From Sacred Space, this week

Something to think and pray about this week

You remember the Gospel scene (Mark 10:13) where Jesus encountered noisy children. A crowd of them interrupted his preaching, and the apostles were shooing them away. They were boisterous, energetic, enjoying life, running instinctively towards someone who also enjoyed it. The apostles spoke sternly to those who brought them. (‘ These kids are not serious. We are here to listen to the Sermon on the Mount and we can't hear him properly with all this noise and commotion.') Jesus intervened, invited the children closer and laid his hands on them. He gave them two precious things that cost no money; time and affection. These days, parents often experience a famine of time, so that children suffer from too little attention. Concern about children's safety means that children suffer from not being touched - as too-careful adults teachers avoid responsibility. Yet children's needs remain the same.