Wednesday January 31
I know a carpenter who organizes meditation retreats and even brings teachers half way around the world to lead them. One of those teachers, speaking to me about my friend, said, “That’s the way to live! No one has ever told him his limitations, and so he just goes ahead and does wonderful things!” No one ever said to him, “Carpenters only do carpentry.” Or perhaps they did and he refused to believe them. Then he is either very lucky or very strong. Jesus was not so lucky, but he was strong. The villagers wanted to keep him within his limitations: he was a carpenter and the son of a carpenter. But he “broke through their midst and went his way” (Lk 4:30).
We have to break through the midst of many things in order to become adult Christians. Many people, even in the Church, will try to keep us in a pre-adult state. Childhood as a complete ideal doesn’t work for most people. Yes, Jesus said we must be like children: we must have their qualities of simplicity, honesty, freshness. “Like children,” he said. Like my friend, who does wonderful things. We must be adults who are like children, not children who are like adults.