“Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.” Blessed Teresa

Anyone who visits one of the busy New Jersey boardwalks will certainly notice that graphic tee shirts are a popular purchase. Normally, I try to ignore them, but during my end-of-the-summer visit I noticed one tee shirt that really caused me to chuckle.

Worn by a lovely, but gaunt young woman, the words of the shirt advised, “Please don’t feed the models.” Clever, without being crude. That’s something different at the boardwalk.

Later I discovered the company that designed the shirt: Emperor’s New Clothes.
Suddenly I was remembering the oversized illustrated book of Hans Christian Anderson stories I used to read to my children. The Emperor’s New Clothes had been one of my favorites, but until that boardwalk moment, I hadn’t considered its relevance to an authentic life of faith.

The tale begins with the emperor being fooled by two swindlers into believing that they would weave him a suit of clothes so magnificent that it would be invisible to those who were stupid or unfit for their positions. Day after day the two pretend weavers sit at their looms as if they are weaving, but in reality do nothing, all the while filling their pockets with the emperor’s money and gold thread.

The emperor sends his minister to check out the suit of clothes, and though the minister can’t see anything on the loom, he is afraid to admit it for fear of being thought stupid or unfit for his position. So he reports to the emperor that the suit of clothes is splendid.

Now the emperor is in a quandary because he can’t see the clothes either, but if his minister sees the suit the emperor certainly can’t say otherwise. That would prove him stupid, as well.

So the emperor’s assistants dress the emperor in imaginary clothes and he processes through the kingdom so his subjects can admire his magnificent suit. The people “ooh” and “ahhh” but never tell the emperor they can’t see his new clothes. Nobody wants to seem stupid.

Then, writes Andersen, “A child, however, who had no important job and could only see things as his eyes showed them to him, went up to the carriage. ‘The Emperor is naked!’ he exclaims.”

How like a child, to speak the truth.

How like an adult, to fall prey to a falsehood.

“Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,” said Jesus, “for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

I’ve often wondered which characteristics of a child best serve an authentic faith life.

Perhaps it is their honesty. Perhaps it is their ability to wonder.

Perhaps it is simply their inherent holiness and nearness to God, not yet obstructed by worldly things.

Surely, there is no holiness in duplicity or in adherence to a lie for fear of traveling against the course of common opinion. Yet it is a challenge we must meet everyday as disciples of the Truth.

And a little child shall lead us.