Imagine two scenes: A girl, age 7, playing her favorite Disney song on the piano for her dad. You hear the melody underneath the patchy 1st grade level piano. A 6-year-old boy, playing on his hands and knees in the grass as his mother watches. He makes a funny face – a smile much more wild than those of tame school portraits.
I look at the young girl’s unhesitating love. She wants only to share a part of herself with Dad. She trusts and depends on his loving attention. The father listens to her playing; It is perfectly imperfect. The young boy does not worry about his appearance or accomplishments. He shares his delight in the moment. By simply being, he is the absolute joy of his mother’s life.
What do these children show us about ourselves and our God? Jesus invites us, “Come, my child!”
—Ryan Mak, S.J., a Jesuit scholastic of the California Jesuit province, is studying philosophy at Loyola University Chicago.