Being a Child

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away the things of a child." I Cor 13:11, Douai-Rheims

When I was a child, my understanding was limited to what could be seen, felt, or heard in my world. Through these sensory channels, I experienced reality, but now I know there exists a greater Reality. When I turn my eyes to the beauty in this world, underlying it I perceive a greater Beauty. With what intense delight a child embraces this world! The smell of the new-mown grass, the haunting call of the gull, the ever-deepening blue vastness of the sky whisper to a child's heart of that Beauty beyond all beauty. The child begins a life quest, a pilgrimage; the uniquely human yearning for the knowledge of God burning within. And so, the child pursues many things, becoming soon a man or woman, seeking to discover somewhere in this world the antidote for the yearning. But the things of the world, the orientation of the child, must be put away to fulfill this longing. The soul must abandon the childish reliance on worldly satisfaction, but yet retain the child-like ability to embrace the Love of God without reserve. The joyful soul is entirely dependent upon and open to the Beauty of God in the depth of its being. Like the child rejoicing in the swooping dart of the swallow or the rustling quake of the aspen, it becomes so enthralled by the freedom, glory, and peace of God that it loses all awareness of itself.


"Amen, I say to you: Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a child, shall not enter into it."Gospel According to St. Luke 18:17, Douai-Rheims