Becoming Like Little Children (Chapter Talk)

Becoming Like Little Children (Chapter Talk)

When Jesus says we must become like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven, could He be revealing what we already are? We are children. What we call “mature adulthood” is often just a more sophisticated childishness: seeking control, always needing to be right, defending our egos.
Children are innocent, open, and disarming. They soften our hearts—until, of course, life happens and they “grow up.” But the real miracle is when adults become childlike again—through the long process of dying to self—and rediscover what true maturity is: simplicity, trust, and openness to love. That, I believe, is the path to the kingdom. Let us continue to walk that path—together, in humility, and with God’s grace.Amen.

Humility allows us to understand that ‘doing it my way’ may not always be the best way at all. We all have insights about one another; we see each other foibles and shortcomings, often before the person being observed knows. Or in fact, may never know. This of course, goes for me as well. Many in this room see things about me that I am unaware of. Yet I see them in others and will often react instead of responding. If this is not learned, how we see our reflection in other community members, then the monastic life can be one long drawn out ordeal that can lead to bitterness and isolation from the life of the community.

We are called to love ourselves, others and to serve one another. In Monastic life, we have our own unique ways of doing that. All forms of service to the community are very important, from being abbot to mopping the floor, when this is forgotten then someone else is burdened, and the one who burdens does harm to his own heart and soul, even if not believed or understood. It is a form of self-wounding, which in the end that is what sin is. I can wound myself and then blame the community for my pain and feelings of isolation.

To seek to grow in humility is also to seek inner healing, for when we learn to have compassion towards ourselves, then we can also show compassion and empathy not only for community members but also for those who are in our far past and are the origin of some of our struggles. So as we grow in humility we can be those who heal and not strike out and wound as we were wounded. For men this is often undervalued when it comes to others, however, another matter when we experience it ourselves. Empathy is learned from experience. It is the often gut-wrenching pain that others can cause me without realizing it that helps me to see how it can distress those I live with when I treat them in a harsh manner.

When Jesus says that we have to become little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven…… Could he be in reality telling us what we in fact are….children….and that what we often take for being a ‘mature adult’ is in reality, a form of childishness? Being in control, dominating, always being right, is that really what we are called to be. Children are childlike by nature and most adults love that. They make us smile and with children we drop our defenses fro a least awhile. Of course, there is nothing remarkable about this, it is in their nature. Until of course, life happens and they become ‘adults’, some may be so called ‘mature adults’. The true miracle is when ‘mature adults’ become childlike and enter the kingdom of heaven while on earth. It is a long process of death to self which is in reality the doorway to a broader reality that is true adulthood I believe.—Br-MD