The Importance of Christian Education of the Family

Let no one be a coward. Let everyone show as much determination and courage for the spreading of the Truth as do the enemies for the spreading of error...

Many people, especially the educated, are doing comparatively nothing. They seem to be too absorbed in the business world, in the world of politics, in making or in spending their fortunes to have time or thought for the interests of their religion. If they had the proper spirit, and were animated by an ardent zeal for religion, they might, working in submission to and under the direction of the pastors of the Church, do immeasurable good.

The motives which should induce us to be zealous in spreading the Truth, especially in instructing it in the little ones, are:

• first, the great interest which Jesus Christ takes in children;

• Second, the more abundant fruits reaped from the care bestowed upon the young, and

• Third, the great merit which is derived from giving religious instruction.

Children are the most noble part of the flock of Christ. For them he has always shown a particular love and affection. It was to children that he gave the special honor of being the first to shed their blood for his name’s sake during the slaughter of the Holy Innocents by Herod.

He has held them up to us as a model of humility, which we should imitate: “unless you become like little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” He wishes that everyone should hold them in great honor: “See that you despise not one of these little ones.” Why not? “For I say to you, that their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 18:10)

He wishes everyone to be on his guard, lest he should scandalize a little child: “He that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matt. 18:6) He also says the love, attention, and respect paid to a child, is paid to himself: “And Jesus took a child, and said to them: Whosoever shall receive this child in my name, receives me.” (Luke 9:48)

He rebuked those who tried to prevent little children from being presented to him that he might bless them: “And they brough to him young children, that he might touch them. And the disciples rebuked those who brought them; whom, when Jesus saw, he was much displeased and said to them: Suffer the little ones to come until me and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Amen, I say to you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall not enter into it. And embracing them, and laying his hands upon them, he blessed them.” (Matt. 10:13-16)

The fate of children is in the hands of their natural guardians, and of those set over them. If the zeal of those to whom their training and education are passed on, be not active for their salvation, Jesus will lose in them the fruit of his sufferings and death.

How many are deprived of the knowledge, sight, and possession of God, because they have not received right religious instruction! And who is answerable to God and humanity for the loss of those souls, unless those whose plain duty it was to impart such instruction?

If the first years of life are pure, they are often pure afterwards, but if the roots of the tree are rotten and dead, the branches will not be healthier. Man will become, in his old age, what religious education made him in his youth and if he had not good religious education in his youth, then in his old age, he is unlikely to adopt the proper means to be saintly. “A young man, according to his way, even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (prov. 22:6)

All is a snare and seduction for youth, so if the Holy Fear of God, the horror of evil, and the truths of religion are not profoundly engraved in the soul, what is to protect young people from the appetites of their flesh: pleasure, intemperance, greed, pride, sloth, envy, and anger?

What can be expected of a young man who has but seldom heard of the happiness of virtue, the hopes of the future life in Heaven, and warnings of Hell? Who are we as teachers and parents to know that Jesus loves children and to also leave them without proper and continual religious education? St. Augustine said, “the kings of the earth have their favorites,” but the favorites of Jesus Christ are innocent souls.

What is more innocent than the heart of a child whom baptism has purified from original stain? This heart is the sanctuary of the Holy Ghost, who says, “my delights are to be with the children of men.”

Look at the mothers who penetrated the crowd that surrounded Jesus on Calvary, to beg him to bless their children. Jesus says, “Suffer” or “Allow little children to come to me.” If you love me, take care of my sheep, but neglect not my lambs. “Feed my lambs” “Despise not one of my little ones.” “See that you not condemn one of these little ones.” (Matt 18:10)

Jesus asks us to cry out, “O Savior of the world! The desire to be loved by You and to prove my love for You, urges me to devote myself to the thorough instruction of children to all your eternal Truths.”

How great and consoling are the fruits of zeal, when it has begun at youth! What difficulties do we encounter, when we undertake to bring back to God persons advanced in age! Children, on the contrary, oppose just one obstacle to our zeal, --levity or lack of respect or reverence for serious subjects.

