The Importance Of Educating Children Properly

The Sermon Comes From This Book, Click Image To Get A Copy

“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit.”
MATT. vii. 18.
+
THEN the gospel of this day tells us, that a good plant cannot produce bad fruit, and that a
bad one cannot produce good fruit. Learn from this, brethren, that a good father brings up
good children. But, if parents be wicked, how can the children be virtuous? Have you ever,
says the Redeemer, in the same gospel, seen grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from
thistles? “Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles ?” (v. 16.) And, in like
manner, it is impossible, or rather very difficult, to find children virtuous, who are brought
up by immoral parents. Fathers and mothers, be attentive to this sermon, which is of great
importance to the eternal salvation of yourselves and of your children. Be attentive, young
men and young women, who have not as yet chosen a state of life. If you wish to marry, learn
this day the obligations which you can contract with regard to the education of your children;
and learn also that, if you do not fulfil them, you shall bring yourselves and all your children
to damnation. I shall divide this sermon into two points. In the first, I shall show how
important it is to bring up children in habits of virtue; and in the second, I shall show with
what care and diligence a parent ought to labour to bring them up well.
+
First Point. How very important it is to bring up children in habits of virtue.
+
1. A father owes two obligations to his children; he is bound to provide for their corporal
wants, and to educate them in habits of virtue. It is not necessary at present to say more on
the first obligation, than that there are some fathers more cruel than the most ferocious of
wild beasts; for these do not forget to nourish their offspring; but certain parents squander
away in eating and drinking, and gaming, all their property, or all the fruits of their industry,
and allow their children to die of hunger. But let us come to the education, which is the
subject of my discourse.
+
2. It is certain that a child’s future good or ill conduct depends on his being brought up well
or ill. Nature itself teaches every parent to attend to the education of his offspring. He who
has given them being ought to endeavour to make life useful to them. God gives children to
parents, not that they may assist the family, but that they may be brought up in the fear of
God, and be directed in the way of eternal salvation. ”We have,” says St. Chrysostom, ”a
great deposit in children; let us attend to them with great care.” (Hom, ix., in 1 ad Tit.)
Children have not been given to parents as a present, which they may dispose of as they
please, but as a trust, for which, if lost through their negligence, they must render an account
to God. The Scripture tells us, that when a father observes the divine law, both he and his
children shall prosper. “That it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou
shalt do that which is pleasing in the sight of God.” (Deut. xii. 25.) The good or ill conduct of
a parent may be known, by those who have not witnessed it, from the life which his children
lead. “For by the fruit the tree is known. ” (Matt. xii. 33.)”A father, ” says Ecclcsiasticus, ”who

leaves a family, when he departs this life, is as if he had not died; because his sons remain,
and exhibit his habits and character. His father is dead, and he is as if he were not dead; for
he hath left one behind him that is like himself.” (Eccl. xxx. 4.) When we find a son addicted
to blasphemies, to obscenities, and to theft, we have reason to suspect that such too was the
character of the father. ”For a man is known by his children.” (Eccl. xi. 30.)
+
3. Hence Origen says, that on the day of judgment parents shall have to render an account for
all the sins of their children. “Omnia quæcumque delinquerint filii, a parentibus requiruntur.
” (Grig., Lib. 2, in Job.) Hence, he who teaches his son to live well, shall die a happy and
tranquil death. ”He that teacheth his son …when he died he was not sorrowful, neither was
he confounded.” (Eccl. xxx. 3, 5.) And he shall save his soul by means of his children; that is,
by the virtuous education which he has given them. ”She shall be saved through childbearing.” (1 Tim. ii. 15.)

