Mary and Joseph are bringing their new baby, Jesus, “up to Jerusalem.” They are met by a man named “Simeon” who receives their little one as the “Christ.” Simeon beheld the child as one who would transform the world and “took him into his arms and blessed God.” “There was also a prophetess, Anna.” She too “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child.”
We are called to co-create a world in which all children are received as Christ. We are called to be Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna, lovers of little ones. Like each of them, we know we are blessed by God when we have little ones in our lives. We know to speak of all children as gifts from God. Children are the wonder of our world and spend their first years in wonder of the world. They are enthralled with all that is, for all is new and awesome. They want to experience and know and understand everything that is. They are tantalized by the most mundane which is to them fascinating and so they question. They are curious about all little things and all great mysteries and so they question. “Why did swear words get invented if we’re not allowed to say them?” “How did people make the first tools if they didn’t have any tools?” “What does it feel like on your last day of being a child?” “Why did my baby sister die and go to heaven to be happy? Couldn’t she be happy here with me? Wonder and mystery and the poignant questions they surface are marvelous companions for children. We are wise to let them be. Childhood questions of deep meaning stay with us and guide our lives. As children, we see the pain of racism, we ask questions, and we decide to live a life for racial harmony. We experience the suffering of an early illness, we ask questions, and we dedicate our lives to healing. We experience the joy of learning and know other young girls, and some boys too, are denied it, we ask questions, and we decide to live as teachers. To observe, ask questions, and live as a teacher was the decision of Maria Montessori (1870-1952). She saw the deprivation in children’s lives and created an educational method to foster a child’s natural desire to learn. Maria Montessori, like Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna was a lover of little ones. She was an Italian physician, peacemaker, and innovative educator who became so by observing children as they learned naturally. In 1907 she opened her first Casa dei Bambini, Children’s House, among poor families in Rome. The children played in nature, prepared meals, built toys, worked through puzzles, and asked questions – of all types, eager to absorb knowledge, to learn. Each child who had been rendered poor and judged worth less, was received as Christ, blessed by God. Each child was a holy child, born of a holy family. Each child was held as one who would transform the world because each child does.
“As we observe children, we see the vitality of their spirit, the maximum effort put forth in all they do, the intuition, attention and focus they bring to all life’s events, and the sheer joy they experience in living.” (Maria Montessori)
Prayer: Spirit, may I live as a holy child, helping transform the world as one holy family.
Question: How can I, in the context in which I live, love little ones?
December 27, 2020 Gospel Luke 1:26-38 Feast of the Holy Family