The Gospel for Saturday of the 19th week in Ordinary Time is taken from Matthew 19:13 were brought to Jesus, that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, let the children come to me, and do not prevent them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. After he placed his hands on them, he went away There are many ways in which children become model for us in the Kingdom of God, and one that I’d like to stress is simply the fact that children naturally are drawn to play more than they’re drawn to work. Play is spontaneous, it’s free, it’s filled with imagination and wonder. Work is more of a task to be accomplished, something that needs to be figured out, worked on, improved, changed. We have to have both in our life as adults.

We need to have a time to relax and play and enjoy simply being alive. It’s not all about work. Please take a few moments to reflect upon the thoughts that I’ve offered in these reflections, and then I will offer a closing prayer. Foreign Closing Prayer Father Perhaps more than ever now we seem to be preoccupied with things that have to be dealt with. Our imaginations are kind of on the back burner as we continue to use our our minds to figure things out, to make decisions. Bless us with the mind of a child so we can simply relax and enjoy the beauty that we sometimes miss that is all around us.

And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.