But, on the other hand, a very uneasy and unhappy death shall be the
lot of those who have laboured only to increase the possessions, or to multiply the honours of
their family; or who have sought only to lead a life of ease and pleasure, but have not
watched over the morals of their children. St. Paul says, that such parents are worse than
infidels. “But if any man have not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he
hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” (1 Tim. v. 8.) “Were fathers or mothers to
lead a life of piety and continual prayer, and to communicate every day, they should be
damned if they neglected the care of their children. “Would to God that certain parents paid
as much attention to their children as they do to their horses! How careful are they to see that
their horses are fed and well trained! And they take no pains to make their children attend at
catechism, hear mass, or go to confession. “We take more care” says St. Chrysostom, “of our
asses and horses, than of the children. ”(Hom, x., in Matt.)
+
4. If all fathers fulfilled their duty of watching over the education of their children, we should
have but few crimes and few executions. By the bad education which parents give to their
offspring, they cause their children, says St. Chrysostom, to rush into many grievous vices;
and thus they deliver them up to the hands of the executioner. ”Majoribus illos malis
involvimus, et carnificum manibus damus.” (Serin, xx., de divers.) Hence, in Lacedemon, a
parent, as being the cause of all the irregularities of his children, was justly punished for their
crimes with greater severity than the children themselves. Great indeed is the misfortune of
the child that has vicious parents, who are incapable of bringing up their children in the fear
of God, and who, when they see their children engaged in dangerous friendships and in
quarrels, instead of correcting and chastising them, rather take compassion on them, and say:
”What can be done? They are young; they must take their course.” Oh! what wicked maxims!
what a cruel education! Do you hope that when your children grow up they shall become
saints? Listen to what Solomon says: ”A young man, according to his way, even when he is
old, he will not depart from it.” (Prov. xxii. 6.) A young man who has contracted a habit of
sin will not abandon it even in his old age. ”His bones,” says Job, ”shall be filled with the
vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.” (Job xx. 11.)
+
When a young person has lived in evil habits, his bones shall be filled with the vices of his
youth, so that he will carry them with him to death; and the impurities, blasphemies, and
hatred to which he was accustomed in his youth, shall accompany him to the grave, and shall
sleep -with him after his bones shall be reduced to dust and ashes. It is very easy, when they
are small, to train up children to habits of virtue; but, when they have come to manhood, it is

equally difficult to correct them, if they have learned habits of vice. But, let us come to the
second point that is, to the means of bringing up children in the practice of virtue. I entreat
you, fathers and mothers, to remember what I now say to you; for on it depends the eternal
salvation of your own souls, and of the souls of your children.
+
Second Point. On the care and diligence with which parents ought to endeavour to bring up
their children in habits of virtue.
+
5. St. Paul teaches sufficiently, in a few words, in what the proper education of children
consists. He says that it consists in discipline and correction. “And you, fathers, provoke not
your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord.”
(Ephes. vi. 4 ) Discipline, which is the same as the religious regulation of the morals of
children, implies an obligation of educating them in habits of virtue by word and example.
First, by words: a good father should often assemble his children, and instil into them the
holy fear of God. It was in this manner that Tobias brought up his little son. The father taught
him from his childhood to fear the Lord and to fly from sin. ”And from his infancy he taught
him to fear God and to abstain from sin. ” (Tob. i. 10.) The Wise Man says that a well
educated son is the support and consolation of his father. “Instruct thy son, and he shall
refresh thee, and shall give delight to thy soul.” (Prov. xxix. J7.) But, as a well instructed son is
the delight of his father’s soul, so an ignorant child is a source of sorrow to a father’s heart;
for the ignorance of his obligations as a Christian is always accompanied with a bad life.
+
Cantipratensis relates (lib. 1, cap. 20) that, in the year 1248, an ignorant priest was
commanded, in a certain synod, to make a discourse. But while he was greatly agitated by
the command, the devil appeared to him, and instructed him to say: ”The rectors of infernal
darkness salute the rectors of parishes, and thank them for their negligence in instructing the
people; because from ignorance proceed the misconduct and the damnation of many.” The
same is true of negligent parents. In the first place, a parent ought to instruct his children in
the truths of faith, and particularly in the four principal mysteries. First, that there is but
one God, the Creator, and Lord of all things; secondly, that this God is a remunerator, who,
in the next life, shall reward the good with the eternal glory of Paradise, and shall punish the
wicked with the everlasting torments of hell; thirdly, the mystery of the holy Trinity that is,
that in God there are Three Persons, who are only one God, because they have but one
essence; fourthly, the mystery of the incarnation of the Divine Word the Son of God, and true
God, who became man in the womb of Mary, and suffered and died for our salvation.
+
Should a father or a mother say: I myself do not know these mysteries, can such an excuse be
admitted? that is, can one sin excuse another? If you are ignorant of these mysteries you are
obliged to learn them, and afterwards teach them to your children. At least, send your
children to the catechism. Oh! what a misery to see so many fathers and mothers who are
unable to instruct their children in the most necessary truths of faith, and who, instead of
sending their sons and daughters to the Christian doctrine on festivals, employ them in
messages, or other occupations of little moment; and when grown up they know not what is
meant by mortal sin, by hell, or eternity. They do not even know the Creed, the Pater Noster,
or the Hail Mary, which every Christian is bound to learn under pain of mortal sin.
+
6. Religious parents not only instruct their children in these things, which are the most
important, but they also teach them the acts which ought to be made every morning after 

