Faith like a child

This past Sunday, at the Palm Sunday Mass; I had a “surprising” revelation. I tend to be somewhat thick, so if God wants my attention He usually has to do it in a big way. He knows I don’t do subtle very well. However, the Lord is not constrained to what I think He does, and as we all have probably experienced; He likes to throw in some surprises every now and then. For me, my little revelation can be considered a surprise.

April 15th marks one year since I converted. God has been at work in me, working oh so subtly. I didn’t even notice until Palm Sunday. The Passion narrative, to be exact. While we stood there and listened to the Gospel, I felt an aching inside. That same aching you get when you see someone who is terminally ill, or fatally wounded and you just know they’re going to die; it’s only a matter of time. For me, listening to the Gospel was almost devastating. Granted, I know about the Resurrection but for the first time, I had almost forgotten it and just stood there in numb shock. Perhaps I had gotten a little too into the Bible, or perhaps I’m just becoming fanatical.

I had to teach pre-school RE after Mass, and the lesson was the Crucifixion. It’s comforting to know that God uses anyone and everyone to help the rest of us out. I still felt rather shocked, but corralled my 13 kids and started to tell them about the Crucifixion. Their faces were of utter shock. Once I reminded them of the Resurrection, they started to get excited:

Me: “But we know that Jesus did not die forever, He came back to life!”
Kid 1: “They [the priests in the temple] were trying to take away His powers.”
Kid 2: “BUT THEY COULDN’T!!”
Me: “And why couldn’t they?”
Kid 3: “BECAUSE JESUS HAS ALL THE POWERS!!”
Me: “Why’s that?”
Kid 4: “JESUS IS GOD!”
Kid 2: “JESUS IS EVERYTHING!”
Kid 5: “DEATH COULDN’T BEAT JESUS BECAUSE HE IS GOD AND GOD IS LOVE!”
Kid 6: “Jesus lives FOREVER in HEAVEN!”
Me: “Yes, He does!”

I think my kids “figured out” God and Christ in one very enthusiastic sentence:

“DEATH COULDN’T BEAT JESUS BECAUSE HE IS GOD AND GOD IS LOVE!”

I think I just need to remember that one sentence, and be just as enthusiastic and faithful as my pre-schoolers are.