All we need with them is patience. For their souls are like new earth, which awaits only time and cultivation to produce four-fold. They are flexible plants, which take the form and direction given to them. They are like clay, which can only take proper shape from its handler before hardening in that state. Their hearts, pure as they are from evil affections, are susceptible and open to happy impressions and tendencies. They believe and trust authority. They will adopt with confidence the faith and the sentiments of those who instruct them. At this age, they are easily softened further by speaking about a God Who has made Himself a child and died for us, which so easily allows for the application of a Holy Fear of the Lord, compassion for those who suffer, gratitude, Divine Love, and a deeper grace from their baptism towards all the Christian virtues!

Ask the most zealous pastors, and all will tell you that no part of their ministry is more consoling and impacting than that which is exercised for youth, because the fruits are incomparably more abundant.

Although all our efforts for the sanctification of an old man, ever unfaithful to his duties, should be crowned with success, they could not help his long life being frightfully void of merits, and a permanent revolt against Heaven. But, if there be a child in question, our zeal sanctifies his whole life, because we deposit in his soul the seed of all the good that he will do, and we shall then participate in all the good works with which his career will be filled.

All believers have come out of one single Abraham. From one child well brought up, a whole generation of true Christians may proceed.

In the little flock that surrounds any one of us, God sees, perhaps, elect souls, that His Providence has formed great designs, even pious instructors or holy priests, who will carry far the knowledge of His name, and aid God in saving millions of souls.

If only we could see the astonishment if the first evangelizers like St. Vincent De Paul and St. Francis Zavier, if they could see the holy outcome of the many children they catechized. Planting the seed of Christian Instruction has infinite rewards, as those children will one day transmit good principles, holy inclinations to their own children, who will then transmit it to their children. It is because of this, holy traditions are established, and a chain of solid virtues are perpetuated: ages will reap what we have sown in just a few years.

It is by these considerations that the greatest saints and the finest geniuses of Christianity became so much attached to the religious instruction of youth. Ss. Jerome, Gregory, Augustine, Vincent Ferrer, Charles Borromeo, Francis de Sales, Joseph Calasanctius, and many others believed they could never better employ their time and talents than in consecrating them to the religious instruction of the young. For “it is considered honorable and useful to educate the son of a monarch, the heir to their father’s crown, but the child that I form to virtue, is he not the child of God, inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven?” - Theologian Gerson

Have we truly comprehended all the good that we can do to children by our humble education? There is nothing more honorable, meritorious, or which conducts to higher perfections, than to instruct men, especially children in their religious duties. This instruction is Royal, because the office of a king is to protect his people from danger; Apostolic, because the Lord commissioned apostles to instruct the nations; Angelic, because the angelical spirits in heaven enlighten, purify, and perfect each other according to their earthly mission to labor without ceasing for the salvation of God’s children. St. Peter Chrysologus calls those who instruct others in the way of salvation, “the substitutes of angels.” For their instruction is divine as they carry on the very work of God Himself.

Everything that Almighty God has done from the creation of the world, and which He will continue to do to the end, has been, and will be, for the salvation of mankind. For this, He sent His Son from heaven, Who enlightened the world by His doctrine, and Who continues to instruct His people by His chosen disciples. Those, then, who direct children in the paths to heaven, who allure them from vice, who form them to virtue, may fitly be termed apostles, angels, and saviors. Oh! The glory that awaits those who perform the office of angels, and even of God Himself, in laboring for the salvation of the souls of children!

Furthermore, aside from being honorable, it is also not less meritorious. For, while the physical development of the child advances with age, it is not so with the mental, which through religious instruction, the noble faculties of the soul be developed. Without religious instruction and the light of truth, the soul of a child would continue to live enshrouded in pagan darkness. All the gold in the world is nothing in compared to true religious knowledge.

Our Savior says, “Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones, even a cup of cold water, shall not lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42) May we not then infer that those who bestow upon children the treasures of divine knowledge will receive an exceedingly great reward?

Likewise, if God denounces so severely those who scandalize little children, “but he that shall scandalize one of these little ones, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6), then what punishment will those receive who do NOT instruct and sanctify them?

