From The Mouths Of Babes.

Many years ago my brother took his daughter to the circus. One of the acts performed was a magic act. The magician was very gifted and had my niece, as well as all the other children, entranced and mystified by his performance. When the act was over, my brother asked my niece, “How do you think he did all those things?” My niece replied, “Oh, Daddy, don’t be so silly. It’s magic.”

From my brother’s adult point of view he knows that the magician uses sleight of hand, among other techniques, to divert attention to accomplish his goal. That goal is to make his audience see what he wants them to see; whether it is pulling a rabbit out of a hat or making an elephant disappear. My niece, a child, in her innocence, had yet not been jaded into such skepticism. Alas, with age, knowledge has the ability to make skeptics of us all.

A little boy came home from catechism to an unbelieving father. “What did you learn in catechism today? “That there are three Persons in God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and they are all eternal.” The father said, “Don’t be stupid. I am your father, you are my son. I existed long before you did.” The little boy said, “No, you didn’t. You didn’t begin to be a father, until I began to be a son.” – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

God, the Father, thinks, but He does not think as we do. We think in a succession of thoughts. The Father has only one thought. And that one thought contains all knowledge. That thought is a Word, and is called a Son. One did not preexist the other. – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

We are not capable of fully knowing God’s thought. That is why there is faith. Yet we do know, by the order and beauty of our environment, and the inherent goodness in mankind, that has not been spoiled by human ego, that the motive behind divine thought is love. A mystical love that has been made manifest to us all through his Son, who is the model by which we can fashion ourselves as we strive toward its perfection.

Knowledge can either make one wise or it can make one proud. Wisdom opens our minds to the mysteries of the universe and our hearts to the truth of a perfect love. Pride limits our vision to the very tip of our nose and closes our hearts to a peace that the world cannot give. Wisdom nourishes courageous conviction. Pride is the fodder of cowardly fools. Wisdom places us on the path toward absolute truth, from which we will one day enter into the joy of our true desiring. Pride embeds us in an endless maze, constructed from self-made truths of convenience, in which our worldly desires are never completely met.

Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 18:3

There were two types if people who came on bended knee to honor the Christ child; shepherds and wise men. Those that knew they knew nothing and those that knew they didn’t know everything. Those absent, were those who thought they knew it all. – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Learn from the innocents. For they possess the wisdom – born of common sense and the law of first principles – that eludes the stubborn.