Homily: July 13, 2022, Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

 “Although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike.” 

What does it mean to be childlike?

One of my sisters has three children, a 5-year-old son, a three-year-old girl and a 4-month-old baby girl. One day, her older children were playing with her husband. He was lying on his tummy while they were having so much fun jumping on his butt and sliding off the blanket. My sister then jokingly told the children, “If you keep jumping, daddy’s butt will be gone!”

The three-year-old girl suddenly lifted up the blanket and reported, “Daddy’s butt is still here!”

How simple. How un-inhibited. How innocent.

That’s how children are. They do not think too much, they do not complicate life with unnecessary thoughts and concerns. They respond spontaneously and purely. They wonder but not doubt. They may be ignorant but they trust. They may not know so much but they believe. They may not be capable of big things but they are wise in little things.

So, God revealed His mysteries to mere children.

The Jewish scholars and scribes had the privilege of knowing scripture but they could not recognise Jesus because their intellectual pride blocked their faith. They defined God within the confines of their knowledge and could not believe in more. Instead, the simple-minded fishermen could believe and followed.

God continues to reveal Himself to us every day in different ways. Have you seen His works? Have you heard His words? Have you been childlike in your faith? Or do you question, doubt, distrust, disbelieve?

Today let us ask for the grace to be like a child again, to be open and obedient, to trust and believe.