Let the little children come to Me....

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Children can be taught to love Jesus very easily.  They are more often likely to accept the mysteries of God easier than we adults.  But do we really realise this...the following is from an article which can be found at..http://www.childrenofhope.org/aboutus/brinkart.htm

Father Antoine Thomas, of the Congregation of St. John and a native of France, has an answer that will give us cause to pause.

“Do we adults understand the mystery of the Eucharist? We believe in it, but do we understand it? We think we understand it better than children but my experience after 10 years of leading children’s holy hours is that children understand it much more than adults in many, many respects.”

Father Antoine began leading Children of Hope holy hours for young people with remarkable success in France in 1994 and continued the practice after he came to the United States to found a new priory in Peoria, Illinois. Since then, he has given many YOUTH 2000 retreats throughout the United States, has made numerous appearances on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and has spoken at dozens of parishes across the country. St. Joseph’s Communications recently invited him to all of their conferences to conduct holy hours for the children whose numbers range anywhere from 800 to 1,600.
“Children — 4-, 5-, and 6-years-old — can be moved by the Holy Spirit much more with their innocent hearts than adults with their rational way of thinking. The children can lead us in prayer!”

Father Antoine says. “Once you teach them, they can lead adults in prayer, by their really genuine attitude toward Jesus. They don‘t begin to rationalize and argue about it. I have tons of stories to tell those adults who think that children should not be admitted to adoration. I think their opinion is not the truth.”

He tells of one little girl who he was preparing for reception of her first Communion. “I was playing the devil’s advocate and I said to her, ‘You don’t really believe that Jesus, who is God, the God who made the heaven and earth, can be present in a piece of bread, do you? It’s crazy! How can you believe that?’”

“After a few minutes of silence, the little girl said, ‘Well, nothing is impossible for God!’”

“And we say children don’t understand,” Father Antoine chuckled. “I just smile.”
 
More information on Children of Hope can be found at their website...http://www.childrenofhope.org/