Little baby Liam - an innocent child of God!

I'm afraid that there are many who, when they stand beneath the Cross, find such a disparity between the immeasurable love and mercy of Christ for them and their meager love of and service to Him, that they become despondent, and discouraged.  To such souls, may I suggest, rather, that they stand near the crib and look into the beautiful face of the Infant Jesus.  

To a baby, there is no distinction between saint and sinner.  A tiny baby will put its little chubby hand around the finger of a laborer as quickly as it would grasp the soft hand of a multimillionaire.  I've seen little infants who would spurn a gold watch to reach for a shiny new penny.  Very small things please infants!

That may have been the secret of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. She could offer little things to the Infant Jesus that would have seemed terribly inadequate had they been offered to Christ bleeding and dying on the Cross.  In fact, didn't she say she won heaven "by little caresses and little sacrifices:"?  How I wish I could preach this to every person in the whole world, for I've seen miraculous spiritual progress made through devotion to the Child Jesus, yes, astounding progress.  It all resulted from the continual offering of little acts of virtue, little sacrifices, little caresses.

A nobleman, named Alphonsus Albuquerque, was once on the point of being shipwrecked.  He had given himself up for lost: but happening to see a little child crying near him he exclaimed, "Dear God, if I do not deserve to be heard, at least hear the cries of this innocent babe, and save us. "  No sooner had he uttered these words than the storm subsided, and all were saved.  Let us all imitate his example.  We are all in peril.  We have sinned. We have offended God.  We are in danger of losing our souls.  Must we despair?  No; let us offer to God His Infant Son, and say:: "Dear God, we have grievously sinned against Thee and are undeserving of pardon; but look upon this Thine Infant Son, and have mercy on us."
In Pursuit of Perfection