THE SIMPLICITY OF A CHILD

It is the child's simplicity, frankness, and naturalness which make the child so lovable.

Childlikeness is perfect simplicity.

When a person again becomes a child, all artificiality and all unnaturalness disappear.

Exteriorly we should become great and firm personalities, but Jas far as our spiritual lives are concerned, we should grow simpler, more childlike, and more genuine.

The older and more mature I become, the simpler I would I like to be because the simplest child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Holiness is the simplest thing in the world; it is the child's love for the Father.

The simpler we have become and the more we surrender ourselves to the influence of the Holy Spirit, the more childlike we will be in the conviction that we are nothing and that the Father is everything; that we must center only on the Father.

The perfection of simplicity consists in directing all our powers toward God, in detaching ourselves from all that is ungodly and that opposes God.

Childlikeness illustrates the simplicity of God.

God is absolutely simple. When will we grow in likeness to the Father as far as this is possible for human beings? We must become as simple and honest as children.

The Father is perfectly simple. We would also like to become simple: simple in our thinking, willing, and acting. The closer we are to God, the more we approach him in his simplicity; the simpler we become.

“My gaze rests on my God.” This is the gaze of a simple child. My heart and my will belong to the Father. People might judge and condemn me. This might hurt me, but it will not touch my innermost heart because I have my resting place in the heart of the heavenly Father.

The more simply I say “Ita Pater,” - Yes, Father, and the more I repeat “Ecce” - behold, and “Fiat” - Let it be done, after the example of Our Lady, the more I will grow in likeness to the Father's simplicity.

How can we actualize the weighty words: “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mt 5:48)? We can do so by surrendering ourselves in childlike love to his will. He takes care of everything else and he sees to it that we grow in likeness to him.

All I have to do is simply to ask always what pleases the Father. He then forms me. After all, love is a power which unites and creates a likeness. I merely have to make Christ's words the program of my life: “Father, here I am! I am coming to obey your will” (Heb 10:7). This is childlikeness.

All a child has to do is to say a simple yes to whatever the Father wants. Every action throughout the day is then great and helps the child become similar to the Father.

We should become simple. We should not use all our strength to carry out our own plans, but rather do what the Holy Spirit wants of us. By and large, I may sketch a probable plan, but as soon as I notice that the heavenly Father wants something else, I must do whatever I perceive as his wish. After all, he is the loyal, kind power. Why should I be anxious and worry about a hundred things? I live for the moment.

I know that whatever God sends me is always best for me. Knowing this is enough for a simple child. It is the Father who sends it. As a simple child I need not understand his reasons. All I know is that whatever happens to me each moment is either foreseen by the heavenly Father, directly ordained or permitted by him. A simple child finds the solution to all problems in life in saying “Ita Pater.”

I must say “Ita Pater” - Yes, Father, only for one second. The next second might wring a new “Ita Pater” - Yes, Father, from me. In any case, I do not wear myself out brooding and pondering over all that could happen to me in the future. This simplicity is the height of sanctity!

I should not be unnecessarily anxious. God has mapped out the plan of my life from all eternity and has provided for it. All I have to do is to say yes. In his omnipotence, God will certainly find ways to lead me to the goal he has for me. I only need enough light from above to see the next step. I am safe indeed. After all, the plan of my life is completed, and God will see to it that it is carried out. This gives me a sovereign peace and a sense of security... I let him guide me and remain a simple child.

Simple faith in Divine Providence is childlikeness to the highest degree.

If I am a simple child, then God loves me so tenderly that he governs my life by his special providence. I only need a bit of light from above for the present moment. All I have to do is to ask what pleases the Father now. That much he will tell me for sure, even if it is only for a single second.

As a child I live only for the moment and let the Father tell me what to do.

As a child I know that my work is great only to the extent that it is the fulfillment of the Father's wish.

The high-minded attitude of a child of God remains the most important quality for us. All that counts for us is the attitude: “Dear Lord, what is pleasing to you? I embrace with all my heart what pleases you.”

A child can do nothing but repeat Christ's words which express his fundamental attitude toward the eternal Father: “I always do what pleases the Father” (Jn 8:29).

To the extent that we love God with childlike hearts, we are prompted in joyful readiness to do or omit all that the Father wants and in the way he wants it.

A child can conquer the heart of God. Only the unassuming, simple, receptive child can master life and conquer the world.

A simple child has an endless power of development.

Childlikeness, that is, the simple yes to everything God demands of us, is the greatest maturity.

If we succeeded in always saying a sincere yes with great simplicity like a child, how much more God could accomplish through us!

What does God demand of us? A yes to his plans; not only a patient yes, but also a joyful, wholehearted, longing yes.

He asks of me a childlike, joyful yes to my way of life; a childlike, courageous yes to my way of the cross; a childlike, trustful yes to my way to heaven.

The redemption of our intellects does not mean much; more important is the redemption of our hearts. In the last analysis, all depends on the heart. To be sure, it is quite meritorious and valuable if only our will must make frantic efforts to say yes; but the main aim in our education consists in having a free, a royally free heart which knows only one beat: “Yes, Father, yes; your will be done, whether it brings me joy, pain or suffering.”

When we say our yes, when we want to give ourselves to God's fatherly will without any reservations, we know that our self-surrender should be freely chosen and inspired by love.

The inner courage of saying yes consists in that we struggle and strive, with the help of grace, for a maximum of love, for a maximum of humility, that is, sound humility, while at the same time we have a minimum of natural knowledge and the slightest degree of knowledge enlightened by faith.

I open my heart to the wishes of the Father, even though these wishes are communicated to me through secondary causes. Secondary causes! It does not matter whether these are world events or the inner promptings of God.

Through my simple willingness I give God the opportunity to unfold his educational, formative power within me - his favorite child, the apple of his eye - in an unparalleled, masterly manner.

We are free creatures. God himself set the boundaries for the operation of his omnipotence, namely, our willingness, our childlike yes. If I cannot be molded, if I am not open to him like a child when he wants to form me through heavy blows of fate and inner promptings, then it is as though God did not exist for me as a father. He says, as it were: “I withdraw and you may travel alone on the path you have chosen.”

Those who are incapable of saying a simple, deep, generous, childlike “Ita Pater” - Yes, Father, prevent God from educating them in a far-reaching manner.

The worst thing people can do is to take their destiny in their own hands against God's will or without God's will.

Who is the measure of all things? The Father! The child must constantly center on the wish and will of the Father: self-surrender, not the opposite! We pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” but we live, “my will be done.”

Why does God possess this absolute right of sovereignty and disposal over me? He is my Creator, I am his creature; he is my Father, I am his child.