Conversion Stories

[healedinchrist275]

I was a Buddhist since young (I'm 22 now). My country is traditionally, a multi-cultural society. With most people adhering to Buddhism and Evangelical Protestantism. I held a very bad impression against the Protestants due to their aggressive preaching. Most could not really answer my questions about the God of Christianity and many other questions related with life. So I decided to look towards the Catholic Church. I was stunned by the Catholic Church's theology and traditions. This happened when I was 14 or so. Fast forward to the year 2015. I was received into RCIA. Baptized on Easter Vigil 2016. I'd been thinking about approaching a Spiritual Director about being a Seminarian and eventually perhaps being ordained in the Priesthood. I'm still discerning now, but I hope you guys can pray for me in my journey in the faith and my discernment. Thanks and God bless.

 

[Catholic_with_a_mic]

I was a Buddhist since young (I'm 22 now). My country is traditionally, a multi-cultural society. With most people adhering to Buddhism and Evangelical Protestantism. I held za very bad impression against the Protestants due to their aggressive preaching. Most could not really answer my questions about the God of Christianity and many other questions related with life. So I decided to look towards the Catholic Church. I was stunned by the Catholic Church's theology and traditions. This happened when I was 14 or so. Fast forward to the year 2015. I was received into RCIA. Baptized on Easter Vigil 2016. I'd been thinking about approaching a Spiritual Director about being a Seminarian and eventually perhaps being ordained in the Priesthood. I'm still discerning now, but I hope you guys can pray for me in my journey in the faith and my discernment. Thanks and God bless.

I will be prayer if for you. What a wonderful story. God Bless

 

[rturner76]

I was a Buddhist since young (I'm 22 now). My country is traditionally, a multi-cultural society. With most people adhering to Buddhism and Evangelical Protestantism. I held a very bad impression against the Protestants due to their aggressive preaching. Most could not really answer my questions about the God of Christianity and many other questions related with life. So I decided to look towards the Catholic Church. I was stunned by the Catholic Church's theology and traditions. This happened when I was 14 or so. Fast forward to the year 2015. I was received into RCIA. Baptized on Easter Vigil 2016. I'd been thinking about approaching a Spiritual Director about being a Seminarian and eventually perhaps being ordained in the Priesthood. I'm still discerning now, but I hope you guys can pray for me in my journey in the faith and my discernment. Thanks and God bless.

Wow, this is awesome! I believe you have a special calling. Mainly because you only heard God's call through the voice of the Holy Mother Church. Perhaps God has used this Church to call you to teach his people about his Son. I am praying in earnest for your discernment, that it be your heart's contentment and God's will.

 

[anna ~ grace]

I was a Buddhist since young (I'm 22 now). My country is traditionally, a multi-cultural society. With most people adhering to Buddhism and Evangelical Protestantism. I held a very bad impression against the Protestants due to their aggressive preaching. Most could not really answer my questions about the God of Christianity and many other questions related with life. So I decided to look towards the Catholic Church. I was stunned by the Catholic Church's theology and traditions. This happened when I was 14 or so. Fast forward to the year 2015. I was received into RCIA. Baptized on Easter Vigil 2016. I'd been thinking about approaching a Spiritual Director about being a Seminarian and eventually perhaps being ordained in the Priesthood. I'm still discerning now, but I hope you guys can pray for me in my journey in the faith and my discernment. Thanks and God bless.

God bless you, friend! Christ bless you!

 

[paul becke]

Yes, the Catholic church has a large and ever-growing body of codified wisdom, collated over two thousand years - including the Old Testament , more like four thousand. Primarily, as a result of the Lord's incarnation in our partly-material world.

The first period, as a result of the special relationship of the Jewish people with God, by virtue of which they produced by far the oldest written history ; and the second part, as a result of the O.T. teaching, to the effect that God made the world and He made it good and for man's benefit.

That made the difference between the purposeful pursuit of science in Christendom and the fitful, sporadic advances of other peoples every bit as intelligent (worldly-wise), such as China and India.

 

[Wolf_Says]

This really isn't going to be a conversion story, but more so an affirmation story of my wife.

Me and my wife were talking earlier today and somehow the conversation turned into a topic about religion.

