There’s a particular kind of humiliation reserved for adults, and it often arrives shortly after an iPhone update. One moment you are a competent, functioning member of society. The next, you are staring blankly at your screen while a teenager solves the problem in four seconds. Aleteia’s latest reflection explores this universal experience and turns it into something surprisingly spiritual: the joy of being a beginner again.
The piece makes a case that our modern discomfort with not knowing things is actually a spiritual problem. We’ve lost the art of apprenticeship, the willingness to sit at the feet of someone who knows more than we do.
## What happened
Aleteia published a meditation on the spiritual value of being a beginner, using the familiar frustration of technological incompetence as a starting point. The article moves from iPhone updates to learning new skills later in life, then to what Catholic tradition has always taught about spiritual childhood and humility.
The author argues that our reluctance to be beginners again stems from pride. We’ve invested decades building competence in certain areas, and admitting ignorance feels like backsliding. But the saints saw things differently. Read the full piece at Aleteia for the personal anecdotes and practical wisdom.
## Why this matters
St. Thérèse of Lisieux built her entire spirituality around the concept of spiritual childhood. Her Little Way wasn’t about acting childish but about accepting our smallness before God. When we resist being beginners, we resist the posture Scripture commends: “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3, RSV-CE).
The Church has always understood that humility is the foundation of all other virtues. St. Augustine wrote that humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. Being a beginner forces exactly that shift. You stop defending your competence and start paying attention to what you don’t know.
## For Catholic readers
Pick one area where you’ve been avoiding beginner status. Maybe it’s learning to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, studying a foreign language, or asking your teenager to explain something technical. This week, ask someone to teach you. Notice what it does to your pride. Then bring that same posture to prayer: the acknowledgment that you don’t have this figured out, that you need help, that dependence on God is not weakness but reality.
**Sources:**
1. Aleteia — original article
