Little Child
Psalm ~ Psalm 72:1-2,7-8,12-13,17
Gospel ~ Luke 10:21-24
This Advent I'm learning - slowly and imperfectly - how to make room for a Babe in my heart and my life. This daily series at Ardent Devotion documents my journey with God's word throughout Advent, and the little ways in which He is revealing His Truth to me day by day. I invite you to join with me in committing to a Christ-filled Advent, so that we can arrive at the manger-side with wondrous hearts.
The 1st Tuesday of Advent
This year on NET our team did a lot of retreats in primary schools. While we were never able to go as deep or get as vulnerable with the students as we would be at liberty to with an older group, there was something wholly rewarding about working with younger children. We could walk into the school and be almost completely certain that the young people we were ministering to wanted to be there. They weren't in a huff because someone had come to talk about Jesus. They weren't texting secretly while your back was turned. They hadn't closed off their minds and their hearts to what you wanted to share with them. On the contrary, they were elated that the NET team was there! They wanted to know everything about us! They wanted to be best friends! Yeah, they wanted to hear about Jesus, because they wanted to hear about EVERYTHING. They were open and curious and receptive and excited!
Almost without fail, every primary school student we ministered to seemed to have a purity of heart and clarity of vision: an ability to see the best in things and give God's goodness a chance to win them over. They were not skeptical. They were not logical. They simply recognised the beautiful when it was presented to them. The Lord delights in the pure of heart. He reminds us, again and again, that we must become like little children if we wish to enter the kingdom of heaven. In today's readings, I began to meditate upon why that is - what is it that children possess that helps them to see God clearly?
I think what I see in children is a true spirit of wonder. They have an ability to marvel at the world, to be captivated by its intricacies. They thirst to know the reasons "why?", hunger to articulate the love they have for things. And when it comes to faith, they approach God simply, purely and in the truth of their vulnerable hearts. It's not about rational arguments or logical thought trains. A child's approach to God isn't shaped by their pride, closed attitudes or preconceived notions. No - they are able to see Christ fully and truly because their hearts are open; they are receptive; and they haven't put up walls of doubt.
As we approach Christmas and meditate upon the Lord's birth, I'm struck once again by the profundity of God's choice to come to earth as a helpless little child. I think today's readings make that choice a little more comprehensible to me. The Lord came before us as a little child in order that we may, in His footsteps, come to Him as little children - open, curious and receptive. Our Almighty and omnipotent God knew that for human beings power is too easily corruptive. Knowledge carries with it much responsibility, and all too often nurtures skepticism, narrow-mindedness and an unwillingness to be transformed in the truth. Yes, Jesus wants us to learn and to seek understanding of this vast and beautiful world He has given us. But He has also "hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to infants" in order that we might come before Him stripped back from our pride and preconceived notions to see Him as He truly is.
Sometimes the deepest truths lie not in the most convincing and complicated arguments; but in the simplicity of a pure heart. The primary school students we ministered to were able to truly embrace the beauty of the Gospel in a way that many adults struggle to. I believe that their ability to see God clearly was born of a kind of humility; a conviction that they do not yet know all or have a grasp on this vast, wondrous world. The moment we begin to think ourselves wise is the moment we no longer are, for the only true wisdom is the clarity to see that God alone is wise. We can never fully comprehend His mystery, but it is humility that allows us to begin to comprehend Him.
Our God humbled Himself to come before us as a little child. Let us humble ourselves to come before Him in our childlike simplicity, open to whatever He chooses to reveal to our hearts.
Reflect: How can I approach God with a more child-like attitude? How can I grow in the virtue of humility in order to be more open to the mystery of God?
Pray: Lord, pour out the purity of heart and the clarity of vision to help me know You as You truly are. Grant me the humility to come before You as a little child, so to understand the depth and truth of Your mysteries. Amen
~~~
Hail and blessed be the hour and the moment at which the Son of God was born of a most pure Virgin, at a stable, at midnight in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech thee, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through our Saviour Jesus Christ and His most blessed Mother.
AMDG
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