Children

“My friend, if you want to be great, become little. To be little it is necessary to believe as children believe, to love as children love, to give yourself up as children give themselves up... to pray as children pray.” (Saint Josemaria).

Christ and the Children (Emil Nolde)

When I was a little girl, I used to think very often about what my life would be like when I was all grown up.

One of the things that I was most interested in was being able to predict how I would act and be once I was considered an adult.

I have been comparing this with the attitude of Saint Therese of Lisieux.  This Saint considered herself a perpetual child.  She spent her earthly life trying to leave everything to God and behaving as a spiritual child without any worries so that God would take care of everything for her.

Now, this might sound easily achievable in theory, but the actual practice of this is something that is quite different.  You see, where an individual is confronted with a problem it is only natural that they should try to work out a way to get around it.  It is only natural that they might look at things differently and consider that it is their problem to solve.  And yet, a spiritual child never tries to fix anything.  They simply do the right thing by making themselves open to the Holy Will of God.

And God loves this.  In fact, Christ deliberately spoke about this…  “Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people; but Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’ And he laid his hands on them and went away.” (Matthew 19:13-15).

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux explained that as a child it meant, “We no longer have to take the trouble of climbing stairs because an elevator has replaced these. I wanted to find an elevator which would raise me to Jesus, for I am too small to climb the rough stairway of perfection. I searched, then, in the Scriptures and I read these words: ‘Let the children come to me.’ I felt I had found what I was looking for...  The elevator which must raise me to heaven is Your arms, O Jesus! And for this I had no need to grow up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more.”

And I have been reflecting on the actual freedom of living in such a way as that…  For, as Saint Josemaria said, “My friend, if you want to be great, become little. To be little it is necessary to believe as children believe, to love as children love, to give yourself up as children give themselves up... to pray as children pray.”

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.