“Do it again!”
I’m bent over with my hands on my knees, breathing a bit heavily and my arms feel tired. My godson Matteo comes up to me for the fiftieth time (or the thousandth for all I know) and with glee in his voice says, “Do it again!” For a five-year old boy, “Rocket Ship” is one of the greatest games in the world. He is simply lifted high in the air and then flown around the backyard before crash landing into the ground, a bush, or one of his sisters. Just do that ad infinitum. Action, adventure – what more do you want? Though for the guy who plays the part of the rocket ship, it is pretty exhausting. Even so, I’m sure it will always be one of the memories of my godson that I will treasure.
Playing Rocket Ship with Matteo also shed some light for me on one of the Gospel readings for a daily Mass a few weeks ago from Matthew 18:1-5:
At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “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.
Note that Jesus says we should be “like children” and not “childish.” There’s a big difference between the two. The Lord does not desire immaturity in the faith. In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul says that his goal in proclaiming Christ is to “present everyone perfect in Christ” (emphasis added). Other translations render “perfect” as “mature.” The original Greek is from the root word telos indicating completion or a goal. The goal here is fullness of the Christian life. The Lord wants us to be full to bursting in holiness and virtue, in faith, hope, and charity.
So what does it mean to be like children before God? Well, Jesus does mention humility directly. I’ll have to dedicate another post specifically to that virtue one of these days. For now, suffice it to say that humility is about being real. It seems to me that little children are very real. They don’t have any pretense. They are who the are and they live in the present moment very well. The humble Christian is open to God. He recognizes that he is a creature totally dependent on God. Because the humble person is open, he can receive grace upon grace and grow in virtue and holiness.
Humility enables a sense of wonder. Everything is wonderful and delightful in the eyes of a child because he is humble and therefore open to receive the goodness around him. He can play the simple game of Rocket Ship again and again… and again… and again. The smallest insect lumbering across the sidewalk is a source of endless fascination. He can be content for hours just noticing the color of things. For the Christian, humility allows him to acknowledge the goodness and beauty of God. With wide-eyed fascination at the creation and the work of redemption, the Christian is filled with a sense of wonder and awe.
When we are humble like children, we can approach the Father with the upmost confidence in His goodness and with awe and wonder in His creative power. I certainly pray for that humility for myself. I hope to become more like a child before God. I probably have a long way to go. Still, I think the Lord has pushed me along in that direction by having me play Rocket Ship a few hundred times.
Image from: https://iheartcraftythings.com/rocket-ship-drawing.html