Now I was born and raised Catholic, went to an amazing traditional Slovak Catholic Church in my hometown. It has the bells during the consecration, Tabernacle is right behind the alter where it belongs, plenty of hymms and chants in Gregorian latin, and everybody there has a deep respect for the Eucharist and the mass. You would hardly ever see anybody cross the path of the Tabernacle without kneeling completely or at least genuflecting with the Sign of the Cross.

Now my wife was raised non-denominational, and was taught prior to meeting me that Catholics simply were not Christian (shocker....right?). Well, one thing led to another and my wife realized that not only did she agree that Catholics were Christians, but that they held many of the same beliefs that she did. She became confirmed into the faith while we were still dating and we got married in a Catholic Church a few years later.

Now the actual part of the story. My mother-in-law still holds some closet anti-Catholic feelings and beliefs, and although she doesn't share them in front of me, she has often shared them with my wife behind my back. My wife never really felt comfortable telling her that she was a Catholic, because frankly she didn't want the drama and possibility of losing contact with her younger siblings.

Well, we have since moved (yay, military life), and my wife really wanted to try and find a non-Catholic Church that we could attend and still feel at home. So we tried, for months, going from church to church. Every time there was something off, something wrong, that really rubbed my wife the wrong way. Not a single church fit the bill for her, and my wife kept on thinking of her time and feelings at our previous parish.

So we were talking about our future kids today. I had talked to my mom yesterday and she had mentioned how she bragged about me and my wife because, even though we live far away, we still go to Church and are invested into the faith. Her words made my wife think, that she really wants out children to not be swayed by today's crazy and changing world. She began to talk about how so many of these other churches would bend to things like contraception, abortion, marriage or divorce, and there was no structure. I think then a light went off or something, and she mentioned how, she really wants our kids to grow up Catholic, have a firm understanding of their faith and beliefs, and to never compromise those beliefs. She loves how, in Judaism, it's not just a religion, its a lifestyle. In her words, too many times for most Christians, its not a lifestyle, it's just church on sundays. But for Catholics, it is, or should be, a lifestyle, and you are constantly reminded of that at mass. Things like confession, catechism, Eucharistic adoration, stations of the cross, holy days of obligations. Catholicism is a lifestyle, and she loves that, and she loves the structure of the mass.

She continued on with how she really wants our kids, after they are grown and living their lives, to stay firm in their faith. Even if they didn't stay Catholic, she wants them to make sure that they at least go to a church with similar beliefs and is strong in those beliefs.

The other thing that swayed her finally was the music. My wife enjoys listening to Christian music (especially on sunday), but one thing she finds absolutely downright beautiful and practically sacred are the Gregorian Chants. We listened to some on youtube a few days ago and she almost teared up by how she missed them. She says that frankly, it annoys her when she hears a song at mass that she knows from a Christian church. It makes it all feel, less sacred in a way, to her. She wishes more Catholic Churches sang the Gregorian Chants.

All in all, today was a wonderful day in this regard, and I thank God for this.

That is the story. God bless you all.

 

[Galilee63]

and there are many separated Brethren - separated Catholics of whom need prayers to return to our Lord Jesus Sacred Heart, His Church, and to our Most Holy Mother Mary's Holy Immaculate Heart for conversions thus Salvation.

In our Lord Jesus Holy Divine Mercy Chaplet and Novena of which Jesus God The Most High and Holy Spirit delivered to Holy Saint Faustina, Jesus promises that He hears and answers every one of His Holy Divine Mercy Chaplets and Novenas and indeed our Lord Jesus God our Heavenly Father and Holy Spirit with Most Holy Mother Mary of Whom I include in every one prayed, hears and answers with many other Holy Gifts, Holy Blessings and Holy Graces bestowed upon many people prayed for and my own causes not to mention the release of so many Holy Souls in Purgatory if prayed from our hearts focussing on Jesus and His Bitter Passion, and the Holy Mysteries of our Lord Jesus and Holy Spirit and Holy Mother Mary's Lives and the fulfilling of Gods Holy Word by our Lord Jesus Holy Spirit - God our Heavenly Divine Majesty and Holy Divine Father.

Every Most Holy Rosary has been heard and answered by our Lord Jesus God The Most High Holy Spirit and Most Holy Mother Mary over 7 years with a Holy abundance of Gods Holy Blessings Gifts and Graces with many conversions attached for those prayed for over past years

Glory to God in the Highest and Peace to His people on Earth
Lord God Heavenly King, O God Almighty Father
we Love You, we give You great thanks and Glory for eternity. Amen.

