Encountering Christ in the Sacraments

Yesterday's Gospel reading (for the Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time) was as follows:

Children were brought to Jesus that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." After he placed his hands on them, he went away. Matthew 19:13-15

In the Daily Ignatian Reflection from the Magis Institute, Father Matthew Monnig, SJ, wrote:

"Today's Gospel is the short account of people bringing children to Jesus, 'that he might lay his hands on them and pray.' It is perhaps easy to romanticize the privilege of this encounter, thinking that after having Jesus lay hands on them and pray, they would be instantly and visibly changed. We might think that the power and grace would be absolutely overwhelming. If only we had such a privilege, to have Jesus pray over us!

"Yet I imagine that these children walked away visibly the same as before, and that they did not immediately understand or appreciate the grace they had just experienced. They were not, however, unchanged. In fact, they were in fact profoundly changed in as a result of contact with Jesus and his prayer. Contact with Jesus cannot fail to change a person. These children went away transformed in a way beyond human perception, through a personal and direct contact with the eternal, living God made flesh. The fruits of this transformation may not have been immediately apparent to the naked eye or their subjective perception, but they were real nonetheless.

"Something much like this occurs in our own encounters with the Lord, particularly in the sacraments. The experience of these children may be subjectively quite different from what we have in the sacraments, but what we receive in these moments of encounters with Christ is every bit as powerful and decisive in our lives. We may come away apparently unaffected, but in reality we are transformed. We must never underestimate the value and power of even a single sacramental encounter with Christ, much less the cumulative effects of a sacramental life. We may feel as if it's not changing us, not sinking in or having its effect, but the reality is that in the sacraments we have a privilege every bit as great as the children brought to Jesus. When we come to the Lord in the sacraments, we also receive the grace of his hands upon us and his prayer over us. In this, we are transformed in a way beyond every human perception, even our own."

(For more information about the Magis Institute, please visit: MAGIS Center for Catholic Spirituality)