Watching the little tyke alongside his mom, walking through the back of the Church during Sunday Mass, brought a smile to faces nearby, including mine. The toddler’s feet hardly touched the floor as he skipped and danced his way holding onto his mom’s hand.
The joy that he exuded was expressed on both his face and in his step. The trust he had in his mom was clearly evident as he happily moved alongside her. It was obvious he didn’t have a care in the world…he had his mom’s hand. What else was necessary?
I was reminded of our Lord and His children. Are we that trustful? Are we that happy to oblige and walk right alongside Him without fear of harm? After all, isn’t He our Father? Won’t He keep us safe and lead us on the right path?
St. Thérèse of Lisieux comes to mind and her beautiful, childlike faith. She was totally dependent on God for all things, as were all of the saints. Saint Thérèse lived her short life remaining simple and trusting, without obstacles and clutter getting in the way of her abandon of soul to God. She had the grace to know that she should remain “small” and unencumbered to understand God’s holy will for her. St. Thérèse vowed to spend her heaven doing good upon earth.
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta had a special place in her heart for St. Thérèse and actually chose her name because of her. She was also given the grace to understand the significance in simplicity, and lived her life with hardly the bare necessities, giving her life totally over to serving Jesus in the “poorest of the poor.” Blessed Teresa abandoned herself entirely over to Jesus’ will for her. Look what was accomplished with God’s grace, by this one humble woman, small of stature, considered to be insignificant in the world’s eyes. Her wholehearted “yes” to God enabled this to happen.
We too are called to a childlike abandon. For some of us, it may not be easy to let go of our clutter and our things, even our thoughts and plans of how we feel our lives should proceed. Yes, of course we need to use our brains and what God has given us to lead a good and holy life. But God wants us to let go of our tight grasp of the things we depend on — at least a little bit — and trust Him more by using our hearts, grasping our Lord’s hand instead.
These forty days of Lent are a good time in which to ask our Lord to help us become “small” and more childlike. For mothers, we have the example right in our midst. We can just look to our children and be reminded each day of childlike abandon. Prayer will teach us how. I’m sure our Lord would be delighted if we would grab onto His hand and skip and dance in complete trust and abandon alongside Him.
Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, mother of five, writes from Connecticut. She is the author of Catholic Prayer Book for Mothers, published by Our Sunday Visitor. It was endorsed by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and given a blessing by Pope John Paul II. It is available through her website www.donnacooperoboyle.com.