Those who give their efforts towards this duty, choose the surest way to appease the anger of God, and to ensure their own salvation. They choose the best means of attaining a high degree of perfection, since Almighty God gives to each one the graces proper to his vocation. Those, therefore, who are devoted to the religious instruction of children, must rest assured that God will give them extraordinary graces to arrive at perfection according to their own state and degree. “Whoever,” says our Lord, “shall receive one such little child in my name, receives me.” (Matthew 18:5)

To be destitute of ardent zeal for the spiritual welfare of children, is to see, with indifferent eyes, the Blood of Jesus Christ trodden under foot. It is to see the image and likeness of God lie in the mud and not care for it. It is to despise the Blessed Trinity, the Father, Who created them, the Son, Who redeemed them, and the Holy Ghost, Who sanctified them. It is to belong to that class of shepherds, of whom the Lord commanded Ezechiel to prophesy as follows, “...woe to the shepherds of Israel... My flock you did not feed. The weak you have not strengthened. The sick you have not healed. The broken, you have not bound up, that which was driven away, you have not brought back, neither have you sought that which was lost...And my sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd. They became the prey of all the beasts of the field and were scattered. My sheep have wandered in every mountain and in every high hill, and there was none, I say, that sought them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Behold, I, myself, come upon the shepherds. I will require my flock at their hands.” (Ezechiel 34:2-10)

What a shame for us to know that the devil, in alliance with the wicked, is at work, day and night, for the ruin and destruction of youth, and to be so little concerned about their eternal loss; just as if the holy fathers were not correct, that the salvation of one soul is worth more than the whole visible world!

When has the price of the souls of children been lessened? As long as the price of the Blood of Jesus Christ remains of an infinite value, so long the price of souls will remain of a like value!

The devil delights in us if we are hirelings, because we have no care of the sheep, see the wolf coming, and leave the sheep and fly. (John 10:12) On the day of judgement, those who have neglected this great duty will be confounded by that poor man of whom we read in the life of St. Francis de Sales, as follows:

“One day, this holy and zealous pastor, on a visit of his diocese, had reached the top of one of those dreadful mountains, overwhelmed with fatigue and cold with his hands and feet completely numbed. The inhabitants, who had approached him, related some days before, a shepherd who was running after a strayed sheep, had fallen into a precipice.

The old man thought that maybe the shepherd might still be alive, but if he had indeed perished, then he should be honored with a Christian burial.

The old man then descended by using ropes down the icy precipice. After discovering the body of the shepherd, he was pulled out of the crevice.

It was at this moment; St. Francis de Sales turned to his attendants who were disheartened with the extreme fatigues which they encounter every day and said, “Some people imagine that we do too much, and we certainly do far less than these poor people. You have heard in what manner one has lost his life in an attempt to find a strayed animal; and how another has exposed himself to the danger of perishing in order to procure for his friend a Christian burial.

These examples speak to us in forcible language, because by this charity, we are confounded, for we who perform much less for the salvation of souls entrusted to our care than those poor people for the security of animals confided to their charge.”

Then St. Francis de Sales heaved a deep sign saying, “My God, what a beautiful lesson for Bishops and pastors! This poor shepherd has sacrificed his life to save a strayed sheep, and I, alas have so little zeal for the salvation of souls. For the least obstacle suffices to deter me and makes me pause for every step and trouble. Great God, give me true zeal, and the genuine spirit of a good shepherd! Ah, how many shepherds of souls will not this herdsman judge!”

Oh how true and just this story is related, for is we saw our very enemies surrounded by fire, we would think of means to rescue them from the danger; and now we see thousands of little children, redeemed at the price of the Blood of Jesus Christ, on the point of losing their faith, and with it their souls, yet should we be less concerned and less active for these images and likenesses of God, than for their frames and bodies?

We hear a little child weeping, and we at once try to console it. We hear a little dog whining at the door, and we open it. We hear a poor beggar ask for a piece of bread, and we give it. We hear the mother of our Catholic children, the Catholic Church, cry in lamentable accents, “Let my little ones have the bread of life and a thorough religious instruction,” shall we not heed her voice?

We hear Jesus Christ cry, “Suffer the little ones to come unto me,” by means of solid instruction. We see Him weep over Jerusalem, over the loss of so many Catholic children, and we hear him say, “Weep not over me, but for your children,” and shall neither His voice nor His tears make any impression?

If an ass, says our Lord, fall into a pit, you will pull him out, even on the Sabbath-Day, and an innocent soul, thousands of innocent children fall away from me, and pass over to the army of the apostate angels and become My and Your adversaries, will you not care?

What cruelty, what hardness of heart, what great impiety!

Source:

God Teacher of Mankind

Original 1885 Publication

Fr. Michael Muller, 1825 - 1899

CSSR or the Redemptorists founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori​​​​​​