<div dir="ltr"><div><u>Bp. Barron's Gospel reflection.</u></div><div>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif;line-height:27px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="2">Friends,
in our Gospel for today, Jesus proposes that the kingdom of heaven
belongs to those who are like children. Why? For starters, <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">children </span></b>
don’t know how to dissemble, how to be one way and act another. They are
what they are; they <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">act in accordance with their deepest nature. “Kids
say the darndest things” because they don’t know how to <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">hide</span> the truth
of their reactions.</span></b></font></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif;line-height:27px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="2">In
this<b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">, they are like stars or flowers or animals</span></b>, things that are what
they are, unambiguously, uncomplicatedly. <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">They are in accord with God’s
deepest intentions for them.</span></b></font></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif;line-height:27px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="2">To
say it another way, they haven’t yet learned how to look at themselves.
<b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> Why can a child immerse himself so eagerly and thoroughly in what he is
doing? </span></b>Why can he find joy in the simplest thing, like pushing a train
around a track or watching a video over and over or kicking a ball
around? <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Because he can lose himself; because he is not <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">looking at
</span>himself, not <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">conscious of other people’s reactions, expectations, and
approval.</span></span></b></font></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif;line-height:27px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="2">Mind
you, this childlikeness has nothing to do with being unsophisticated,
unaccomplished, or childish. <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Thomas Aquinas was one of the most
accomplished men to ever live, the greatest intellectual in<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> the history
of</span> the Church, and one of the subtlest minds in <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the history of the West</span>.
Yet the terms that were used over and over to describe him were
“childlike” and “innocent.”</span></b></font></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif;line-height:27px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="2"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Childlikeness
has to do with that rootedness in what God wants<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> us </span>to be. Thomas was
born to be a theologian and <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">a writer</span>, and nothing would<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> get him off of</span>
that beam: neither <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the critiques</span> </span>of his<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> enemies</span>, nor the <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">blandishments
</span>of his religious superiors, nor <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the temptations </span>to become a bishop. He
was and remained who God wanted him to be, and thus he was like a great
mountain or a flower or, indeed, a child.</span></b></font></p><font size="2"><b><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)">Imádkozzál érettünk Istennek Szent Anyja, hogy méltók lehessünk Krisztus ígéreteire. Ámen</span></b>. </font></div></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br><table style="border-top:1px solid #d3d4de"><tr><td style="width:55px;padding-top:13px"><a href="http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail" target="_blank"><img src="https://s-install.avcdn.net/ipm/preview/icons/icon-envelope-tick-green-avg-v1.png" alt="" width="46" height="29" style="width: 46px; height: 29px;"></a></td><td style="width:470px;padding-top:12px;color:#41424e;font-size:13px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:18px">Vírusmentes.<a href="http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail" target="_blank" style="color:#4453ea">www.avg.com</a></td></tr></table><a href="#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2" width="1" height="1"></a></div>