Meditation for January 8, Be as Little Children

A child is simple, he expresses frankly and openly what he wants.

He feels his needs keenly, so he asks with insistence and per­severance.

He loves and he never doubts the love shown him.

He confidently abandons himself to those who care for him.

That is what our Lord wants when He asks us to become as little children (Matt. xviii, 3), an ideal which, at first sight, appears unworthy of mature persons. Let us not confuse child­ishness, artlessness, and the other faults of childhood with the qualities required by Our Lord.

I will be natural and avoid all artifice and strategy with God and my neighbor. To be truly true is rare.

Nothing shall dampen the ardor of my petitions to Our Lord. I shall pray with the beautiful importunity of a child with fearless audacity and undismayed insistence. The reproach Until now you have asked nothing, will not apply to me.

I shall imitate the child's readiness to love without expecting a return of love, and his confidence in the love he receives. I play the grown-up too often. I torment myself with such questions as: "Does God really love me? Is He pleased with my fidelity?" Does a child ever disturb himself with such thoughts?

And finally, absolute confidence! Sheltere~ in the arms of his mother, the child does not concern himself with threatening danger. He is there; he is comfortable there; he is secure there.

I am much too grown-up. I must quickly become as a child.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)