Christ blesses little children

St Matthew Chapter XIX : Verses 13-15

Contents

• Matt. xix. 13-15.  Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Notes on the text.
• Additional Notes: When he had imposed hands upon them. Infant baptism. Care the Church has of the “little ones.”

Matt. xix. 13-15

Suffer the little children ./.. to come to me. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

13 Then were little children presented to him, that he should impose hands upon them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them.

Tunc oblati sunt ei parvuli, ut manus eis imponeret, et oraret. Discipuli autem increpabant eos.

14 But Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such.

Jesus vero ait eis : Sinite parvulos, et nolite eos prohibere ad me venire : talium est enim regnum cælorum.

15 And when he had imposed hands upon them, he departed from thence.

Et cum imposuisset eis manus, abiit inde.

Notes

    

    13. Then were little children. Perhaps under seven, and also infants would doubtless be included. The original Hebrew word used by St Matthew and the Greek word used by St Mark have both been rendered by “ parvulos ” in the Vulgate. St Luke alone employs the word “ infantes,” i.e. “ infants.”

that he should impose hands., etc. The three Synoptists employ almost the same words in this narration, shewing that they derived their information from a common source. Evidently those who brought the children believed in the power and goodness of Jesus.

    and pray. Peculiar to St Matthew’s account.

    the disciples rebuked, etc. They thought Jesus had more important things to do. St Mark tells us that Jesus was much displeased at their conduct. They had evidently forgotten the lesson our Lord had inculated such a short time before, when He had taken a child and set him in the midst of them. Christ would have these little ones treated with kindness and love, and may we not fear that He is much displeased now with those who defer or neglect to have the little ones brought to Him by holy Baptism ?

    The Church wills that infants should be baptized as soon as possible. The bishops have a right to fix a limit as regards the time within which a child should be baptized. Those who do not present their children within the prescribed time are guilty of sin. It is always a mortal sin to defer baptism when the child is in danger of death.

    14. Suffer the little children, etc. On these words and on those of our Lord to Nicodemus, Unless a man he born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (St John iii. 5), the Church grounds her teaching concerning the necessity of “Infant Baptism.” It has always been practised widely in the Church, for we read in the Acts of whole families being baptized, and we may reasonably conclude that young children were included in these families.

    forbid them not. Lit. “ Do not hinder them ” (μὴ κωλύετε αὐτὰ). Most probably the disciples were preventing those who could walk from approaching, while they were forbidding those who brought them to come near.

    is for such, — i.e. the kingdom of heaven is for children, and for those who resemble them by their innocence, simplicity, and humility. In other respects the adult is not expected to resemble a child, since, as we advance in age, to the simplicity of the dove we must join the wisdom of the serpent. Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves (supra, x. 16).

    Note.— The other Synoptists give our Lord’s words more fully: Amen I say to you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall not enter into it (St Mark). Here again we have a solemn declaration made by our Lord he who will save his soul must receive the kingdom of God (i.e. the doctrines taught by Christ and His apostles, and which are handed down to us by the Church) with the simple faith and unquestioning obedience of a little child.

    15. when he had imposed hands, etc. In St Mark we read : And embracing them and laying his hands upon them, he blessed them.

    Note. — This is the second time we are told Jesus embraced children, and each time it is St Mark who records the fact —

    (a) When Jesus set a child in the midst of His disciples (ix. 35).

    (b) When mothers brought their children to Christ (x. 16).

    It was customary for Jewish parents to bring their children to be blessed by the elders and also by any person whom they considered particularly holy. We read in the Talmud (in Part II., the Gemara or Commentary on the Law), “After the father of the child had laid his hands on his child’s head, he led him to the elders one by one, and they also blessed him, and prayed that he might grow up famous in the Law, faithful in marriage and abundant in good works.”

    Since Christ blessed little children, it is evident that they are capable of receiving, spiritual graces, though they cannot understand anything about the graces that, are conferred on them, and are unconscious of the obligations which the reception of the sacrament of regeneration involves.

Additional Notes

    

    15. When he had imposed hands upon them. In so doing our Lord did not merely perform a symbolical action, but He actually conferred a spiritual blessing on these little ones, which we may be sure had its influence on their after life. The act of laying on of hands was expressive —

    (a) of blessing (i.e. invoking God’s favour on the recipient). Thus Jacob blessed Joseph’s children, “he set Ephraim on his right hand . . . . but Manasses on his left .... stretching forth his right hand, put it upon the head of Ephraim .... and the left upon the head of Manasses .... and Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph” (Gen. xlviii. 13, 14, 15).

