Where's Jesus?

When my children are young, I have often wondered if they see things that we don't see anymore once we're able to speak. Like, do they see angels? So many times I'll watch an infant cooing, smiling, giggling, and reaching out for something when no one is in their eyeshot, their eyes/head following some invisible amusement. Could it be their guardian angel? Are they more keenly, innocently aware of the spiritual realm than we are, once we 'grow up'? I don't find it terribly hard to believe, especially after baptism, as their precious little souls have not yet been stained with sin and they are more near to Christ in their innocent child's state of grace.

Thursday morning I was at Mass, and little C was being especially vocal. Since it is summer time and many of the 'snow birds' have headed back up north, daily Mass has been moved into the small Marian chapel, where everyone is in much closer quarters. I am also that much more sensitive to my children's noises and movements during Mass. Well, as C began to do her less-than-pleasant 'screeching', I tried to distract her and whispered in her ear, "Where's Jesus? Can you find Jesus?" We were sitting nearby a beautiful large painted picture of the Divine Mercy Christ, with a wooden crucifix on the wall next to it. When I asked C this question, she stopped screeching, paused a moment, stuck out her pointer finger and swung around, unmistakably pointing at the Divine Mercy picture of Jesus behind her.... and stunning me! I thought it was maybe just a coincidence, so I whispered to her again. "C, where's Jesus?" And again, she whipped around in my arms, searching until her eyes focused on the Divine Mercy picture of Christ. Her face broke into a huge grin, and she pointed directly at him again, scanning her eyes back and forth from the Divine Mercy picture and the wooden crucifix this time!
I was telling Papa this story later that night, and I decided to try something. I picked C up in my arms and, knowing our own wooden crucifix was on the wall behind us, I 'tested' her again: "C, where's Jesus?" Again, like at Mass, she got very quiet and paused; I watched her little fingers curl up into a fist, all except her pointer finger, and she held her hand out in the air pointing. Then she looked around the room not really 'landing' her gaze on anything until I nonchalantly turned one way a little (knowing the crucifix would be in view at this point) and suddenly her face lit up into a joyful smile of recognition and she purposefully pointed at the wooden crucifix, babbling a few syllables in response to my question! After trying the same thing again at Mass on Friday with the same precious result, I am convinced: Children have a very special understanding and closeness to Christ while they are very young. They know Him. And why wouldn't they? They are His children, and they have a child's innocent, pure faith, yet unscathed or marred by the sin which separates us from Him; they are holy and so beloved by God. The rest of us have to spend our lives trying to get back to this state, as Christ told his disciples:

"At this time the disciples came to Jesus and said, 'Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?' So he called a little child to him
whom he set among them. Then he said, 'In truth I tell you, unless you
change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom
of Heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little
child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven."
Matthew 18:1-4




It's no flippant thing that I frequently refer to my children as "My Treasures." They are the only thing that I have the privilege of actually creating with the Holy God of the universe, and the only thing of eternal value and worth that I get to help create and mold! Yikes-if that's not a hefty thought!! Someone once told me that our children are Royalty, and it's actually we, parents, who get the honor of bringing them up in the knowledge, understanding and wisdom of Whose they are. Something to remember on those 'less than lovely days' as a mother, eh? I hope that I may always know "Where's Jesus" in my own life, as readily and joyfully as my little C does!