Jesus is the one teacher who tells us very
little about what to do to achieve the kingdom. He abolished rules and didn’t leave behind a
step by step road to enlightenment, but he said one thing that can bring us all
the way to God: Believe in me. The difference between eastern religions and
Christianity was evident to C.S. Lewis:
“We have not got to try to climb into
spiritual life by our own efforts…If we only lay ourselves open to the one Man
in whom it was fully present…He will do it for us".
From the moment I met Jesus, all I had to do
was “ride the wave”. But waves lift you up and then let you down. It’s not so
easy to ride them, especially when there is no coast in sight. The religious
sense must be nourished, keeping in mind that we are not feeding an illusion
but something that was given to us by grace. I must look after my faith like I
looked after my son when he was a child. I wanted to relate to him, so I also
become like a child and we had a wonderful time together.
When you were a child, you used to
get mad at me if I assumed that you couldn’t understand certain things because
you were too young. You thought that children were smart, sometimes smarter
than the adults, but now you have changed your mind.
“Jesus said that only those who are like
children will enter the kingdom of heaven,” you said. “In fact, in order to
believe one has to shut down his logical thought. Actually, one has to stop
thinking!”
Maybe, if you try, you’ll be able to recall
the way you were just a few years ago and realize that there is no reason to
despise that little boy. In his naivete, he was aware of the deepest aspects of
reality.
I’m looking at you picture. You were eleven
years old, learning your first English words. Look at those eyes! Your gaze was as sharp as a
razor. It’s not like that anymore; you are a grown up now. Maybe you have lost
something in the process. Try to remember, try really hard.
