Little Ones

"Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them." -- Isaiah 11:6 

If you have read any of my previous posts on the parish blog, you may have noticed that I rely heavily on the wisdom of a 6-year-old.

I have eight other children who inspire my faith daily. But when a small child says something profound -- even when he is unaware of what his words imply -- I'm awestruck. God speaks to us through everyone and everything around us, but in a particular way, He speaks through the littlest ones.

Recently, when our family set up our artificial Christmas tree, the aforementioned 6-year-old, David, had a special role. We got off to a bad start because we forgot to assemble the tree starting at the bottom, so it became increasingly awkward, as we worked our way down, trying to get those large branches into their slots. But David, with his agility and proximity to the ground, came to the rescue.

"It's good to be little," he said proudly.

I knew he meant little in the physical sense. But my first thought was of being small spiritually. And yes, in that sense, it is good to be little.

St. Therese of Lisieux, a doctor of the Church, taught us about being little and childlike, about not relying on our own strength but on God, our Heavenly Father. We get a glimpse of St. Therese's "Little Way" from a passage in her autobiography:

"You know, Mother, that I have always wanted to become a saint.

"Unfortunately when I have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that there is the same difference between the saints and me as there is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passersby. Instead of being discouraged, I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. 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."

At Christmas we remember that our Lord came to us as a poor baby, in perfect submission to His Father's will. Perhaps it was Jesus' way of showing God's preference toward the small, poor and defenseless. And perhaps it was to give us an example, to show us the simplest way back to the Father.

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.