Q. Does not the Holy Ghost diffuse such special graces with equal liberality later in life?
A. If such special graces have not already been abused, the Holy Ghost may offer them at any time; but later in life this divine seed does not usually find such well-prepared soil in the heart. The early lessons of faith and piety, and of the fear and love of God, easily become effaced by contact with the world.
Religious vocations often share the fate of the seed that fell by the wayside and the seed that fell among thorns: "And the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in, choke the word, and it is made fruitless."
Q. Does Our Lord manifest any special preference for the young?
A. Yes; He makes the conduct of children the standard for all who would be saved: "Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Again Our Lord says: "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God."
Q. What practical conclusion may drawn from these words of Our Lord?
A. Commenting on these words of the Gospel, St. John Chrysostom says: "If children are driven from Christ, who will deserve to go near Him? Now it is evident that we get near Jesus Christ mainly by the practice of the counsels. Children, therefore, should not be kept from Christ by hindering them from practising these counsels."
Q. What is the doctrine of St. Thomas with regard to religious vocations in the young?
A. On this matter St. Thomas says: "This teaching is clearly the outcome of what occurs every day among men. For do we not see children put early to those avocations, arts, or trades which they are to follow in after life? Candidates for the sanctuary begin in youth to acquire the knowledge which will help them later; those destined for a military career are trained to arms from their early years; and the future tradesman is apprenticed when only a boy. Why, then, should a rule so well observed in other spheres be neglected in the case of a religious life? I say even more: when a state of life is attended with many difficulties, the greater is the need to habituate one's self from youth to overcome them. Hence we read in Jeremias: 'It is good for a man when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.'"
Q. Are children obliged to obey their parents in the choice of a state of life?
A. St. Liguori says: "It is certain that in the choice of a state of life children are not bound to obey their parents; thus St. Thomas and the other Doctors teach unanimously." Both parents and children should remember the reply of the apostles to the unjust rulers who had forbidden them to preach Christ crucified: "We ought to obey God rather than men."
Example.
When St. Bernard and his brothers were bidding a final adieu to their home and their father, they saw their youngest brother at play with other children in the castle yard. The oldest brother embraced him, saying: "My little brother Nivard, do you see this castle and these lands? Well, all these will be yours—yours alone." "What!" replied the child with more than a child's thoughtfulness, "are you going to take heaven for yourselves and leave earth for me? The division is unequal." From that moment little Nivard could not be restrained either by his father, his relatives, or any human influence. He joined St. Bernard, who, with his brothers and companions to the number of thirty, set out for the monastery of Citeaux.