Coffee With God

Reflection: Mark 10:13-16

Jesus reprimanded his disciples who wanted to prevent people from bringing children to him. Although in our Church communities we speak so much about welcoming people to Church and bringing Jesus to the people around us, it is also true that we behave like the disciples and prevent others from approaching the Lord. By doing this, they were under the impression that they were helping Jesus. They had done the same thing in Jericho when they tried to silence the blind man. Pope Francis says that “It was as if they had said ‘protocol does not permit it”, he is the second Person of the Trinity…! The Pope narrated two situations where the Church closed its doors on the face of the people. The first is about an engaged couple who went to a parish office to get their marriage blessed. Instead of receiving support and congratulations, they were sent away with a list of the prices for the wedding. So they found the doors closed. Those who could have opened the door, thanking God for this new marriage, on the contrary, shut it on their face. So often “we control faith rather than facilitating it”, and this is something “which began in Jesus’ time with the Apostles”. We are tempted to “take over the Lord,” says the Pope. The second situation was of an unwed-mother who goes to the parish to ask for Baptism for her child. And she is sent away saying: “no, you can’t have it, you’re not married”. The Pope says, “Look at this girl who had had the courage to carry her pregnancy to term” and not to have an abortion. “What does she find? A closed door.” “This is not good pastoral zeal, it distances people from the Lord and does not open doors. Today’s Gospel is a challenge to the priests and the faithful. How welcoming are we in our approach towards people? Today the Word of God reminds us that if we wish see the face of God, search form him among those little ones, those in need: in need not only of material goods, but of care and comfort, such as the sick, the elderly, prisoners, immigrants and those abandoned by the family or the society. This is why Jesus gets angry: any offence against a little one, a poor person, a child, a defenceless person, is an offence against Him. Jesus wants everyone to be close to him. Let us ask the Lord to grant us the openness of heart that all who approach us and the Church find the doors open to encounter Jesus’ love.