The Value of Christian Education

If we wish to go to a certain city, the first thing we do is to ask for the way that leads there. So, too, if we wish to go to Heaven, then we must know the way that leads to Eternal Life.

Now, the way that leads to Heaven is the knowing and doing the Will of God. It is God alone Who can teach us His Will, that is, the things He requires us to believe and do, in order to be happy with Him in Heaven. God Himself came and taught us the truths to believe, the commandments to keep, and the means of grace which we must use to work out our salvation.

To know God’s Will is to know the true religion. This knowledge, is indeed, the greatest of all treasures. Hence, the Lord says to all men through the great prophet Jeremiah, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in the abundance of his wealth, but let him that does glory, glory in his knowledge of me” that is, of my will. (Jeremiah 9:23)

It is for the same reason Jesus Christ, the Son of God, exhorts all men to “seek first the kingdom of God and His justice” (Matthew 4:33), and calls those “blessed who hunger and thirst after justice,” that is, after the knowledge of God’s Holy Will. “Martha, Martha,” He said, “thou are solicitous about many things, Mary, who is sitting at my feet, to listen to my words, has “chosen the better part.”

As the Christian Doctrine or the Way to Heaven has been revealed by God Himself, it is clear that all those who do not know the Christian Doctrine, who never attend to its explanation, but remain ignorant of their religious duties during life, cannot know the way to heaven, and, not knowing it, can never reach heaven. They are continually going astray and taking the wrong road that leads to Hell. There is no middle way. If we are not on the road to heaven, then we are on the road to Hell. We must walk either one way or the other.

How necessary it is then, to learn the Christian Doctrine! What will become of us, or what sort of life shall we lead if we are careless about being instructed in the religion upon which the happiness not only of the present, but also of the future life depends. Not knowing God, not knowing how to love and serve Him, man is like the beasts of the field, even inferior to those beasts, for the life of a man without religion is a daily outrage against God, Who created man to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this world. Instead of this, the man without religion becomes the servant of the devil. When he dies, God will not receive him. God will cast him off, and the miserable man will fall into the hands of the devil, whom he has served all his life and who will repay that service by tormenting him forever in Hell.

A person who knows and speaks many languages is admired for his learning. But to be fully instructed in our religion is a thousand times more beautiful and a thousand times more necessary and more useful. It is the knowledge of knowledge, the service of services. It is for this reason that our dear Savior said, “Blessed are they that hear the Word of God,” and again, “Blessed are the ears that hear what you hear,” i.e., the Christian Doctrine.

If pastors of souls are obliged, under pain of mortal sin, to preach the word of God, the faithful too, are bound in conscience to go and listen to the Word of God.

Does a child not listen to the word of his father?

Does an employee not listen to the word of his employer?

Does a senseless beast not hear the voice of its keeper?

And shall a Christian not listen to the Word which God, His Creator, speaks to him in sermons and instructions?

The Gospel tells us that Jesus Christ went to the temple in Jerusalem, and there listened attentively to the explanation which the Jewish priests gave of the law of God. It was our Lord Himself who had given the law, and he knew its meaning. There was, then, no necessity at all for Him to listen to the explanation of the law. Yet, He went and listened attentively to it, in order to show us, by His example the obligation under which we are of listening to the Word of God.

As with many diseases come a total loss of appetite, which no medicines can restore, allows for certain decay and death, likewise, in the spiritual life of the soul, a neglect of religious instruction is a most fatal symptom. What hopes can we entertain of a person for whom the science of virtue and of eternal salvation have no interest?

“He who turns away his ears from hearing the law,” says the Holy Ghost, “his prayers shall be an abomination.” (Proverbs 28:9) St. Paul wrote to the Christians of Rome saying, “those who did not like to have the knowledge of God, were delivered up by God to a reprobate sense, to do those things that are unbecoming, to become filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, hateful to God, proud, haughty, investors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy.” (Romans 1:28-32)

“He, therefore, who is of God,” says Jesus Christ, “hears the Word of God, but he who hears it not, is not of God.” (John 8:47) But “whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words,” says our Lord to the apostles, “going forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgement, than for that city.”

Daily experience has shown that there is no more effectual means of reclaiming sinners to penance and rousing the just to greater fervor in the service of God, than listening to the Word of God. David, learned and enlightened as he was, repented of his crime of adultery only after Nathan the prophet had reproved him for it in the name of God. Josaphat would not have given up his sinful alliance with an idolatrous people, had not Jehu, in the name of God, sharply reprimanded him for it. St. Augustine was very learned, his conscience reproached him sharply for his bad life and he felt very unhappy, and yet for all that, he did not abandon his evil ways until he came to Milan, where he was converted by the sermons and instructions of St. Ambrose.

Would that we could see the hearts of many before and after a sermon or an instruction! What a sudden change for the better would be noted in many hearers who went to hear the Word of God without thinking in the least of changing their manner of life, but who, after the sermon, left the Church with deep sorrow for their sins, and a true purpose of amendment!

