Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (19: 13-15) in which Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me, do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs”.

Fr Paul says the centre of Matthew’s version of this little narrative is the blessing of children – in other words the actual ‘laying on hands’. Matthew leaves out Jesus’ rebuke of the disciples, which is found in other gospels, for turning the children away. Jesus simply says, let the little children alone and let them come to me….

Here we are talking about young children up to the age of seven. So, Matthew maybe saying that children of any age should be welcomed in the Christian assembly. This contrasts with the Jewish assembly where children had no status and had no part in the assembly.

Fr Paul says, perhaps Jesus, like Pope Francis and himself, preferred a ‘messy Church’. As Fr Paul likes to say, ‘Mass is not a mass without a baby or a child crying out at some stage during the mass!!’ All are welcome.

For our reflection today, Fr Paul invites us to consider, ‘Do I welcome everyone or am I intolerant towards others?’