### SPIRITUAL CHILDHOOD
**Spiritual childhood** is a state of interior life in which, through ascetical conquest, the virtues that children naturally possess and that usually mark the first age of man are acquired in relation to God and neighbor. This endowment of virtues consists above all in innocence, simplicity, spontaneity, openness, sincerity, faith, humility, and abandonment (v.). He who advances in spiritual childhood possesses these qualities without pretense or ostentation, without affectation, deceit, or envy, and does not inwardly think differently from what he outwardly professes (cf. Sum. Theol., 2ª-2ª, q. 109 ad 2). He is ready to suffer evil rather than inflict it, while believing in the goodness of God and others. This form of spirituality, in order to remain virtuous, must be joined to discretion, which ensures that the aforementioned virtues are maintained in the proper measure, both in degree and manner, and avoids the defects that accompany the state of childhood (cf. 1 Cor 13:11).
The origin of this pursuit and choice of virtues, as a wealth of the spirit, is partly natural, arising from the esteem that man generally has for the qualities listed, but it is principally supernatural, originating from the Savior’s admonition: “Unless you become like little children (Gr. τὰ παιδίδα), you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3; cf. Mk 10:15), “Let the little children come to me, for of such is the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:14), “Whoever is the least among you all, that one is the greatest” (Lk 9:48). St. Peter exhorted men to be “as newborn babes, without guile, desiring the pure spiritual milk” and to reject “all malice, all deceit, all hypocrisy, envy, and all slander” (1 Pt 2:1-2).
Prolonged exercise in the ascetical life leads to this spirit of simplicity in spiritual life, while a life of sin and experience of evil, both in oneself and in others, leads to a complicated, eternal, and external state. It is a great perfection to preserve or restore to one’s soul the innocence, uprightness, and that higher simplicity born of wisdom which are proper to spiritual childhood. All the saints were eminently endowed with these virtues. It suffices to recall St. Benedict, St. Gregory the Great, St. Nilus, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Francis de Sales, St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. John Bosco, and St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus; among more recent figures, Dom Columba Marmion, O.S.B., Fr. Adolfo Petit, S.J., and countless others.
A profound and extensive development of this doctrine was given by St. Thérèse of Lisieux in her autobiography *Histoire d’une âme* (translated into almost all languages) and in her spiritual writings, emphasizing the awareness of her own weakness and littleness, together with a full and bold abandonment to the omnipotent and transforming action of divine mercy. This state of spirit leads to great and constant docility and generosity in following the inspirations of the interior Master, in fulfilling even the smallest duties of one’s state in life, and in lovingly accepting the sufferings sent by God. Spiritual childhood, especially as contained in Theresian teaching, also called the “little way,” has been praised and recommended by the popes St. Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, and Pius XII.
With regard to the mystical life, spiritual childhood disposes the soul to receive the gifts of the mystical life, which increase and perfect II.
**
Arnaldo M. Lanz