WHAT IS SPIRITUAL CHILDHOOD 2? SPIRITUAL CHILDHOOD DEMANDS MATURITY IN CHRISTIAN LIFE
SPIRITUAL CHILDHOOD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING CHILDISH NOR WITH BEING IMMATURE. Immaturity is characterized by various traits among which are:
- emotional instability;
- lack of self-knowledge and clear objectives in one’s life;
- a low threshold level of suffering, easily giving into impatience, tantrums, discouragement, despair and frustration;
- an impulsive way of acting, always at the mercy of one’s disordered passions and caprices;
- lack of constancy and coherence with the goals he has chosen for himself etc.
On the contrary, SPIRITUAL CHILDHOOD demands a struggle to be MATURE in one’s interior life. This is precisely the paradox of Christian ascetical struggle:
1. CHRISTIAN HUMAN AND SUPERNATURAL MATURITY IS POSSIBLE ONLY IF WE MAKE OURSELVES LITTLE AND CHILDLIKE BEFORE GOD.
2. And the other way around: TO BE LITTLE AND CHILDLIKE —NOT CHILDISH—BEFORE GOD DEMANDS SPIRITUAL MATURITY. ONE DOES NOT ARRIVE AT THIS WITHOUT A DAILY INTERIOR STRUGGLE out of LOVE FOR GOD to acquire and practice the MORAL AND THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES.
- As St. Josemaria says: Spiritual infancy “is not spiritual foolishness or flabbiness; it is a sane and forceful way which, due to its difficult easiness, the soul must begin and continue, led by the hand of God…[it]demands SUBMISSION OF THE MIND, MORE DIFFICULT THAN SUBMISSION OF THE WILL. In order to subject our mind we need not only God’s grace, but also the CONTINUAL EXERCISE OF OUR WILL, WHICH SAYS ‘NO’ AGAIN AND AGAIN, JUST AS IT SAYS ‘NO’ TO THE FLESH. And so we get the PARADOX that WHOEVER WANTS TO FOLLOW THIS ‘LITTLE’ WAY IN ORDER TO BECOME A CHILD, NEEDS TO ADD STRENGTH AND VIRILITY TO HIS WILL (St. Josemaría, The Way, no. 855-856).”
3. A mature Christian who struggles to be a little child before God knows how to deal with Him with humility, simplicity, sincerity and trusting abandonment, all of which are VIRTUES which have to be acquired through INTERIOR STRUGGLE and with the help of GOD’S GRACE.
- He is absolutely sure that HE NEEDS GOD IN HIS LIFE, God who deserves to be loved above all the rest.
- He is FIRM IN HIS BELIEF THAT GOD IS HIS REFUGE, HIS SECURITY, HIS STRENGTH, thereby contributing to his EMOTIONAL STABILITY and infusing himself with a constant dose of OPTIMISM and SERENITY before difficulties. That is why when things don’t go as he wanted or expected, he doesn’t allow himself to enter into tantrums, nor easily weaken in his faith because he knows that God knows better and is omnipotent.
- He humbly ACKNOWLEDGES HIS LIMITATIONS, and that he can only do as much; at the same time, he is convinced that the LITTLE THINGS IN HIS ORDINARY LIFE CARRIED OUT OF LOVE ARE GREAT IN GOD’S EYES.
- He has the MATURE VITAL CONVICTION that PUTTING HIS HEART IN WHAT IS SUPERFLUOUS, MATERIAL AND WORLDLY WILL LEAD TO HIS PERDITION. Knowing that the goods of this world are perishable, he has the wisdom to look for the true source of happiness. But where to find man’s true source of happiness?
In his message during the Ash Wednesday of 2008, Pope Benedict XVI asked: “To what extent does a life that is totally spent in achieving success, longing for prestige and seeking commodities to the point of excluding God from one’s horizon, truly lead to happiness? Can true happiness exist when God is left out of consideration? Experience shows that we are not happy because our material expectations and needs are satisfied. In fact, THE ONLY JOY THAT FILLS THE HUMAN HEART IS THAT WHICH COMES FROM GOD (Benedict XVI, Message, Ash Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008).”
Let us finish with the words pronounced by the same Pope in during the 20th World Youth Day in Cologne: Dear friends, “THE HAPPINESS YOU ARE SEEKING, THE HAPPINESS YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO ENJOY HAS A NAME AND A FACE: IT IS JESUS OF NAZARETH, HIDDEN IN THE EUCHARIST. ONLY HE GIVES THE FULLNESS OF LIFE TO HUMANITY! (Benedict XVI, Welcoming Address, August 16, 2008)”
LET US THEN SEEK AND APPROACH JESUS WITH THE HUMAN AND SUPERNATURAL MATURITY OF A CHRISTIAN WHO STRUGGLES TO BE A LITTLE CHILD BEFORE GOD.
A Blessed day ahead!
Fr. Rolly Arjonillo
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