Jesus tells us that “Whoever does not accept
the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. Here is what Saint
Thérèse of Lisieux had to say about being a child before God at the end of her life, in
her Last Conversations: “It is to recognize our nothingness, to expect
everything from God as a little child expects everything from its father; it is
to be disquieted about nothing, and not to be set on gaining our living…To be
little is not attributing to oneself the virtues that one practices, believing
oneself capable of anything, but to recognize that God places this treasure in
the hands of his little child to be used when necessary; but it remains always
God’s treasure. Finally, it is not to become discouraged over one’s faults, for
children fall often, but they are too little to hurt themselves very much.”
Let
us then show ourselves always ready to accept God’s kingdom, to receive the embrace
and blessing of Jesus, by acknowledging our faults and our need for his mercy.
See Saint
Thérèse of Lisieux, Her
Last Conversations, trans. John Clarke, pp. 138-39.
