“Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing.”

"The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest." -- St. Thomas More

Gospel Text: (MT 19:13-15)

Children were brought to Jesus

that he might lay his hands on them and pray.

The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said,

“Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them;

for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

"Why is it that children are eligible for the kingdom of heaven?

“Perhaps it is because, ordinarily, there is no malice in them. They don't know how to lie. They don't lie to themselves. They have no desire for luxury. They aren't drawn to riches. They are uninterested in ambition. But the virtue herein lies, not in what they lack interest in, or know nothing about, but in what they don't want to do. The virtue lies not in their inability to sin, but in their unwillingness to sin."

I have found that the admonition of Jesus, "Unless you become as a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of God" (Mt. 18:13) is an invitation to real freedom. In the light of simple faith, even painful experiences become the material for our personal transformation and enable us to open ourselves more to the fullness of life. Through simple surrender to the loving plan of God, we are continually invited to go deeper into communion with God and respond to His loving gaze. In this communion with God, fear dissipates and everything is bathed in love. 

After all, when all is stripped away, there is only God.