Raïssa Maritain used to clip photos of children from the newspaper. This went two ways. In one way, their eyes may have been innocent and spoke of the hope and truth of the God of the Gospel. In another way, their eyes may have been taken by the mud of the world, cares, and everything imposed on them from without, despite their age.

The point is not to pass any judgment. That’s never the point with our neighbours.

The point can be twofold. One can either see the action of the Holy Spirit, in those children whom Jesus let come near to him, whom Jesus used as examples, and whom Jesus said that, insofar as faith is concerned, we must imitate.

Or, when the muck and the evil of this world (they’re not exactly the same) have laid hold of some children past a certain age, we may realize the depth of evil, in seeing innocence as, at least visually, not all it could be. We may be launched, because of the presence of evil, into the arms of God, to contemplate and love, for those are the only answers that can always, in every situation, be sought.

It is, or can be, the same when we walk the street and meet children every day. They were a special window of Jesus’ teaching, and they are a special window in the Christian life.

Some related posts:

• Jesus and Children
• The Divine Image
• Marbles