As we begin the month of October, a month the Church sets aside in intentional prayer for the dignity of life and the flawless witness of our Blessed Mother, it seems only fitting that we remind one another of the abundance of life in our own Collaborative.
Our Sunday 9AM Family Mass is not the only place where you will find the faithful witness of young families gathered to participate in the celebration of the Mass. Voices and hearts of all ages make up the fabric of each of our Masses. We are so grateful that at the St. John-St. Paul Collaborative it is rare to experience a Mass without the simultaneous presence of those with a lifetime of devotion and wisdom under their spiritual belts as well as little hearts learning to know and love Jesus.
The prophet Jeremiah assures us that each of us is formed in our mother’s womb and deeply known by God. The Psalms instruct us that children are a heritage from God, and the prophet Isaiah teaches that each child should be instructed by the Lord’s presence. For any of us who have attempted to wrangle a lively 3 year old with only Cheerios, coloring books, and promises of donuts for good behavior, the road to a peaceful Mass may seem like decades in the making. It’s easy to find ourselves questioning what we (and our children!) are getting out of the experience, and our own exhaustion can tempt us to simply throw in the towel. Unkind glances and words from fellow parishioners can only serve to further our doubts and weaken our resolve that we are forming our children in the very ways the Church teaches.
To these parents we say: it is your child’s baptismal right to participate in the Mass, even with their joyful shouts and unexpected sprints up the aisle! From the moment each of us was baptized, we were folded into the family of the Church, marked with the indelible and irrevocable dignity of God’s children.
To every member of our Collaborative, from the youngest to the oldest , we say: participation at Mass is not what we do. It is who we are. God’s family would be incomplete without the participation of these baptized children, no matter how distracting anyone might find them. Jesus does not find them distracting. Jesus encourages them to come to Him. Jesus gently places His hands on their shoulders and uses them as examples of holiness.
Removing children from our gathered congregations denies us all an opportunity to grow in the virtues of patience and charity. It robs parents of the gift of hearing the Word of God and receiving the Eucharist, and it deprives Our Lord of the sacred moment of making Himself known and understood by little ones in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. After all, how can we learn to love someone if we don’t get to know them day after day, Mass after Mass?
A church without children is a dying church. Sadly, there are many dying churches, as countless studies and Mass counts prove. St. John-St. Paul Collaborative is not one of those places. We are graced by the presence of the children in our midst. We are grateful to the parents who persevere in bringing them, even when it’s challenging, so that they may meet Jesus and we may see God alive in them. We are blessed by parishioners who offer encouraging smiles and words for these young families, whether they are remembering their own days wrangling toddlers, or simply reflecting their joy at seeing new life and a new generation in our Church.
Let us open ourselves up to the lessons Jesus is teaching us through the presence of young families in our pews, never forgetting that we too were once children and that we all are blessed to be called Children of God.