When the Homily is about Immunology

Out of the mouths of babes...

Having children is unfathomably salvific in so many ways. Whether it is the martyric life of a devoted mother or simply the sudden realization that our parental frustrations at our children's seemingly absurd failures cannot compare to our own very similar failings from the perspective of heavenly things, children constantly provide us with little icons (windows) of the Kingdom.

Our Icon corner is set up in such a way that when we begin our evening prayers, I have to pull down the Icons of Christ and the Theotokos from their small corner shelves and pass them reverently into the hands of my children for them to offer their love and veneration. And last night as Charissa (my unbelievably hyper and troublemaking three year old) took the icon of Christ into her hands and instead of crossing herself, she very strangely paused and peacefully gazed at it for a moment. My wife and I watched, perhaps even abit put-out by the unusual delay, as her face suddenly illumined and a smile burst out: "Momma," she almost laughed, "Jesus is loving me!" And she quickly hugged the icon tightly, pressing it to her cheek. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end!

Remembering the words of our Lord ("Suffer the little children to come unto me...") coupled with a certain fear of the numinous associated with this unusual event, I easily beat down the sinful impatience in me and decided not to return the icon to its home until she felt quite certain that her special moment with God had "finished". I think for all of us, it was a special moment with God. Here is the icon, through which God spoke so wonderfully to Charissa...may it be a conduit for us as well.