If ever we find ourselves slow in understanding everything about Jesus and His mission, we can always turn to the Gospel for consolation: in their day, Jesus' disciples were just as slow. It required a long time for the full truth of the Gospel to penetrate their spirit. It required the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. But, as the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles demonstrate to us, the learning process with all its pains did not come to an end at Pentecost.

We too, still have to assimilate the Gospel. Like the disciples, our own way of looking at things will often be rather different from Jesus' way. To enter fully into the spirit of Jesus, today's Gospel suggests two necessary things. First of all, we ourselves must become like little children, accepting Jesus' blessing and so belonging to the Kingdom of God. Then, too, we must ensure that the children of the world are brought to Jesus for His blessing. Becoming like little children is perhaps a life-long spiritual task. Given the way the world abuses our children, ensuring that they are brought to Jesus for His blessing is an even more enormous task. It is one that we cannot shirk without destroying our civilization.