 

[Theophilus1128]

Is there anyone on here who listens to Michael Knowles podcast? He is kinda funny, discusses politics from a conservative perspective, but discusses his Catholic faith a great deal as well. This article addresses some points he recently made about why he's Catholic rather than Protestant. I'd love to hear some thoughts on it from a Catholic perspective:

A Response to Michael Knowles

 

[LaudeturIesus]

I was raised as a Pentecostal and my family became non-denominational Evangelicals when I was a pre-teen. I started going to a Catholic high school my freshman year, which introduced me to liturgy and the liturgical churches. I mainly considered being an Episcopalian for a while and then briefly Eastern Orthodoxy, but I researched and read my way into the Catholic Church, and I was received into the Church, confirmed, and received First Holy Communion on April 1, 2017. I'm currently a senior in high school and I've been living as a Catholic ever since.

 

[anna ~ grace]

Beautiful!

 

[StevenMerten]

17 Minutes as a Protestant​

I was born a cradle Catholic. I went to Mass every Sunday and loved the Church. At age 26 I decided to become a priest. I was heading out to work when I received the letter from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee rejecting me into the seminary. I loved my Kawasaki 650 SR and had always babied it; NOT TODAY! I stomped her down into gear and let the ponies roar! Gravel flew in the driveway. When she hit the pavement the throttle was wide open; four of Japan’s finest carburetors dumping raw gas into the 650cc raging inferno below. I left the throttle wide open as I smashed through the gears, the clutch had to absorb the difference as the rpms soared way into the red zone. Within seconds we were well beyond 100mph.

I was screaming in my helmet. WHAT ON EARTH ARE THEY THINKING! The Church is dying for priests and they reject me, the perfect Catholic! I will just become a Protestant minister, and then I can marry anyway! I was angry! On and on I went with my screams of pain. What usually took 35 minutes to get to work had now only taken about 17 minutes. I screeched to almost a halt and turned off onto the final straightway to work. Within seconds I was back up to 100 mph plus. All of a sudden, for no reason at all, the bike was kicked out from under me. It was a sunny summer day with no water or gravel on the road, just straight smooth blacktop. I had over 100,000 miles of experience on street bikes. As she went down I simply pulled my leg out from under the falling side and sat on the motorcycle as it slid down the road, on its side. Sparks were flying and metal was grinding. Through all of this, I was still screaming in my helmet of the great injustice the Church had inflicted on me and how I was now a Protestant. Suddenly, for no reason at all, the tires caught the pavement and the bike went vertical. You do the physics. 80 mph and you are suddenly pole-vaulted into the air. I was flying through the air like superman.

It still amazes me at just how many prayers of repentance one can say in the seven or eight, or fifteen seconds that you are flying through the air toward your impending death. It seemed like I had prayed a hundred Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s. God and I had a long talk over the beauty of remaining Catholic over leaving for Protestantism, during that seven or eight or fifteen second doomed flight. Turn’s out I was wrong and God was right, Catholicism is where God wants me, and all people, to be. I begged God to catch me on the other end of the tragic situation I was in. Please Heavenly Father, forgive me of my sin. I will serve, You, the Lord my God, with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my strength and with all my soul, with and through, Your Church, the Catholic Church, if you will only spare my life.

When I hit the pavement, my full face helmet transferred the blow to my shoulders rather than neck. I flipped and hit hard on my back. I was wearing my backpack, which in my backpack was my 1970 edition, St. Joseph’s, NAB bible. There I was, sliding down the road, on my back, in the Hand’s of God, praising and thanking God for granting me mercy. In the thirty three years since that time, me and God have never had to have the Protestant vs. Catholic conversation ever again.

 

[thecolorsblend]

I was raised in the Churches Of Christ. But I sincerely never felt a single moment of devotion to that denomination. I knew I was a Christian when I was a child, don't get me wrong. But even when I was in high school, I knew my participation in the Churches Of Christ wasn't long for this world.

And I left when I was 18 so there you go.

Life happened for a while after that but I began regaining faith when I was 24. There's an entire world of nonsense that goes into this (what the Protestant's call a "testimony") that is really neither here nor there. But short story long, I fell in with the Southern Baptists.

