CHILDLIKE SPIRIT
"I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned you have revealed them to the childlike." - Lk. 10:21
Over the past two weekends, it has been a joy for me to be in the midst of many children. I played cards and games with my many nieces and nephews this past Thanksgiving weekend. I decorated, danced, and sang with children from a poor neighborhood in Tijuana, Mexico the previous one. Their joie de vivre, sense of enjoyment, is contagious. Their way of knowing is infectious.
I’m around children enough to know that they are not really innocent or always nice. But children are just the way they are. If a child is sad, he will just cry and run to his mother. If a child is happy, she will just smile and laugh and sing. And if a child needs something, he will just look at you and ask.
Similarly, we are invited to be in our relationship with God: as simple and direct as a child. Just to be whatever, in the way that we are. We can express ourselves simply, as we are to God. Thus, we can humbly be ourselves. In doing so, we find that the LORD is always at our side listening and supporting us in whatever we tell Him or Her. This is the simple way of St. Theresa of Lisieux. She was not a learned theologian or accomplished great deeds. But she had the intelligence and the simplicity of the heart.
Perhaps, this is the only thing God asks of us, the childlike spirit Jesus wants to give us.
With this spirit, we can be part of the healing and reconciliation our country and world urgently needs this Advent.
Let us be as simple and as direct with God as children are. Let us listen and speak from our heart.