For the children, we’ll joyfully develop the sense of God in kindergarten, making direct contact with God. It’s very easy for the child, because he doesn’t have the same objections that we do; he isn’t troubled by the mystery of God – he has a sense for mystery and a marvelous openness to it. Give him truth, make him practice the theological virtues. Don’t convince yourself that just because a child is only three or four he hasn’t theological virtues – he has had them from the moment of his baptism; he even has the gifts of the Holy Ghost.

Fr. Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus (1894-1967)
Carmelite

“My child, do you do your five minutes of oraison?” She answered, “Oh yes!” – “And when do you do them?” “When I can! during recreation, or sometimes at home; there are a lot of us, so there is quite a bit of noise, so sometimes I have to do it in the bathroom.” But she didn’t miss her time for mental prayer. I told her: “But, really, you don’t get bored? Does God ever say anything to you?” “Oh, He never says anything to me, not ever!” I answered her: “Well then, it’s lucky He doesn’t tell you anything! And what about you, do you tell Him something?” – “Well, I give him a little ticket every two weeks, but it doesn’t amount to much…” (She was talking about a little cut-out, with a prayer, given every fifteen days to a group of children called the “Companions of the Child Jesus.”) “So, you don’t say much to Him either? He says nothing, and you say nothing, and yet you go out of your way to find five minutes each day and you even ask if you can do ten minutes of oraison per day? I don’t understand how you can spend ten minutes every day with God, with someone whom you don’t see, and to whom you say nothing and who says nothing to you…” Then, this little child looked at me with her wide, pure eyes and said: “Ah, Father, it’s just that, you know, we’re two, together.” This little one had sensed what the faith was, and through the gifts of the Holy Ghost she sensed the presence of God in a continual manner – she had real contact with God! Should I have told her to say more, to give a speech about it? She was undertaking oraison, the “commerce” with God, contact with God, union with God. And this child was enriching herself for life because she was enriching her very soul. At that moment, thanks to the education she was receiving, she was building up reflexes which would remain with her her whole life. Evidently, there are always the passions to deal with, and crises, and even sins perhaps; there will be obscure, foggy moments and other challenges. But in the depths of her soul, beneath all that, in the places where grace has taken up its abode, there is a spiritual experience, a need of the supernatural. There is a longing, created by God, a sense of God which has already been developed and which will ask to be nourished.”

Fr. Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus (1894-1967)
Carmelite