rising. They teach them, first, to thank God for having preserved their life during the night;
secondly, to offer to God all the good actions which they will perform, and all the pains
which they shall suffer during the day; thirdly, to implore of Jesus Christ and most holy
Mary to preserve them from all sin during the day. They teach them to make every evening
an examen of conscience and an act of contrition. They also teach them to make every day the
acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity, to recite the Rosary, and to visit the Blessed Sacrament.
Some good fathers of families are careful to get a book of meditations read, and to have
mental prayer in common for half an hour every day. This is what the Holy Ghost exhorts
you to practise. “Hast thou children? Instruct them and bow down their neck from their
childhood.” (Eccl. vii. 25.) Endeavour to train them from their infancy to these religious
hahits, and when they grow up they shall persevere in them. Accustom them also to go to
confession and communion every week. Be careful to make them go to confession when they
arrive at the age of seven, and to communion at the age of ten. This is the advice of St.
Charles Borromeo. As soon as they attain the use of reason make them receive the sacrament
of confirmation.
+
7. It is also very useful to infuse good maxims into the infant minds of children. Oh! what
ruin is brought upon his children by the father who teaches them worldly maxims!”You
must,” some people say to their children, ”seek the esteem and applause of the world. God is
merciful; he takes compassion on certain sins.” Miserable the young man who sins in
obedience to such maxims. Good parents teach very different maxims to their children.
Queen Blanche, the mother of St. Louis, King of France, used to say to him: “My son, I would
rather see you dead in my arms than in the state of sin.”
+
Oh! brethren, let it be your practice also to infuse into your children certain maxims of
salvation, such as, “What will it profit us to gain the whole world, if we lose our own souls?
Every thing on this earth has an end; but eternity never ends. Let all be lost, provided God is
not lost.” One of these maxims well impressed on the mind of a young person will preserve
him always in the grace of God.
+
8. But parents are obliged to instruct their children in the practice of virtue, not only by
words, but still more by example. If you give your children bad example, how can you expect
that they will lead a good life? When a dissolute young man is corrected for a fault, he
answers: Why do you censure me, when my father does worse. “The children will complain
of an ungodly father, because for his sake they are in reproach. ”(Eccl. xli. 10.) How is it
possible for a son to be moral and religious, when he has had the example of a father who
was accustomed to utter blasphemies and obscenities; who spent the entire day in the tavern,
in gaming and drunkenness; who was in the habit of frequenting houses of bad fame, and of
defrauding his neighbour? Do you expect that your son will go frequently to confession,
when you yourself approach the tribunal of penance scarcely once a year? Children are like
apes; they do what they see their parents do. It is related in the fables, that a crab-fish one day
rebuked its young for walking crookedly. They replied: Father, let us see you walk. The
father walked before them more crookedly than they did. This is what happens to the parent
who gives bad example. Hence, he has not even courage to correct his children for the sins
which he himself commits. 

+

9. But though he should correct them, by words, of what use is his correction when he sets
them a bad ex ample by his acts? It has been said in the council of Bishops, that”men believe
the eyes rather than the ears.” And St. Ambrose says: ”The eyes convince me of what they see
more quickly than the ear can insinuate what is past.” (Serm. xxiii., de S. S.) According to St.
Thomas, scandalous parents compel, in a certain manner, their children to lead a bad life.
”Eos ad peccatum, quantum in eis fuit obligaverunt” (in Ps. xvi). They are not, says St.
Bernard, fathers, but murderers; they kill, not the bodies, but the souls of their children. “Non
parentes, sed peremptores.” It is useless for them to say: ”My children have been born with
bad dispositions.” This is not true; for, as Seneca says, ”you err, if you think that vices are
born with us; they have been engrafted.” (Ep. xciv.) Vices are not born with your children, but
have been communicated to them by the bad example of the parents. If you had given good
example to your sons, they should not be so vicious as they are. O brethren, frequent the
sacraments, assist at sermons, recite the Rosary every day, abstain from all obscene
language, from, detraction, and from quarrels; and you shall see that your sons will go often
to confession, will assist at sermons, will say the Rosary, will speak modestly, and will fly
from detraction and disputes. It is particularly necessary to train up children to virtue in their
infancy: ”Bow down their neck from their childhood ;” for when they have grown up and
contracted bad habits, it will be very difficult for you to produce, by words, any amendment
in their lives.
+
10. To bring up children in the discipline of the Lord, it is also necessary to take away from
them the occasion of doing evil. Hence a father must, in the first place, forbid his children to
go out at night, or to go to a house in which their virtue might be exposed to danger, or to
keep bad company. ”Cast out,” said Sarah to Abraham, ”this bondwoman and her son.”
(Gen. xxi. 10.) She wished to have Ishmael, the son of Agar the bondwoman, banished from
her house, that her son Isaac might not learn his vicious habits. Bad companions are the ruin
of young persons. A father should not only remove the evil which he witnesses, but he is also
bound to inquire after the conduct of his children, and to seek information from domestics
and from externs regarding the places which his sons frequent when they leave home,
regarding their occupations and companions.
+
Secondly, he should take from them every musical instrument which is to them an occasion
of going out at night, and all forbidden weapons which may lead them into quarrels or
disputes. Thirdly, he should dismiss all immoral servants; and, if his sons be grown up, he
should not keep in his house any young female servant. Some parents pay little attention to
this; and when the evil happens they complain of their children, as if they expected that tow
thrown into the fire should not burn. Fourthly, a father ought to forbid his children ever to
bring into his house stolen goods such as fowl, fruit, and the like. When Tobias heard the
bleating of a goat in his house, he said: “Take heed, lest perhaps it be stolen; restore ye it to
its owners.” (Tob. li. 21.) How often does it happen that, when a child steals something, the
mother says to him: ”Bring it to me, my son.” Parents should prohibit to their children all
games which bring destruction on their families and on their own souls, and also masks,
scandalous comedies, and certain, dangerous conversations and parties of pleasure. Fifthly, a
father should remove from his house romances, which pervert young persons, and all bad
books which contain pernicious maxims, tales of obscenity, or of profane love.

