Reflection: Through the eyes of a little child...

Have you ever looked at the sky at night with a little child?  You can hear the wonder and awe in the child's voice.  Have you ever watched a child jump into the arms of a grandparent?  You can see the love and total trust between them.  Have you ever told an imaginary story to a child?  "Once upon a time..."  The story is all about the child.  The little child squeals with delight and wants to hear the story again and again.  Have you ever seen the excitement of a little child at their birthday party?  It is a celebration of pure joy with family and friends! 

Jesus calls us to be like little children in wonder, awe, love, trust, delight and joy!

I have had the blessing of bringing a little child to visit Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration.  The visits are short and beautiful.  Once when we were driving down the street to the little chapel, she said, "I really want to see Jesus."  She said it with such a beautiful yearning and anticipation in her heart.  One day, we arrived before adoration had begun.  She stepped into the chapel and said, "Why is it different?"  Jesus had not been placed on the altar yet.  She noticed and missed His Presence on the altar.  We waited and the priest came and took Jesus out the tabernacle and placed Him on the altar.    She climbed up on the kneeler and talked with Him, as she does at each visit.

Taking a child, He placed it in their midst, and putting His arms around it He said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in My name, receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but the One who sent Me.  Mark 9:36-37

What does a little child see in Eucharistic Adoration?  Jesus.  Little children sense His Presence. Jesus wants us to come to Him with that sense of yearning to be in His Presence.  When we come to Him with childlike trust, He fills us with His love and peace.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux lived each day with complete confidence in God’s love. She wrote, “What matters in life, is not great deeds, but great love.” Saint Thérèse’s spirituality, her Little Way, is the trust of a little child. 

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul 

But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new[...] It is your arms, Jesus, which are the lift to carry me to heaven, And so there is no need for me to grow up. In fact, just the opposite: I must stay little and become less and less.  

Saint Faustina had a great love for the Blessed Sacrament.  She said that only one thing is needed to please God: to do even the smallest things out of great love.

Diary of Saint Faustina 332
When I started the Holy Hour, I wanted to immerse myself in the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Olives. Then I heard a voice in my soul: Meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation. And suddenly the Infant Jesus appeared before me, radiant with beauty. He told me how much God is pleased with simplicity in a soul. Although My greatness is beyond understanding, I commune only with those who are little. I demand of you a childlike spirit.

 

Do you realize that Jesus is there in the Blessed Sacrament expressly for you, for you alone?  He burns with the desire to come into your heart.  Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

 

Jesus is waiting for you.  Come away and rest awhile...