"Romans 8: 16 - 'The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.'
"Among the greatest treasures of knowledge that we have been given is this: we are all the children of God. This truth carries with it great blessings. It should guide us in how we treat those around us and in how we view ourselves. Each of God’s children are of great worth with immeasurable potential.
"In this painting we see children from many different cultures and backgrounds. They stand with Christ, bearing witness with him that they are children of God. All of the kids look directly at the viewer confident in the joy they feel in the presence of their Savior.
"When we strive to see others as God would see us, our hearts are softened, our minds are opened and the Spirit comes to dwell with us, bringing peace and joy".
Most of us, however, have a hard time remembering that we are children of God. We've forgotten what it's like to be child-like because we have lost our precious childhood innocence. Wounded by life, by our own weaknesses, mistakes, and sins, and those of others, we look upon our world - and, often, God - with jaded, cynical, and untrusting eyes.
Yet, Jesus shows us how important children are, and he can teach us how to become child-like again. One of the best-loved Gospels is the one in which Jesus welcomes the little children. In paying attention to the children in the crowd, Jesus, as usual, was being counter-cultural. "Take Five for Faith" reminds us, "When parents today chauffeur their kids everywhere or buy them the latest fashion item or cell phone, it’s hard to fathom how invisible kids were in Jesus’ day. While he built an entire ministry on reaching out to the 'least of these,' children were the 'least of the least'—as we see from the perturbed reaction of the apostles. But Jesus says, 'Let the children come to me.'
In fact, Jesus makes a very specific statement about children to his disciples, which Bishop Robert Barron explains:
"Jesus declares that the kingdom of God belongs to children. “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.'
"How so? Well, children are like stars or flowers or animals, things that are what they are, unambiguously, uncomplicatedly. They are in accord with God’s deepest intentions for them. The challenge of the spiritual life is to realize what God wants us to be—to find out what is in line with the deepest grain of our being—and thereby come to the same simplicity and directness in our existence.
"Let me put this another way: children haven’t yet learned how to look at themselves. Why can a child immerse himself so eagerly and thoroughly in what he is doing? Because he can lose himself; because he is not looking at himself, conscious of the reactions, expectations, and approval of those around him. The best moments in life are when we lose ourselves in the world and just are as God wants us to be."
Watching little children is an illuminating experience. They may be shy when someone "new" comes along, but, soon enough, they invite the newcomer into their games. They laugh heartily. They can find as much joy in climbing into a big box and pretending it's a boat as they can find in the latest technological toy. They can become absorbed watching an anthill or a butterfly.
As Howard Lyon's beautiful painting reminds us, we are all children of God, but, the only way we can discover what it means to be a child of God is to become childlike again. To re-find the capacity to enjoy the simplest things in life. To stop being so self-absorbed in our "egos," and discover who we really are, deep down. To become simple and direct, instead of being afraid to speak the truth. To immerse ourselves in who we are and what we're doing with a childlike simplicity, not worried about the reactions, expectations, and approval of those around us. To try to live up to our God-given potential. To approach others without fear or envy or aggression. To be able to "stand tall," confident with joy, and trust, and to believe with all our hearts that God loves us and takes care of us as God's beloved children.
Yet, the world can be so cruel as it robs us of our trust in God and our trust in others and ourselves. "Anonymous" writes about enduring pain. In the 1970's, he was one of the few African-American students attending an all-boys Jesuit High School, and, at first, he felt totally accepted by his mostly white, better-off peers and his teachers who challenged him to achieve academic excellence. But in his Junior year, he had a traumatic experience. He saw his classmates, laughing, examining a piece of paper with an image of a naked Pygmy woman, and his last name written on the paper followed by the word "Mom." When they saw him, the students stopped laughing. The teacher who entered the room excoriated the boys. "Anonymous" shares his long-term reactions to this cruelty:
"I was stunned both by the deeply personal and savage nature of the insult and by the failure of anyone other than my teacher to defend my mother and me. I had walked arm and arm with my classmates since we were thirteen years old, and I thought that they considered me one of them. I thought I had proven myself by being near the top of my class. But my academic standing did not protect me from being targeted for my race....
"Other than being forced to call my mother to apologize, the culprits escaped without punishment.....
"For my part, the loss of innocence I experienced that day had lasting consequences....The incident made it hard for me to form lasting friendships....
"I have enjoyed considerable professional success since graduating from high school. Nevertheless, I have found myself on many occasions to be easily triggered by racial or perceived racial slights....Even now, I am constantly on guard against being emasculated because of my race and social class. I regret mistakes I have made in relationships and the opportunities I have missed to build cultural bridges." (from "America" magazine, Feb. 4, 2019 issue.)
