry to children and to young people, whatever form it takes, is a sacred ministry; it is indeed holy ground.+