Putting His Arms Around a Child . . .

From yesterday's gospel reading:

"Taking a child, he placed it in the their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.”

I don't know if the Chicago Tribune follows the liturgical calendar,
but yesterday's front page story fit the gospel reading perfectly.

Christ's antidote to the general squabble for power and status was perfectly captured in this story of a family "surviving on faith" and yet opening their arms to children from Africa.
Keeping our eyes and ears open, we can find words of encouragement all around us, I believe!

What strikes me especially is Jesus' statement that in receiving a child, we receive Him. Is it possible that the powerlessness and total reliance a child has, and our embrace of the child in that light, is how we should embrace Christ? We think of Christ as the "Almighty" - why would he have any need of OUR assistance? It's the other way around. But isn't Jesus saying, "In embracing a child you embrace me, for I am powerless for you and rely on you." To me, this is a wholly new way of seeing Christ, i.e., as being in need of, or at least asking for, our embrace, our compassion and aid. But it makes sense if we are Christ's eyes and ears and hands on this earth. Our compassion for our neighbor bespeaks our compassion for Jesus, in his plight, until he comes in glory.