"To be pure, to remain pure, can only come at a price. This price is knowing God and loving Him enough to do His will. - He will always give us the strength we need.”

"Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to the Blessed Mother are not simply the best way, but in fact the only way to keep purity. At the age of 20, nothing but communion can keep one's heart pure. Chastity is not possible without the Eucharist." – St Philip Neri: (1515 – 1595: An Italian Priest noted for founding a society of secular clergy called the Congregation of the Oratory)

Gospel Text: (MT 18:1-5, 10, 12-14)
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 becomes humble like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.
What is your opinion?
If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the stray?
And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it
than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost.”

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to celebrate Mass in the home of a wonderful young couple celebrating their thirteenth wedding anniversary. When the priest spoke to the littlest children sitting around the living room altar about Jesus being the bread of life and how wonderful it is to be able to (one day) receive him in Holy Communion, there was not the least look of doubt or skepticism on their innocent, accepting, and eager faces. The little ones could believe in this great mystery of our faith in ways that we who are older and “more mature” could ever do!

Could this be what Jesus means when he says that we must be like little children? Does he mean that somehow we must regain a simpler acceptance of the mystery of our faith? I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to see such acceptance on the faces of the little children. Now the question is, how do we get that back? How do we become like the little children once again?