From the Mouth of Babes

My son is studying to be confirmed by his bishop at the end of the month.  He is a youngest of a group of young confirmands, and I am proud of them all.

Of course, they don't always talk the way we might think they should talk about God.  But conversation with them about God is always enjoyable and often quite rewarding as I learn more about my faith from them.

One of my young confirmands had a hard time grasping the meaning of being gifted with the Holy Ghost at his baptism.  He was probably four or five and he asked:  "Is the Holy Ghost heavy?   Will I still be able to jump if I get the Holy Ghost?"

Of course, those questions are awfully good at reminding me of how very little I know.  My son helped me in that category the other night as we were talking our way through the Apostle's Creed.  

We were talking of Jesus being born of the Virgin Mary (after some discussion of the theotokos, we had to discuss the two natures of Jesus so that he could understand how Mary did not, indeed, exist before God) and of how he grew up into a little boy, like my son, and how he must have played and fallen down and done so many things that boys do.

As we were discussing how very real and human Jesus was in the terms that my son tends to understand, he popped off with:

"Dad, I just really have a problem with that guy."

Of course, my eyebrows raised and I asked which "guy" he was referring to.  

"Jesus, Dad, I just really have a problem with that guy."

"And what problem do you have, son?"

"Well," he began, in his five-year-old voice, "How can he know everything???"

I decided that that was a very good question indeed and saved the rest of the discussion for a later time when, perhaps, my mind might be as sharp, as full of wonder, and as inquisitive as my son's and his fellow confirmands'.