We live in a time that values learning. More people than ever in this country go to college and get degrees. For many jobs you have to have a degree, and sometimes an advanced degree. We require men to have four years in the major seminary, after a four-year college degree, before they are ordained as priests. The leaders of the Church frequently have multiple degrees, and so do our political leaders. We value wisdom as well. People who can give wise advice are often highly-sought after, and command significant fees. Warren Buffet, the so-called "Oracle of Omaha" for his investing prowess, is one of those. Given all this, what do we make of Jesus' remark in today's Gospel (Lk 10" 21-24) where He says that God has "hidden these things from the wise and the learned" and revealed them "to the childlike"? How can it be that it is better to be "childlike" than to be "wise and learned"? Is Jesus saying that wisdom and learning are bad things? I don't think so. I don't think the Church does either, or it would not have been the organization that invented the university, that ultimate place for becoming "learned." What, then, is the point of the distinction Jesus is making today? Perhaps it is this: when we believe we are "wise" and "learned," it is easy for us to trust in those things, rather than in God. We can come to believe that we even know better than God, and can pick and choose which of God's rules to follow. We can even find fault in what God commands. I say all this because the context of Jesus' remarks is the situation where the 72 disciples have been sent out by Jesus with some very-specific, and somewhat counterintuitive, commands-- don't take a purse or bad or sandals, do not greet anyone on the road, for example. Apparently the disciples honor those commands, for they come back brimming with joy over how they had been received-- even the demons submit to us in your name, they say. The disciples have been "childlike" in that they have followed what Jesus told them to do as a child obeys its parents. Jesus praises that faith, that willingness to follow the path they are given. There is a message there for us. No, it isn't that we shouldn't use our God-given brains or our wisdom. But perhaps the message is that we should be very cautious when our "learning" and "wisdom" begin to try to override our consciences. That is an experience we all have. We know, with almost childlike certainty, what we should do or not do in a situation. Then our brain gets engaged and we find ways in our "wisdom" to justify doing things (or not doing things) that we "know" at some level are wrong. So be as wise and learned as you can be. Just don't let those things substitute for a "childlike" faith in God and the willingness to follow Jesus' commands "like a little child."