Hearth & Altar

The disciples asked Jesus who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. He called a child over, stood her in the middle of the group of grown men, and said: unless you turn and become like this child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest.

Then he said: Do not despise one of these little ones - for their angels always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.

Every child in your family has an angel standing before the face of God right now. Jesus said so, plainly, as a statement about the dignity and attention given to the small.

And if a man has a hundred sheep and one goes astray - does he not leave the ninety-nine and go search for the one? God runs to find the one.

Clare of Assisi gave up everything that anyone in her world would have counted as greatness - wealth, family position, the prospects of a good marriage - and spent forty years in radical poverty. Her community became one of the most enduring in the Church's history. She was the little one. She found the kingdom.

• For our family, that we would receive the children in our midst as Jesus received the child he placed in the center of the debate, we pray to the Lord.
• For the children in our family, that they would know their angels are always before the face of the Father - that they are watched, known, and searched for, we pray to the Lord.
• On the feast of Saint Clare, for all those who have chosen poverty and simplicity for the sake of the kingdom - that the Church would see them as the treasure they are, we pray to the Lord.
• Under the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the little ones in our family who feel lost right now, that the shepherd would go to find them, we pray to the Lord.

At dinner tonight, ask: Who are the little ones in your school or neighborhood that sometimes get left out or looked past? What would it look like to receive them in Jesus's name?

You are the shepherd for your family. The ninety-nine are important. But the one who is straying gets something different from the ninety-nine - the whole attention of the one who goes searching. When one of your children is straying, that is the shape of what is asked of you.