"And a little child shall lead them"

 

Last Sunday, I ran into a group of children in the church breezeway.  They were concerned that one of their companions was missing.  Ah,  one of them determined, he must have gotten away to get a donut after Mass!  With that, they went happily along to find him.  I know this group by their extra-curricular activities.   They are somewhat of a microcosm of the Catholic Church.  They are Black, White, and Asian.   Their parental roots hail from at least four different countries and three separate continents.   Their differences don’t seem to matter.  What  does matter  is sticking together and looking out for one another.   Their care for one another at such a young age is striking.  I can’t help but thinking their compassion  is a reflection of their circumstances.  One child in the group has a form of autism and struggles daily to make progress.  Two others have a younger sibling who not long ago was  diagnosed and survived leukemia.  Already, they have a sense  of what it means to die and to rise.

Our young friends are a profound example of evangelization, of how the Eucharist makes Church and how the Church makes Eucharist.  They are being formed as a body broken, poured out, dead and risen, open, available, vulnerable and united at the core.  They, in turn, are forming and attracting others.  Their parents told me other children are coming up to them and basically saying, “I want what you have.” 

Like these children who are learning how to companion each other through life,  we are called during Lent to companion our catechumens, (the unbaptized) and our candidates, (the baptized who seek full communion or the completion of the initiation sacraments).  Since the earliest centuries of the Church, Lent has been about walking with the catechumens in their final preparation for the sacraments of new life.   

O Lord, as you companion us, may we take seriously our role to be good companions on the journey of faith.  AMEN.