I must confess that I never thought there was anything special or distinctive about the Southern Baptist Convention. I was never loyal to them or anything, even when I attended services there every Sunday. They just seemed like the best option on the market at that time. I believed that, and usually in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

My association with the SBC came to a bitter end. I found myself unable to continue attending services at any SBC community, primarily out of an unwillingness to see any familiar faces from the old days but partially from a long-suppressed desire to explore a more traditional form of the faith.

Well, I obviously couldn't consider the Catholic Church because the Catholic Church has the Pope and all that stuff with Our Lady and they're obviously wrong about everything so no need to bother with them, right? "This is why I will never be Catholic" was practically a battle cry in my world. Funny how nobody ever says "This is why I will never be a Lutheran" or something.

So anyway. After leaving the evangelical world, I worshiped with the Anglicans for about a year. A small ACNA parish near my house was like a hot shower for my soul. I cherished that place, their Anglo-Catholic theology, their beautiful BCP liturgy and the priest there had a warm, grandfatherly wisdom I think anybody would benefit from. Anglican or not, he's a great man.

But exploring Anglo-Catholic theology raised a lot of questions. And the answers all pointed back to the Church Fathers. And the Church Fathers, when you read their stuff, sound an awful lot like the Catholic Church. It all seemed very suspicious.

During this period, I identified as "Not Completely Protestant". I knew I was finished with evangelicalism forever. But (then as now) I was skeptical of ACNA's long term prospects and viability. The mere existence of ACNA seemed like a band-aid on a bullet wound. If the Church is supposed to last until Our Lord's return... well, I lack ESP but I don't love ACNA's chances of making it that long.

Reading actual Catholic apologetics was another eye-opener. I was raised with a pretty significant anti-Catholic prejudice. "The Catholics are wrong about everything" is more or less what I was taught growing up. If a Catholic tells you what time it is, seek a second opinion. You know, just to be sure.

And yet, every Catholic doctrine has a sound and flawlessly logical explanation as well as a measurable history going right back to the Early Church. The consistency of the Church's teachings since her founding is pretty much undeniable. I was told that Catholics are wrong about everything but as best I could tell, they were batting a thousand on everything they believed.

So either the Church was wrong about exactly everything right from the start... or else I'd been lied to. I realized that maybe I was lied to in good faith, unintentionally and by people who just didn't know any better. But no matter how you slice it, I was lied to about the Church and what she teaches.

The traditional Latin Mass is a thing all by itself but HOLY COW IT'S AMAZING!

Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Right? So in the end I was welcomed into the Church during Easter Vigil 2015 by an FSSP priest.

 

[Mark_Sam]

Last time I was active on Christian Forums was five years ago, and indeed, things have changed since then!

I was born and raised in the Lutheran Church of Norway, which until 2012 was the state religion. 75% of the population are still nominally members of this church. The church is very liberal, started ordaining female "clergy" in the 60's, and in the last few years, they have started with the whole same-sex "marriage" thing. But my local community was very conservative and traditional. Still, there was a tension between the "higher ups" and the local community.

My first experience with the Catholic Church was none other than the Immaculate Virgin herself. Randomly surfing on the web, I became aware of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. "How could and why did the Catholic Church, the only Church in Western Christendom for the first 1500 years, hold to such an unbiblical doctrine?" I thought to my (Protestant) self. This started something in my mind and heart.

The following years, I uncovered the Marian dogmas and doctrines, and became convinced. I actually believed in the Marian dogmas and prayed the Rosary many years before my conversion. This led to questions about revelation, authority, liturgy and so on.

I still remember the first Mass I ever attended. The feast of St. Agnes, 21th of January 2015. I was really, really scared! Incense, bells, everything! But it also felt holy and dignified. It was awesome, literally - it filled me with holy awe and fear.

In August 2016, I enrolled in the local RCIA class, and became involved in the parish. I started attendig Mass every Sunday. I was supposed to be received into the Church in June of 2017, but I decided to postpone it. One reason was that many priest were moved around, and we got a new parish priest.

On the 21st of October 2017, I was received into the Church and also received the Sacrament of Confirmation. And I took St. Anthony Mary as my confirmation saint.

