Spiritual Childhood

To be saved, according to Jesus, is to gradually become a child.

To become a child, to live the experience of the Abba (dear Father) not only in prayer but most of all in the circumstances of life, confidently surrendering to what the Father wills. All of this seems to be an easy and simple thing to do, but in reality it means the most fantastic change, a real revolution within the old castle built up in self-sufficiency, self-centeredness, and delusions of grandeur.

Technology has conquered and transformed matter. Psychology seems to have dominated us. A vain illusion. No other “science” has been invented nor any other plan for the transformation of humanity than that revelation brought by Jesus: to renounce dreams of omnipotence, to recognize the impossibility of salvation by purely human means, to be conscious of our smallness and fragility, to surrender confidently and unconditionally into the powerful hands of God.

This surrender into the Father’s hands is a seemingly passive attitude. But whoever begins to live it will realize that all the Beatitudes are contained in it. I would say that this spirit of childhood is the synthesis of all of the active virtues. It is as if someone had conquered all of the strengths of our soul and, once taken, we surrender to their sole owner, so that, day after day, we will be transformed from the roots of our being. God alone is Power, Love, and Revolution.

Extracted from the book Sensing your Hidden Presence by Fr. Ignacio Larrañaga