The devil knows and fears this power of the Word of God. He makes all possible efforts to prevent both the just and sinners from going to listen to sermons and instructions. If he cannot prevent you from going to Church, then he does all in his power to distract you during the sermon, make you feel sleepy, or bored while listening, in order to prevent you from reaping any benefit from the Word of God.

We read in the life of St. Anthony of Padua that the devil often caused disturbance during the sermons of this great saint. One day a noble lady was listening with the greatest attention to his preaching. Suddenly a stranger messenger stood before her and gave her a letter which stated that her darling child was dead. Alarmed at this sad news, she rose immediately to leave the Church when St. Anthony cried out, “Stay, for your child is not dead. That stranger messenger is but a disguised devil.”

If only all people were so well persuaded of the necessity of hearing the Word of God and its divine effects, as the devil is, the Church would be crowded at every sermon and instruction. St. Anthony the hermit, while listening to the words of the holy Gospel, felt himself so powerfully moved, that he forsook the world and all it had to withdraw into the wilderness to live alone with God. The same for St. Nicholas of Tolentino, whereupon hearing a sermon on the vanity of earthly things, he conceived such a disgust for them, that he turned his back upon the world, and hastened to hide himself in a cloister.

God is so pleased with those who eagerly listen to the explanation of the Christian Doctrine, that he often manifests his pleasure by miracles. One day, Brother Albert of the Franciscans, was to preach in the Church of the convent in which St. Catharine lived. Catharine had just put the bread in the oven when the bell rang for the sermon. Immediately, making the Sign of the Cross, she said to the bread, “I recommend you to the Lord’s care,” and there upon she left the bakehouse, and went into the Church. The preacher spoke for five hours, which was more than enough time for the bread to be burned and reduced to cinders. However, when she took it out of the oven, it was of a more beautiful brown than usual.

One day, St. Anthony of Padua preached to an immense crowd of people. It was a beautiful summer’s day, but scarcely had he begun his sermon, when the sky clouded over and showed every symptom of a very severe storm. St. Anthony went on quietly, notwithstanding the peals of thunder and the flashes of lightening. The people were frightened and prepared to seek shelter from the drenching rain. When St. Anthony noticed the uneasiness and fright of his listeners, he recollected himself for a moment, and then cried out in a loud voice, “Christians fear nothing, do not leave your places, remain where you are, and I promise you in the name of God that not one drop of rain shall fall upon you.” At these words the people felt easy, and no one moved from their place. Wonderful to relate, the rain fell in torrents, the hail devastated the surrounded fields, but the sky above the crowd of St. Anthony remained clear and serene.

So, if God, on the one hand, has by miracles shown the great pleasure which He takes in those who are eager to hear His Word, He also, on the other, has by frightful punishments, shown His great displeasure with those who do not care for the Christian Doctrine.

St. Francis Regis once gave a great mission sermon in the city of Naples. Several nights before the mission began, he went through the streets to every house. He knocked at each door and said, “please, for the love of God, come to the sermons of the mission.” In a certain house there was living a very wicked woman named Catherine. St. Francis knocked at the door of her home, invited her to come, and she said, “No, I will not go to the mission.” The next evening, St. Francis came again to Catherine’s home and knocked at the door. The door opened, and St. Francis asked, “How is Catherine?” “Catherine!” A voice answered, “Catherine is dead!” Francis proceeded upstairs to see her body. It was the dead body of Catherine, who only the night before said, “I will not go to the mission.” They stood round her body when St. Francis said with a loud voice, “O Catherine! Catherine! You would not come to the sermon! Tell me, in the name of God, I command you to tell me, where are you? Where is your soul?” A moment passed and the corpse opened its mouth. Catherine’s dead tongue moved, and answered, “I am in hell.”

Although Catherine had lived many years, she committed many mortal sins. Still our dear Lord did not send right away to Hell, but instead God sent St. Francis to her to be converted, but Catherine’s choice remained the same, “No, I will not listen.”

When we hear the Christian Doctrine explained, we should listen with the intention to profit by it. Hearing God’s Word in a sermon, instruction, Catechism, or reading a good book, will do us very little good unless we have an appetite for it and a desire to hear it. If we do not feel this desire, we should at least wish for it and pray for it. It is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, called the gift of “Understanding”. Moreover, we must not go to an instruction or sermon through mere curiosity, for example, to hear how somebody preaches, or only because we are obligated to go. We must go to hear the Word of God, because it is able to save our souls.

In almost every instruction we hear something recommended which we feel in our hearts is speaking to us. This is a particular light which God sends from heaven into our hearts. We must then say to ourselves, now I will begin this very day to do that very thing, “Be ye doers of the Word of God, and not hearers only.” (James 1:6) When we have eaten our dinner, we keep the food in our stomach to feed our body. So, when we have heard an instruction, we should keep some of it in our mind to think about afterward to feed our souls.

Source:

God Teacher of Mankind

Original 1885 Publication

Fr. Michael Muller, 1825 - 1899

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