I could probably go on, and go much more in detail. But I very much started reading my way into the Catholic Church, and I put what I read into practice. St. Augustine, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Fancis of Asisi and even St. John Paul II were all important role models, that lead me closer to Christ in the Church.

 

[anna ~ grace]

Mark Sam! Hurrah! I was also raised Lutheran. Praying with Rome, but still outside.

 

[TuxAme]

I'm actually a revert. I was raised a mixture of Catholic and Episcopalian, and while I ended up being Confirmed in our Church, my Episcopalian upbringing meant more to me (because we did more fun things, and that's what kids like). Regardless, I fell away from faith altogether. I was heavily influenced by the secularization of our society and became a relativist, believing (among other things) that God didn't care which religion we were in, as long as we were good to each other. I identified as a communist in my teens, knowing not much about it besides its claim to be about "equality"- I also supported gun bans and was lukewarm at best on abortion (I accepted the oft spoken claim that men couldn't have an opinion on it), and found no problem with making fun of certain aspects of Christianity. I started to explore Hinduism at one point, thinking about attending a college out West that has a heavy Hindu influence (and they even help you convert), but I drifted away from that idea after awhile. To be honest, I had only wanted to convert because I heard that George Harrison from the Beatles had been Hindu.

Around this time I started taking most of my high school classes at another school and was exposed to political conservatism. I learned about American history, began reading the Constitution, and was told a bit about our country's Christian heritage. I've been conservative since then, and a fairly knowledgable one at that (contrasted to my communist days when I knew next to nothing about what I actually believed).

My first year of college came around, and I was invited to Mass (this was in early December). I was told it was a holy day of obligation for Catholics, so I decided to go (since I had been Confirmed). I figured that I should do something besides sit in my dorm all day. It was a very short service- few people showed up, and only one other was a student- and I think that really helped me to come back. After Mass, I started reading a bit from the King James Bible I had gotten from Walmart several years before and got farther than I ever had (which still wasn't very far, but it was a start). I went to a Taize service that same night.

I was definitely religious, but I still knew next to nothing about the faith since I had either been poorly catechized, or just hadn't been receptive to what I had been taught. I took an online quiz to find out "what kind of Christian should I be?", and scored "Catholic" despite answering that I didn't believe in the Real Presence. I was very lucky to find Catholic Answers soon afterwards. Without it, who knows where I'd be today? I didn't even know about the divinity of Christ until I came to that site (I still thought that He was just "a wise man"). I was able to join the forum a month later after some technical difficulties.

I was taking a second semester English class at the time and was told to write about anything I wanted, just so long as it adhered to the MLA format. I considered writing about the priesthood until, while browsing Amazon one day, I discovered Scott Hahn's book The Lamb's Supper. I thought about getting it, but I was broke.

I wasn't driving at the time, so before my mom dropped me back off to campus one Sunday night, we stopped into a bookstore. I saw that book sitting on the shelf and snatched it up, and I began to read it that night. I ended up writing a paper that tried to prove the Real Presence, mostly using that book. I went fairly quickly from believing the Eucharist to only be a symbol to professing that it is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.

I left that college after my first year, moving on to a community college (which I'm leaving once this semester wraps up). I had been reading my Bible, but only got to around 1 Kings before signing up for a Bible class at this college. By the end of it, I was reading roughly one book of the Bible a week, as opposed to one every month or two. We didn't read every single book, but we got into the Deuterocanon a bit and a fair chunk of the New Testament. As for the Old, we mostly skimmed it. I continued reading it after that class had passed, and finished it for the first time just a few days before my 20th birthday (for reference, I just turned 21 two weeks ago). Yes, I read my Bible, and remain very much Catholic!

I am now pursuing a degree in philosophy so I can enter seminary, if the Church will have me. And all this because of a high school civics class.

 

[teresa]

As soon as I get there, at mass, I am blessed and loved immediately.

