Authentic quotations from small children:  

David, 3: When his sister was going to be born, David was told a little sister was coming for him to play with. When she was born, David when to the maternity clinic and, seen the newborn baby in her cradle and pointing to her, asked: “And this is what I have to play with?”

Celia, 3: Celia wanted to play with her cousin to be prince and princess, but he did not want to be a prince or a knight or anything, so she walked away telling him: “All right, be yourself and get bored.”

Alejandro, 4: Alejandro doesn’t know how to read, but one day he went to the living room, took a copy of Don Quixote from the shelf and sat on the floor. After a while, his father went to see what was Alejandro doing as he was very quiet. The boy had kept the book open and was looking at it intently. He looked up to his father and asked him: “Daddy, how far have I reached?”

Kevin, 4: Kevin went daily to the school with his mother by bus. Since she carries him bodily, it seems unfair to her to pay for two, and so she instructed the child: “Kevin, if they ask you your age, say you’re three years old.” One day they met a neighbour who asked him: “How old are you, darling?” He turned to his mother and said: “Mummy, do I give my bus age, or my true age?”

Sergio, 5: Last year at Christmas Sergio’s mother asked him whether he wanted to leave something for Santa to eat for himself and for his reindeer. Sergio answered her: “No, mummy. If he feels hungry, he can go to the fridge.”

Paula, 4: Paula went with her mother to the hair-cutting saloon where everybody was playing with her. They asked her. “When did you begin your fourth year?” She answered readily: “When the first three run out.”

Moisés, 3: Moisés finds it hard to pronounce certain words. One day he told his father: “I want a stlawbelly yogurt.” His father replied: “I will not give it to you until you pronounce it properly.” He answered: “Then make it a banana one.”

Sofía, 5: One day her mother did not take holy communion at mass, and Sofía asked her: “Mummy, why didn’t you take today that pill that makes you keep quiet for a while?”

Marcos, 4: Marcos was shown a photograph of his cousin’s first communion in which Marcos’s parents, his cousin and a bishop appeared. They asked him who they were, and he answered: “My cousin José, you two daddy and mummy…”, and when he came to the bishop he said: “And this is uncle dressed as Batman.”

Pepe, 7: His mother was trying to get him to do his homework, but Pepe would not stop jumping about. Finally his mother got tired and told him: “Pepe, stop making noise or I’ll punish you.” Pepe rejoined: “But, mummy, if afterwards you feel so miserable…”.

Melisa, 5: Melisa was going in the car with her parents and she asked her mother: “Mummy, put on the radio.” Her mother answered: “I can’t, darling, I’ve got a headache.” Then Melisa went on: “Then you put it on, daddy, since you don’t have a headache.”

Perla, 6: Perla was in Disneyland with her parents. In one of the stands there was a height requirement, so that the usher told Perla: “You cannot come in as you are a child.” She answered: “I’m not a child, I’m a woman with a growth problem.”

Javier, 4: Javier and his grandmother went for mass on Palm Sunday. As the ceremony dragged on he wanted to leave, but his granny asked him: “Just a little more, Javier.” When the collection was taken, the grandmother gave some money, and Javier said: “We’ve paid already, can we go now?”

Javier, 8: His mother had given birth, and when Javier saw the baby at home, he asked: “And this one, is he going to stay with us?”

David, 3: One day he told his parents: “When I get a girl friend, where will you go to live?”

Alfredo, 2 years, 6 months: When the new year began at school, Alfredo’s father took him to the kindergarten and introduced him to the other children there. When he came to take him back home, he told him: “Come on, kiss your new friend María, we’re going home.” Alfredo answered: “Why should I kiss her? I haven’t beaten her yet.”

María, 3: María was out with her grandmother late in the evening when there was still sunlight but the moon could already be seen. María looked up to heaven and said: “See, granny, the moon has made a mistake.”

Unai, 8: One day, walking with her mother, he saw two nuns come and said quite serious: “Mummy, the nuns are a species in danger of extinction, aren’t they?”

Guillermo, 5: His mother was trying to wake him up on a Monday to go to school, and after many attempts, Guillermo said: “Wait, mummy, now there’s only one eye left to wake up.”

(Frases célebres de niños, Santillana, Madrid 2007)

(Dietrich Bonhöffer, Nachfolge, 1937)

“Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our Church. Today we’re fighting in favour of expensive grace. Cheap grace is the grace considered as goods to be disposed of, it is cheap pardon, cheap prayer, cheap sacraments; it is grace as the Church’s inexhaustible storehouse from where inconsiderate hands take it to distribute it without thinking and without limit; it is grace without a price, free grace, since, it is said, grace has been paid for already for all times. Since the bill has been paid, we can now have everything for free. The expenses covered by the bill are infinite, and so the possibilities to use and misuse them are also infinite.

Cheap grace is pardon without repentance, baptism without commitment, eucharist without confession of sins, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without following Christ, grace without cross, grace without the living Christ.

Expensive grace is the call of Christ to abandon one’s fishing nets and to follow him. It is expensive because it calls for a following, and it is grace because that following is the following of Christ; it is expensive because it costs man his life, and it is grace because it bestows him life; it is expensive because it condemns sin, it is grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is expensive because God has paid dearly for it, it has cost him his Son’s life.”