“AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM.”
In today’s First Reading, Isaiah foresees “in days to come” that “all nations” will “go up the Lord’s mountain” and that they will enjoy peace with one another, for “one nation shall not raise the sword against another.” Oh, how we long for such a peace in the world today. “The Little Child shall lead us.”
Little children find it easy to make friends—and the Child Jesus comes to be friends with us: “I have called you friends” (John 15:15). We also find wonderful examples of friendship in the lives of the saints. Erasmus, the friend of St. Thomas More, wrote of him: “He seems to be born and made for friendship.” Mike Aquilina, in his book Friendship and the Fathers, points out that even when the early Church was enduring persecution, she continued to grow through friendship, even with those who were not Christians.
Today, in a world that is often painfully divided and full of contempt for the other, the Child Jesus leads us differently, in treating everyone with respect—for “if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). Hatred is not creative. Only charity is creative. “Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:8). Love is the one thing we will take with us after death.
Lead us, Child Jesus, to friendship with You and with one another.
Come, Lord Jesus!
Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA
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