Mtr Mary Trainor

Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world

Dear friend,

Character counts.

It seems obvious on its face. And yet, in light of recent days, maybe we should not assume anything about human conduct, especially about something as critical as character.

It’s a mistake the religious experts made over and over in the Gospels. We find their lack of understanding again today in Matthew (15:1-20), one of the Daily Office readings. They are upset because Jesus lets his disciples eat without having washed their hands.

Yes, it was a tradition to wash hands, a tradition that carries
into our homes today, even without COVID-19. But it was only a tradition. Jesus says the toxic stuff, the stuff that will kill us, comes from inside us.

Red, brown, yellow
Black and white

The summer following Year 1 of seminary, I returned to Southern California where, to make some money, I worked as chaplain at a residential treatment center for abused and neglected children.

The residents were boys and girls, ages 5 to 12, and their histories would horrify the most hardened criminal. If we learn to behave based on our early home lives, these children had a lot to overcome.

This residential center placed a lot of importance on healing and development. Healing wounds, developing trust. Healing hearts, developing souls. They were so serious about this, they utilized the chaplain to do spiritual inventories of each child upon admission, and also to be part of a campuswide curriculum called Character Counts.

They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children
Of the world.

Conducting the spiritual inventories I learned how devoid of “spirit” their early years had been. Physical, emotional, sexual abuse, fueled by parents’ drug usage, constituted their toxic curriculum. Survival, literal survival, was the daily goal.

We knew that unless the pattern was interrupted, these children might well continue the violent cycle in their own lives. Dirty hands would not be the problem. Rather it would be the malformed character of their hearts.

A countermeasure was needed. Using Character Counts and offering a brief nondenominational chapel service on Sundays were a start.

The three months there were sobering. How might I, how might any one of us have turned out if we had grown up in those children’s homes. As much as I sometimes criticized my own upbringing, I realized I had been fed a diet of goodness, with sides of charity, generosity, and truthfulness, with kindness and honesty for dessert.

Dirty hands? They may easily be washed clean. Cleanliness of the soul was Jesus’ concern.

Jesus loves the little children
Of the world.

Mtr. Mary