I get to put on Christ by crossing myself and blessing myself with the Holy Water

I feel so relieved, right away, as I feel anointed and wanted.

putting on Christ makes me feel immediately reminded of his love

so, basically, its LOVE first, not shame

I feel hugged and accepted and protected as I put on Christ at the font

The service is full of mercy and blessings not hellfire and fear

we not just share the peace, but we hold hands when we say the our father

I feel connected in a much deeper and profound way

all the shaming and shaming and shaming ad nauseaum at the other non denom churches was such a turn off....it was not of our Lord.

this is totally about love and mercy and compassion, with a deep reverence for god.

when I am already crawling on my hands and knees figuratively and feel so down and desperate, I need to be lifted up!

we already know we are sinners, and reconciliation is so beautiful and wonderful.

so many leave the church bc this constant hateful, blaming and shaming is waaaay above and beyond!

as a single woman, I'm seen as a woman who is of service and is to be embraced, not gossiped about and ostracized!!!

What a relief

I love this church that Christ established with peter.

I feel so connected with the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

 

[anna ~ grace]

As soon as I get there, at mass, I am blessed and loved immediately.

I get to put on Christ by crossing myself and blessing myself with the Holy Water

This is something I really love about the first thing when entering the parish near our home; the Holy Water. It's in a big, beautiful, cross-shaped font, and at a level where even children can reach down and access it.

 

[Convertere]

I'm a recent convert. I was raised in a Christian home and spent time in seven different denominations. When I was in college a lot of crap happened and I ended turning my back on Christianity. I considered myself an atheist for a while but I never could shake the gut feeling that there was something larger at work. I went religion shopping for a while and finally settled on Frisian paganism. I followed it for a little over five years. During that time I tried my best to convince myself that everything was great, I was totally free and I would never be happy doing anything else. In truth I was depressed and tormented by the "spirits" and "deities" that were supposed to be helping me.

During this whole time my family was praying for me non-stop and it finally payed off. The last six months of my time as a pagan I started being "chased by God" that's the only way I can describe it. Every few minutes some random reference to Christianity would be staring me in the face. Christian songs that I hadn't listened to in years would play in my head constantly. The last week was so bad I couldn't even sleep and I thought I was going insane. After five or six days I was at my breaking point. I was driving home from work and the song Cry Out to Jesus by Third Day started playing in my head. I gave in and begged Jesus to help me. Everything changed literally overnight. I threw away all the pagan stuff in my house and I started going to a Nazarene church with my parents every Sunday.

I was baptized by the pastor of the Nazarene church a few months later. Within days of my baptism I started feeling like something was missing in my faith. My father had been raised Catholic but his family left the Church on bad terms when he was a young teenager and there was a lot of anger there. I was raised with the belief that the Church was wrong in every way and it was extremely rare to find a Catholic who was really "saved". In spite of that I started feeling a nagging urge to look into Catholicism. I rejected that urge and swore to myself that I would never be Catholic or have anything to do with it. God decided to show his sense of humor and a week later I stumbled upon a video by Fr Mike Schmitz titled The Hour That Will Chang Your Life. I wanted so bad to turn it off but I kept watching. I paused it twice to see if the passages he was reading were really in the Bible and at the end I was convinced of the real presence in the Eucharist. I yelled and cursed more than I'd like to admit and finished by yelling at God "Fine I'll be Catholic! Are you happy?!"

That started me on my journey and after six months of studying Church teaching I attended my first Mass. A few weeks later I Joined RCIA and attended weekly classes for eight months. I was brought into the Church and received the Sacraments two and a half weeks ago on July 7th. To my amazement my parents, grandmother and the pastor of the Nazarene church all same to my confirmation and were very supportive. I've since been talking to my parents about the faith and they're about to start reading the writings of the Church Fathers.

 

[paul becke]

Is there anyone on here who listens to Michael Knowles podcast? He is kinda funny, discusses politics from a conservative perspective, but discusses his Catholic faith a great deal as well. This article addresses some points he recently made about why he's Catholic rather than Protestant. I'd love to hear some thoughts on it from a Catholic perspective:

A Response to Michael Knowles

I got a 'Page not Found' message, Theophilus.

 

[paul becke]

I came into the Church, Easter Vigil, 1997.

'But as we were leaving my 12 year old son genuflected as he saw others doing, turned to me and said "Mom this is the rightest religion." Hmmmm....'

I found your young son's words strangely moving ; so characteristically CHRISTian, as in the quote below :

'At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.'

.... the instincts (aka the Holy Spirit) of children and animals.... the wee critturs actors hate sharing the stage with ! In the case of the animals, the Holy Spirit, of course, prompting rather than adopting/subsuming.