+

Sixthly, he ought not to allow his children to sleep in his own bed, nor the males and females
to sleep together. Seventhly, he should not permit his daughters to be alone with men,
whether young or old. But some will say: ”Such a man teaches my daughters to read and
write, etc.; he is a saint.” The saints are in heaven; but the saints that are on earth are flesh,
and by proximate occasions they may become devils. Eighthly, if he has daughters, he should
not permit young men to frequent his house. To get their daughters married, some mothers
invite young men to their houses. They are anxious to see their daughters married; but they
do not care to see them in sin. These are the mothers who, as David says, immolate their
daughters to the devil. ”They sacrifice their sons and their daughters to devils.” (Ps. cv. 37.)
And to excuse themselves they will say: ”Father, there is no harm in what I do.” There is no
harm! Oh! how many mothers shall we see condemned on the day of judgment on account of
their daughters! The conduct of such mothers is at least a subject of conversation among their
neighbours and equals; and, for all, the parents must render an account to God. O fathers and
mothers! confess all the sins you have committed in this respect, before the day on which you
shall be judged arrives.
+
11. Another obligation of parents is, to correct the faults of the family. “Bring them up in the
discipline and correction of the Lord. ” There are fathers and mothers who witness faults in
the family, and remain silent. A certain mother was in the habit of acting in this manner. Her
husband one day took a stick and began to beat her severely. She cried out, and said: “I am
doing nothing. Why do you beat me ?” “I beat you, ”replied the husband, ”because you see,
and do not correct, the faults of the children because you do nothing.” Through fear of
displeasing their children some fathers neglect to correct them; but, if you saw your son
falling into a pool of water, and in danger of being drowned, would it not be savage cruelty
not to catch him by the hair and save his life?”He that spareth the rod hateth his son.” (Prov.
xiii. 24.) If you love your sons correct them, and, while they are growing up chastise them,
even with the rod, as often as it may be necessary. I say, ”with the rod,” but not with the
stick; for you must correct them like a father, and not like a galley sergeant. You must be
careful not to beat them when you are in a passion; for, you shall then be in danger of beating
them with too much severity, and the correction will be without fruit; for they then believe
that the chastisement is the effect of anger, and not of a desire on your part to see them
amend their lives. I have also said that you should correct them “while they are growing up ;”
for, when they arrive at manhood, your correction will be of little use. You must then abstain
from correcting them with the hand; otherwise, they shall hecome more perverse, and shall
lose their respect for you. But of what use is it to correct children by so many injurious words
and by so many imprecations? Deprive them of some part of their meals, of certain articles of
dress, or shut them up in a room. But I have said enough. Dearly beloved brethren, draw
from the discourse which you have heard the conclusion, that he who has brought up his
children badly shall be severely punished; and that he who has trained them to habits of
virtue shall receive a great reward.

+

Closing Advertisement! Help 88 Christian Families In Lebanon By Clicking The Image

Click Image To Get A Calendar

Views: 5