Love Your Children Before They Leave (A Priest's Call to All Christians)

 

What Connects the Three Readings

On the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, it can be hard to find the thread running through all three readings. But if we focus on a few key passages in each one, something clear and powerful emerges.

In the first reading from the book of Exodus, the Lord says, “Though all the earth is mine, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people.” At first glance, that can sound like God is playing favorites, like one group of people is getting special treatment over everyone else.

But we have to remind ourselves that no group of people is homogenous. If God said America is his favorite country, well, you have the old and the young. You have the sick and the healthy. You have believers and non-believers. You have everyone. So there is no real exclusion here. The Lord is dealing with people, not a nation, not a race. Just people. We are his people, the sheep of his flock. That alone is deeply reassuring.

The Depth of What Christ Did

The second reading is perhaps the most reassuring of all. Paul writes that Christ died for us while we were still helpless, while we were still sinners.

Think about how hard it would be to give your life for a good person. That would already take tremendous courage. Now imagine being asked to lay down your life for someone who does not even love you, someone who has nothing to offer you in return. That is even harder. And that is exactly what Christ did.

Even though we were sinners. Even though we were helpless. Even though we were not good people. Christ died for us anyway. And Paul’s conclusion follows naturally from that. How much more, then, since we are now justified by his blood?

Jesus Saw People. The Disciples Saw a Problem.

The gospel brings everything into focus with one simple observation. At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned.

Jesus saw people. The disciples, understandably, saw a logistical nightmare. They saw a crowd that was going to be hungry and tired, a crowd that needed feeding and managing. Maybe they even saw a good collection that day.

But Jesus saw something else entirely. He saw their fears, their loneliness, their confusion, their hopes, and their dignity. He saw their souls.

So the three readings together point to the same three things: people, compassion, and a mission.

I Hate Summer

We all have a tendency to reduce things we should not reduce. We reduce people to something less than persons without even noticing we are doing it.

Think about the way different groups see the people around them.

• Politicians see voters.

• Businesses see customers.

• Kings see subjects.

• Governments see taxpayers.

And families are not immune to it either. Parents can fall into the habit of seeing their children as cheap labor.

Growing up, I hated summer. Every summer, there was a new project waiting. One year, I had to build a brick patio in the backyard. That meant digging nearly a foot down, laying a tarp, putting in gravel, then sand, then brick, leveling everything, ordering the right number of bricks. An entire summer gone.

That patio still exists, somewhere in upstate New York, in a house no one took care of, overgrown now and mostly forgotten. The father who assigned the project has passed away.

Time with your children disappears faster than you think. In ten years, they will not even be in the house anymore. After Mass today, go have lunch with them. Get an ice cream. Look at your children as more than a to-do list. Appreciate the time you have, because it will not last.

Technology and the Danger of Reducing People to Data

Technology does not make this any easier. Pope Leo recently wrote an encyclical on artificial intelligence, and one of its central concerns is exactly this. AI takes people and reduces them to data. Data becomes king. Data becomes gold.

Technology itself is not the enemy. Many people use it every day and find genuine value in it. But as technology increases, humanity has to increase with it. Otherwise it is like putting dangerous tools in the hands of children. You want the rise of technology to be matched by the rise of civilization, the rise of our humanity.

Because AI will never give you the love or the compassion or the relationship you are actually looking for. Never. That is the crux of the encyclical’s message.

People need relationships. People need compassion. People need purpose. And people need fun.

Go have fun with your family, your spouse, your children. The bills will still be there. The chores will still be there. The things that need fixing will always need fixing. But go and do the things that only people can do together. Have a relationship. Enjoy this life. Do not reduce it to one chore after another.

The Mission Is Simple

So what is the mission that comes out of these readings?

The temptation is to reduce people to less than they are. That temptation is everywhere, and it is constant.

As Christians, we are called to resist it. We are called to be experts in seeing people. Not voters, not customers, not data points, not cheap labor. People. With fears and hopes and dignity and souls.

That is the mission. And it starts today.