How to Pray Like a Child

“Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 18:3)

“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2)

[See also Matthew 17:2/Mk 9:2, 2 Cor. 3:18]

What does it mean to be a child? For everyone here, it’s been quite some time since someone had to change our diaper or teach us not to cross the street without looking both ways. We so often look at childhood as something we are totally done with. And in some sense that is true in our continually deepening understanding of God:

“for every one who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:13)

“Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; be infants in evil, but in thinking be mature.” (1 Corinthians 14:20)

We might notice that while it is important to grow in knowledge and understanding, or as St. Paul describes it, our thinking, this is only beneficial for the spiritual life if we then become a humble, little child before God the Father.[1] If knowledge and understanding were all we sought after, we would be no different from satan, who knows a great deal about God but is not humble before Him. However, because we wish to love God, we seek to love Him and to be loved by Him.

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to Him a child, He put him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:1-4)

What does it mean to be a humble, little child before Almighty God? Let’s look at how we were created to gain a fuller understanding.

“So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:21-25)

Here, it is clear that part of being a humble, little child before God is to be vulnerable: to expose yourself completely to the other and to not be ashamed. Unfortunately, as we know, there is more to this story:

“So the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’” (Genesis 3:6-10)

The first actual effect of sin upon Adam and Eve is that they are ashamed of themselves. Shame says I’m something wrong, while guilt says I’ve done something wrong. If they were something wrong, God would not seek after them. Because they feel like they are something wrong, they hide from God, ending the vulnerable sharing of themselves with Him.

Thus, God will now seek out humanity until the end of time. Yes, you and I can seek God, but He has sought you first. Just as the father in the story of the prodigal son that we all know so well, he was out looking for his beloved son, who, even in making grave mistakes, was still loved by his father. His father could not wait to forgive him. When his father saw him on the horizon, he ran to his son, embraced him, kissed him, clothed him in ‘the best robe’, and had the fattened calf slaughtered in order to host a grand party in celebration of the return of his son.

In a similar manner, even though Adam and Eve do not return to God, He none the less clothes them in animal hides[2] (an image of Christ, the Paschal Lamb of God) and provides His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for the infinite debt of sins.

This return to God continues for the duration of our lives. We are freed from original sin at our baptism, and provided the continual forgiveness of personal sins in confession. All of this is received in an abundance of humility; a recognition that you and I are but children before Almighty God, regardless of how much we may know about Him.

Imagine you’re still a small child and you think there’s a monster in your closet or under your bed. “Daddy! I’m afraid!” There was never any shame in calling out to your dad who loves you. In the same manner, there are many things in life that unsettle us, cause us pain, grief, and suffering. Let’s call on Dad to help us be at peace. Sometimes there’s not actually a monster in the closet at all. Dad can show me that. Maybe someone broke into the home to do harm; I know dad will defend me. No one can truly harm me with Him at my door. My daddy will keep me safe. Daddy can beat up the bad guy.

This is the kind of childlike trust that we can have with God the Father. This kind of trust comes from a place of humility and vulnerability, placing our hearts into the hands of God the Father, in whose hands our hearts are far safer than our own.

St. Bonaventure, a contemporary of St. Francis and the Seraphic Doctor of the Church once said, “Just as no one can know a human person’s innermost self except the spirit of that person which dwells within, so no one knows the things of God but the Spirit of God.”[3]

So let us come before God as a humble child, opening up everything we might consider shameful, showing Him our deep pains, giving Him our greatest joys, and rest in His presence to let Him lift us up into deep relationship with Him.

Let’s put aside understanding for a moment and practice praying like children before our heavenly Father. This will be a guided meditation, with the goal of bringing you to a place of contemplation.

+ Let us begin in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

In the quiet of our hearts let us say to God a word of gratitude.

In the quiet of our hearts let us say to God a word of adoration.

In the quiet of our hearts let us say to God a word of repentance.

In the quiet of our hearts let us say to God a word of petition.

Let us be still and know that our Father loves us.

I now encourage you to ask God the Father to help you see yourself as His beloved child. To show you how deeply He loves you. To give you an experience of His heart aching to be infinitely close to yours. To enter into your heart. Into the joys of your life. Into the great pains. Into the ordinary things. Into the extraordinary things. To transform them all into peace and joy in His eternal presence.

Allow God the Father to clothe you with a royal garment, soaked and dripping with the saving blood of Jesus. Allow yourself to rest in the embrace of your Father who loves you.

Amen.

[1] St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church. Commentary on Matthew, 1272. Chap. 18, Lect. 5.

[2] Genesis 3:21

[3] St. Bonaventure, Journey of the Mind Into God, Ch. 4, Para. 8.