Those who try to build those cultural bridges discover that they have to confront their own losses of innocence first. As President of Jesuit Marquette University, Michael R. Lovell believed, in 2017, that God was calling him to make a difference in Milwaukee's inner city, but the problems seemed too big and overwhelming. Then, he attended a campus event on the epidemic of trauma, which enlightened him about the problems - and about himself:
"A panel of experts spoke about how our most pressing societal challenges, including health disparities, segregation, violence, and crime, were rooted in generational trauma. Research has shown that when children experience abuse and neglect, it changes the development of their brains and their reactions to different situations. As an engineer, I was amazed by the science behind this.
"A ground-breaking study done 30 years ago measured ten types of adverse childhood experiences (A.C.E.s), including abuse, neglect, violence, mental illness, incarceration of a family member, and substance abuse. An A.C.E. score of four or higher was found to greatly increase an individual's chances of experiencing depression, incarceration, heart disease, diabetes, or cancer."
Lovell's original plan may have been to discover how to have an impact on the inner city. But first Lovell and his wife experienced deep shock when they realized their own significant childhood trauma which had had a deep impact on their own development: mental illness, violence, alcohol abuse, suicide. Lovell took the A.C.E. test and learned he had a score of five!
Michael Lovell had a soul-searching experience as he recognized how far from "child-like" he had traveled because of his own loss of childhood innocence. He realized that he had to rebuild his own spiritual and emotional resiliency to cope with and overcome the wounds that life had given him. He does this in three ways: prayer, self-reflection, and nurturing close, loving relationships. He says,
"No matter where I am or what I have on my plate, I take at least 15 minutes a day to pray, reflect, and have quiet time. I have found that praying 15 minutes every day is an important form of self-care.
"Without taking time to be quiet and reflective in prayer, it can be easy to miss the signs and calls from God. For Amy (his wife) and me, our call to serve was that trauma panel in late 2017. Shortly after attending this panel, we pulled together a group of thirty people to discuss the topic of trauma....and started meeting every six weeks.....Today, we usually have about 150 people....(Our) mission...is to inspire dynamic collaboration among participants that heals trauma and creates a resilient community....
"In the First Letter of Peter, the writer says, 'Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.' ...Neurological research has shown that the best way to limit the catastrophic effects of childhood trauma and to stop its intergenerational spread is through close, loving relationships. The science supports the faith on this one." (Michael Lovell's story is in "America" magazine, Feb. 18, 2019 issue.)
We are all the children of God! But we are also so wounded by life that we adults have lost our childhood innocence and it is hard indeed to overcome negative cynicism and regain our childlikeness. We can rebuild our trust in God and ourselves, rediscover our ability to enjoy life, not worry about others' reactions to us, and even enjoy the "strangers" in our midst without fear, through three practices: prayer, self-reflection, and nurturing warm, loving relationships.
Self-reflection can put us in touch with those intergenerational and childhood traumas that have hurt our self-esteem and our trust in others and in God. Self-reflection also alerts us to the daily signs and calls we receive from our merciful God that aid us in reaching our full potential.
Warm, loving relationships put us in touch with the healing unity of the Mystical Body of Christ. We discover that ALL, no matter their cultures or the colors of their skin, are one with us in this Body and have the same Heavenly Father that we do. This is the most potent antidote to those evils in society that seek to divide us and turn us against each other.
Only the childlike, who rely wholly on God, belong to the heavenly Kingdom. Only the children of God can be agents for transformation and healing in a world so the opposite of childlike, filled with people so traumatized that the planet itself is in danger of explosion from blatant racism, violence, lies, and greed. Which is why the third practice on our list - prayer - is so important. The great mystic, Fr. Thomas Keating, died recently. In his final conversation with Tim Shriver, he listened attentively as Tim vented about his struggle to trust in these times of fear and violence and division.
Fr. Keating believed in prayer as an assent to the Presence of God and as the premier way of building our relationship with a God Whose love is constant, trustworthy gentle, and safe. Fr. Keating said to the struggling Tim, "Focus on trust. When you trust that we are all part of something beautiful beyond our wildest imagination, you will find healing."
Tim adds, "Have the audacity to trust that we all belong to God" Yes, we are all children of God! The Holy Spirit whispers to us daily that God is our faithful Father. We belong to Him, we are the sheep of His flock. And, the ever-loving, supportive arms of Jesus constantly enfold us, with a divine love powerful enough that it can heal all our trauma. Slowly, gently, trustingly in Jesus' arms we can become God's CHILD-LIKE children!
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