VIDEO: Met. Joseph – "It would be better to let children preach"

Source:
Apostolia TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7RhQVppNzI
Divine Liturgy, Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Paris, April 16, 2017.

Subtitles: English (YTranslations Ltd), Romanian
Full text: http://otelders.org/theology-and-spirituality/let-children-preach/

Metropolitan Joseph [Paris, France]:
“… But what does the child have? The child has a lot of inner peace, because there is no cunning in the child. And when the child is also baptized, he is the perfect icon of Christ born in the manger in Bethlehem.
But the child also has an interior light that we cannot explain.
You’ve seen how kids sleep, with their arms open as on the cross. The grown-ups can’t sleep like that… We have the impression that grown-ups are so hunched from worries and everything they have inside, worries that turn into judging and malice sometimes, that they can’t stay open, as on the cross…
And we realize that this light is placed in man by God from birth… God has thought everything through, and if we are very careful and think about what we see around us, everything is so well thought out, that only by looking at it, look at a flower, or even better a person… but look at your own child and understand the divine light and beauty of the presence of God in him and you will already feel calmed down.

Children impart the same feeling that is imparted by the saints. When you approach their holy relics you become peaceful, for they absorb sin.
The same thing also happens with Christ if we are attentive, when we approach Him, when we pray, when we receive Him in Holy Communion, after we’ve received Holy Communion, after we’ve confessed, we have peace, we receive peace and we’re bright, cheerful, we can love anyone in any way, we are like angels…”