Mark 10:14-15--“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
"A child has no dissimulation, no concealment. As soon as he is capable of
deceit he is no longer a child. In like manner, nothing can equal the openness
and candor of the spiritual child. He does not compose his exterior; his
recollection has nothing constrained about it; his actions, his conversations,
his manners, everything in him is simple and natural; when he says anything, he
really thinks it; when he offers anything, he wishes to give it; when he
promises anything, he will keep his promise. He does not seek to appear
different to what he really is, nor to hide his faults; he says what is good and
what is evil of himself with the same simplicity, and he has no reserve whatever
with those to whom he ought to disclose the state of his soul.
"A child shows his love with artless innocence: everything in him expresses the feelings of his heart, and he is all the more touching and persuasive because there is nothing studied about him. It is the same with the spiritual child, when he wishes to show his love for God and his charity for his neighbor. He goes to God simply, without preparation; he says to God without set formulas or choice of words all that his loving heart suggests to him; he knows no other method of prayer than to keep himself in the presence of God, to look at God, to listen to him, to possess him, to tell him all the feelings with which grace inspires him, sometimes in words, but more often without speaking at all."
~Fr. Jean-Nicholas Grou, S.J., French Jesuit priest of the 19th century and spiritual director.
"A child shows his love with artless innocence: everything in him expresses the feelings of his heart, and he is all the more touching and persuasive because there is nothing studied about him. It is the same with the spiritual child, when he wishes to show his love for God and his charity for his neighbor. He goes to God simply, without preparation; he says to God without set formulas or choice of words all that his loving heart suggests to him; he knows no other method of prayer than to keep himself in the presence of God, to look at God, to listen to him, to possess him, to tell him all the feelings with which grace inspires him, sometimes in words, but more often without speaking at all."
~Fr. Jean-Nicholas Grou, S.J., French Jesuit priest of the 19th century and spiritual director.
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