    (b) as a sign of consecration. In the rite for the consecration of the Jewish priests God enjoined that “Aaron and his sons” should “lay their hands ” upon the heads of those who were to be consecrated. “ Thou shalt present also the calf, before the tabernacle of the testimony. And Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon his head ” (Exod. xxix. 10).

    (c) as a sign of healing. It was thus that Eliseus laid his hands on the dead child of the Sunamitess and restored him to life. “ And he went up .... and put his hands upon his hands,” etc. (4 Kings iv. 34).

    The Church wills that her children should be solemnly blessed by the hands of her ministers. Thus priests give their blessing privately at discretion, at the end of Mass, in Confession, etc. Bishops bless the people solemnly, and are allowed to use the triple sign of the cross. The Pope gives his solemn benediction to the people at Easter, on the Feast of St Peter and St Paul, and on other occasions.

    Infant Baptism. Parents and guardians are strictly bound to present for Baptism children who have not yet come to the use of reason. This is a solemn precept of the Church. In the Middle Ages the Anabaptists, and in modern days the Baptists, have repudiated Infant baptism. “ It is difficult to give strict proof from Scripture in favour of it, nor can it be denied that in the early ages people often deferred their own baptism and that of their children (except in danger of death), from the dread of incurring the responsibilities of the Christian life ” (Catholic Dictionary), yet the practice of Infant baptism is amply justified —

    (a) by inference from Scripture,

    (b) by tradition,

    (c) by the testimony of the Fathers.

    (a) Scriptural inference. Our Lord said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not,” etc. (St Mark x. 14). Again we read : ‘ ‘ Unless a man be born again of water,” etc. (St John iii. 5). Further, the apostles frequently baptized whole families, in which children must have been included.

    (b) Tradition. The Church has always held that infants are capable of receiving spiritual graces, although they are unconscious of the reception of the same, and for a time incapable of fulfilling the obligations entailed by baptism.

    (c) The testimony of the Fathers. To quote only two :—

(1) St Irenæus (Bishop of Lyons, circa 178) writes, “ Christ came to save all— all, I say, who through Him are born again to God, infants and little ones, and boys and young men and the aged.”

(2) In answer to a question as to whether, on the analogy of circumcision, baptism should not be deferred till the eighth day, St Cyprian (Bishop of Carthage, 248-287), in council with sixty-four bishops, replies in the negative, on the ground that “ if adults are admitted to the font, how much more should those be baptized at once who have not sinned, except so far as by natural descent from Adam they have contracted the infection of ancient death.” He then goes on to prove that “infants should come more easily to the remission of sins, since it is the sin of another, not their own, which is remitted to them.”

    Note. — The Anabaptists refuse baptism to infants on the ground that they cannot receive spiritual graces, since they are not capable of understanding them. To this we can reply that our Lord, who never performed a meaningless action, blessed little children, and declared the kingdom of heaven to be for them and those who resembled them. Now, since they are born in original sin, which in their case baptism alone can remove, it is evident that they should be baptized, lest they should die before they come to the use of reason, and thus lose heaven.

    Another objection put forth against infant baptism is that we have no right to impose on the child obligations which he, when grown up, may repudiate ; that by so doing we are hampering his personal liberty. The answer to this specious objection is easy to find. Parents do not hesitate to remedy any physical defect in their children. They do not wait till the child is old enough to wish for himself. Nor, if it is a question of their child inheriting a fortune, do they hesitate to accept the inheritance, and to accomplish the necessary formalities in the name of their child, though the possession of this wealth involves certain grave responsibilities. All human beings, by the very fact of their existence, have responsibilities to face ; they have duties to God, their neighbour, and themselves, which they cannot repudiate except at the risk of their eternal happiness. The grace of baptism enables the child, as he attains the age of reason, to accomplish these duties, and if the child dies before he attains the use of reason, it opens heaven to him.

    Care the Church has of the “little ones.”

    The Church takes the children especially under her maternal care. Thus she provides by imposing on parents and guardians these solemn duties. They are bound under pain of sin —

(1) To have children and wards baptized without delay.

(2) To see that these children are taught their prayers and catechism.

(3) To send them to Catholic schools, or if this be impossible, to withdraw them from non-Catholic religious instructions, and to supply the deficiency at home.

(4) To prepare the children for Confession as soon as they reach the use of reason.

(5) To exact (health permitting) that from the age of seven the children abstain from meat on Fridays and other days of abstinence.

(6) To send them to Mass on Sundays and days of obligation from the age of seven.

(7) To present them to the parish priest for first Communion and Confession “as soon as they are capable of being instructed in these sacred mysteries.”

(8) To watch over the morals of their children, and by their precepts and examples to train them to lead a Christian life.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.