The Wonderful Faith Of A Child

How many have been shocked at the utter simplicity and embarrassing honesty of children about what they see? “That guy has a funny nose” or “that girl has a…” you fill in the blank. Children will often repeat things they have heard.

While in the seminary I would sometimes receive letters from a school class asking me questions or telling me that they were praying for me. One day, I received some letters from a first-grade class in the diocese. It always made my day to get these letters.

The children liked to ask lots of questions, and there was one in particular that really struck me. It was one of the toughest questions that I got from someone. In between the questions of; “what is your favorite color in the whole world” and “do you know how to finger weave?” It was, “what is your favorite gift from Jesus?” I had to stop and really think about that for a while. What is the favorite gift that you have received from God? Now I am not going to tell you what I said, because I want you to think of that for yourself. The answer will be different for each one of us.

Children have a wonderful simplicity and a way of thinking about things that can make us wonder where we lost that same way of thinking. Jesus tells us that “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.”

The faith that a child has is incredible, you can tell a child that there is a mystery to the Trinity and the Eucharist and they will accept it because that is the way that it is. This simplicity can come out in different ways. For example, I was talking to a child on one of those dark cloudy days and you could see rays of sunlight coming through the clouds. This little boy asked if the rays of light were places where God was shining His light on someone who needs it. This faith of that child was to see something that commonly happens on a dark and cloudy day, could also be seen as a wonderful gift of God’s light shining down on a dark day. When I see those rays of light, I can see that it really is God shining His light on each one of us who need it. I often think of this comment on those dark days to see the faith that we are all called to have.

Now when I say this, I do not mean that we are simply called to have a faith that is without reason, as many of our saints tell us that our faith, while mysterious, still has a reason to it. We are called to see that great balance between having a child-like faith and one that is reasonable. This is why Jesus takes the time to explain some of the parables. So remember, have that wonderful faith of a child.

God bless,
Fr. Ken