Revealing Himself to the childlike

[blessedstar]

believing instead that we must always appear strong rather than recognizing that our true strength is in seeing our weakness and total dependence on God.

Peace,

A very beautiful and wise post. This part particularly stood out to me.

Jesus came to us weak and little, just as a small baby. I was at a friends house this weekend and they had alot of other guests there too whom I’d never met. There were alot of children, but one woman had a 4 week old baby. The baby was passed from one woman to another and it occurred to me that the baby didn’t struggle or fret, the baby just rested with whomever he was passed to. The baby spoke up for his needs with a big wail, so he was fed and changed and all the other needs and was content to just be. The baby had wind and wailed in pain, but he clung to his mother and didn’t make any great questioning about his little trial. The baby had no selfish desires, the baby had no plans of his own, the baby didn’t worry, the baby didn’t have any guile. Total innocence and yet the baby didn’t know anything of any note about Jesus.

We know so much about Jesus and yet we do not trust like a little baby. I can’t help but think that though the baby knew nothing of Jesus like we do the baby in his simplicity was closer to God than any of us.

‘Let the little children come unto Me for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to’

and

‘Suffer little children that come unto Me’

We must be little, offering little things and enduring all things and in our littleness and weakness God does great things and is our strength.

It wasn’t a strong ram or a matured ewe that was slain, but the Lamb.

 

[InLight247]

It occurred to me this morning that part of childlike trust is being able to see even suffering, if properly explained, as a gift from God.
Peace,

Agree.

The bottom line is really in the word trust.
The meaning of “Jesus, I trust in You” is to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, that even suffering has its meaning and benefit since God allows it.
Though we may not understand the significance of suffering at the time, we trust God who bring us in the trial will bring us out with a higher purpose in His mind.

Since we are no longer children, the childlike trust has to be regained through our will. When we are out of the age of innocence, innocence must be reaffirmed through our intellect, our knowledge of the loving God, **a choice **, along with God’s grace.

 

[InLight247]

This is a true story written by a nun:

In our kindergarten we teach kids to pray the “Our Father” and “Hail Mary”. Catholic or non-Catholic children all learn prayers and are taught to love themselves and to love others.

One day a teacher came to me with a concern. A very active boy always teased and bothered other children. Many parents came to complain. The teacher wanted my opinion of handling the situation. I asked the class about their thoughts. Surprisingly the children said they should pray. So they formed a circle with the little boy in the center. They stretched their hands toward the boy and said prayers as well as prayed with their own words. All the little faces looked so sincere and innocent. The little boy in the center started to cry.

I said the concluding prayer at the end. Then all the children hugged each other.
The little boy apologized to whom he disturbed, and promised to do better. All teachers were teary eyed.

The above is translated from a Chinese weekly Catholic journal. Since I could not fall back to sleep after waking up, I thought to share this good story with you. Have a nice day!

 

[Joysong]

Precious story! :clapping:

 

[ncjohn]

This is a true story written by a nun:

The above is translated from a Chinese weekly Catholic journal. Since I could not fall back to sleep after waking up, I thought to share this good story with you. Have a nice day!

I’m sorry that you were up at that hour, as I expect it was because of your ill health, but I am glad that while up you took the time to share that with us. It is indeed a beautiful story.

 

[ncjohn]

Once again the day’s Word Among Us meditation, based on the Tranfiguration gospel, has got me thinking about this topic.

Peter was an interesting guy, brash and outspoken and prone to acting without necessarily thinking about consequences. From the mediation:
Word Among Us:

In today’s Gospel, we see Peter wanting to take charge again. Seeing the glory of God come upon Jesus, as well as Moses and Elijah standing with him, Peter immediately proposed building some kind of shrine to memorialize this amazing event. Instead of standing in awe of what was before his eyes—instead of prostrating himself before these holy men, Peter wanted to take action. But, knowing Peter’s tendencies, the Father told him exactly what he needed to hear: “This is my chosen Son; listen to him” (Luke 9:35).

It is easy to kind of roll our eyes at Peter’s actions, much as we often do when children make statements that our cynical minds write off but which carry the essence of truth, saying “Isn’t that cute!”. And especially easy given 20-20 hindsight. But as I considered how Peter reacted, even though it may not have been the “best” reaction, was it not an action of childlike faith? A child deeply impressed that wants to do something good based on what he has just observed?

In many ways it occurs to me that Peter–who drew the sword to cut off the ear of one of those accosting Jesus–was incredibly childlike. Here we have a man who dropped everything and left everything to follow Jesus. A man who, when asked after Jesus explained the concept of the Eucharist in the “Bread of Life” discourse whether he too wanted to leave, responded “to where would we go? You have the words of eternal life.” The man who stepped out of the boat, ignoring what his head must have told him could not be done. And who then cried out in faith and trust to the one who could save him when he started to sink.

No, he may not have had the nature to sit at the feet of Jesus quietly as Mary did, but he listened intently when Jesus spoke, even if he didn’t always “get it”. And he acted with that childlike faith that wanted more than anything to please the one he saw as Lord, Master, and friend. And in the end he let himself be led off to be crucified himself–upside down–trusting implicitly that God would take care of the details.

I may have to give Peter a whole lot more credit than I did before. I think at this point that he was able to be transformed into the powerful leader he became precisely because he had the childlike faith to which God could speak, which combined with the grace of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost made him a Rock.

Peace,

 

[ncjohn]

I felt called to bring this thread back by today’s meditation from the Word Among Us. The mediation can be found here wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp but here is the part that especially caught my eye.

In a world that delights in sophistication and exalts the worldly-wise, children are more endangered now than ever before. If they survive their time in the womb, they will face an onslaught of philosophies and expectations that will tempt them to want to grow up too quickly—to leave behind the simplicity and innocence of their youth.

Even we who are adults face similar temptations to take on a “mature” approach to life that leaves little room for the innocence of faith. But Jesus tells us that unless we find a way to recapture our innocence, we will find it hard to enter his kingdom (Matthew 18:3). That’s not because he will keep us out. No, it’s because without a childlike heart, we will find it hard to see the attraction of Jesus and the life he is offering us. Put simply, we won’t enter the kingdom because we won’t want it.

“If they survive their time in the womb, they will face an onslaught of philosophies and expectations that will tempt them to want to grow up too quickly—to leave behind the simplicity and innocence of their youth.” How many of us had this done to them? And maybe more importantly, how many of us are doing this to our children and grandchildren? Asking them to “grow up” before their time, when God really asks us instead to seek the immeasurable gift that they already have.

Peace,