The Soul of a Child
July 22, 2020
“THE SOUL of a child is free from all passions. He bears no ill-will towards those who have done him harm, but goes to them as friends, just as if they had done nothing. And though he be often beaten by his mother, yet he always seeks her and loves her more than anyone else. If you show him a queen in her royal crown, he prefers his mother clad in rags, and would rather see her unadorned than the queen in magnificent attire; for he does not appreciate according to riches or poverty, but by love. He seeks not for more than is necessary, and as soon as he has had sufficient milk he quits the breast. He is not oppressed with the same sorrows as we, nor troubled with care for money and the like; neither is he rejoiced by our transitory pleasures, nor affected by corporal beauty. Therefore Our Lord said: Of such is the kingdom of heaven, wishing us to do of our own free will what children do by nature.”
— St. John Chrysostom