THE CHILD

Pope Francis says that watching how children interact and play can teach us a lot about the relationship we should have with Jesus.

   Noting that many saints have shown us a great devotion to the Infant Jesus, particularly St. Therese of Lisieux, the Pontiff said: from Him, we see the humility of God.

   “He, the great, is humble and is made a child. This is a real mystery! God is humble. This is beautiful,” Francis said.

   “We can learn a lot from Him if we look at the lives of children. It is a good habit that parents and grandparents have, to look at children, what they do.”

   The first characteristic: the desire for attention.

“They must be the focus, why? Because they are proud? No! Because they need to feel protected.  And it is necessary for us to put Jesus at the center of our lives and to know, even if it could seem paradoxical, that we have a responsibility to protect Him. He wishes to be in our arms, wishes to be cared for and to be able to fix His gaze on us.”

Abandoning our logic: 

   Next, children love to play. God plays as a child. But to play with a child, "means abandoning our logic to enter theirs."

   If we want a child to have fun, the Holy Father observed, we have to figure out what pleases them, rather than selfishly making them do what we want.

This, he said, is a lesson for us: “Before Jesus, we are called to give up our pretense of autonomy - and this is the core of the problem: our pretense of autonomy - to welcome instead the true form of freedom, which consists in knowing who we have in front of us and serving Him. He, this child, is the Son of God who comes to save us. He came among us to show us the face of the Father, which is rich in love and mercy.”

“Hold, then, the Child Jesus in our arms, putting ourselves at His service: He is the source of love and serenity,” the Pope recommended, encouraging the faithful to go to the nativity scenes in our homes and kiss the Child, telling him, "Jesus, I want to be humble like you, humble like God.”