Children as sacraments: Finding Grace in Chaos

This powerful reflection weaves together three urgent observances: the First Sunday after Christmas, Holy Innocents Day, and Sanctity of Life Sunday. At the heart of this message lies a sobering reality: we live in what may be history's most murderous age, with over 63 million lives lost to abortion in the United States alone since 1973. Yet rather than simply condemning, this teaching invites us into a profound understanding of how children function as sacramental gifts from God. Drawing from Psalm 8:2, we discover that out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, God ordains strength. Children accomplish three transformative works in our lives: they soften us, drawing us out of ourselves into attentiveness and wonder; they destroy our idols, particularly our obsession with self-will and control; and they give us an icon of innocency, teaching us how to live without the twistedness that characterizes adult sin. The message culminates in a stunning truth: God did not come around childhood but through it. The Incarnation itself demonstrates that the Son of God entrusted Himself to the vulnerability, chaos, and dependence of infancy. Whether we have children or not, we are called to live as though a little child were always in the room, allowing God's gift of life to reshape our souls and restore us to a state of holy innocence.