If our Lord will require His flock at the hands of their pastors, He will undoubtedly require from them a stricter account of that part of his flock for which he has always shown a particular predilection, that is, for children. It was to children that He gave the special honor of being the first to shed their blood for His name's sake. He has given them 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 every one 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. xviii. 10.)
He wishes every one to be on his guard, lest he should scandalize a little child: "It were better for him that a mill-stone were put about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones."—(Matt. xviii. 6.)
He says that 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, receiveth Me."—(Luke ix. 48.)
He rebuked those who tried to prevent little children from being presented to Him, that He might bless them: "And they brought 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 saith to them: Suffer the little ones to come unto 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."—(Mark x. 13-16.)
The motives, then, that should induce every priest to devote himself zealously to the spiritual welfare of youth, are: First, the great interest which Jesus Christ takes in children; and second, the more abundant fruits reaped from the care bestowed upon the young.
The Son of God came into the world to redeem all who were lost. But do children profit by His abundant redemption? Do they draw from the source of graces that are open to all? Will they be marked with the seal of Divine Adoption, and be nourished with His own Flesh in the Sacrament of His love? Will they be counted, in the course of their career, among the number of His faithful disciples, or among the enemies of His law? Will they one day be admitted into His kingdom? Will they be excluded? Is it heaven or hell that will be their lot for all eternity? It is we priests, and almost we only, that are expected to solve these problems. Children are the noblest portion of the flock that is confided to our care. Their fate is in our hands. If our zeal is not active in their salvation, Jesus will lose, in them, the fruit of His sufferings and death. How many are deprived forever of the sight and possession of God, because they have not received a good Catholic education. Who is to blame? Has the pastor sufficiently instructed, warned, and watched over them? How many lose their baptismal innocence almost as soon as they are capable of losing it, grow up in vicious habits, grow old in sin, and die impenitent at last, because they were neglected in early youth, were not subjected to the amiable yoke of virtue! "Bonum est viro, cum portaverit jugum ab adolescentia suâ."—(Thren. iii. 27.) If the first years of life are pure, they often sanctify all the after life; but if the roots of the tree are rotten and dead, the branches will not be more healthy. "Adolescentes, cum semel à malitiâ fuerint occupati, quasi incaptivitatem essent adducti, quoquo diabolus jusserit eunt."—(S. Chrys. Hom. 19 in Gen.) Education is the mould in which a man's moral, intellectual, and religious character is formed. Man will become, in his old age, what education made him in his youth. "Adolescens juxta viam suam, etiam cum senuerit, non recedet ab ea."—(Prov. xxii. 6.) All is a snare and seduction for youth. If the fear of God, the horror of evil, the maxims of religion, are not profoundly engraven in the soul, what is to protect young people from their passions? What can be expected of a young man who has never heard of the happiness of virtue, the hopes of the future life, and the blessings or the woes of eternity? Now who will give the Christian education, if not the pastor? Can we rely on the parents? on Sunday-school teachers? Oh, priests! we are almost the only resource of these poor children. Can we, knowing, as we do, how much Jesus Christ loves them, can we, I say, resign ourselves to leaving them in their misery? "The kings of the earth have their favorites," said St. Augustine. 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, and who has not, as yet, contracted the stain of actual sin? This heart is the sanctuary of the Holy Ghost. Who can tell with what delight He makes of it His abode? Deliciæ meæ esse cum filiis hominum. Look at the mothers who penetrated the crowd that surrounded the Saviour, in order to beg Him to bless their children.... They are at first repulsed; but soon after, what is their joy when they hear the good Master approve their desires, and justify what a zeal, little enlightened, taxed with indiscretion! Ah! let us understand the desires of the Son of God. "Suffer," says He to us, "suffer little children to come to me." What! You banish those who are dearest to Me? They who resemble them belong to the kingdom of heaven. If you love Me, take care of My sheep, but neglect not My lambs. Pasce agnos meos. Despise not one of My little ones. "Videte ne contemnatis unum ex his pusillis."—(Matt. xviii. 10.) I regard as done to Myself, all that is done to them. "Qui susceperit unum parvulum talem, in nomine meo, me suscipit."—(Ibid. 5.) O Saviour of the world! the desire to be beloved by Thee, and to prove my love for Thee, urges me to devote myself to the Catholic education of our children.
How great and consoling are not the fruits of zeal, when it has youth for its object! The good pastor never despairs of the salvation of his sheep, whatever may be their wanderings; he knows the power of grace, and the infinite mercy of the Lord. But what difficulties does he not encounter when he undertakes to bring back to God persons advanced in age! Children, on the contrary, oppose but one obstacle to his zeal—levity. All he needs with them is patience. Their souls are like new earth, which waits only culture to produce a quadruple. They are flexible plants, which take the form and direction given to them. Their hearts, pure from criminal affections, are susceptible of happy impressions and tendencies. They believe in authority. A religious instinct leads them to the priest. They adopt with confidence the faith and the sentiments of those who instruct them. Oh, how easy to soften that age, in speaking of a God Who has made Himself a child, and Who died for us! to awaken the fear of the Lord, compassion for those who suffer, gratitude, divine love, in souls predisposed, by the grace of baptism, to all the Christian virtues! Ask the most zealous pastors, and all will tell you that no part of their ministry is more consoling than that which is exercised for youth, because the fruits are incomparably more abundant. Although all my 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, my zeal sanctifies his whole life; I deposit in his soul the germ of all the good that he will do, and I shall 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 can proceed. In this little flock that surrounds me, God sees, perhaps, elect souls on whom His Providence has formed great designs—pious instructors, holy priests, who will carry far the knowledge of His name, and aid Him in saving millions of souls. In what astonishment would the first catechists of a St. Vincent de Paul, of a Francis Xavier, be thrown, had they been told what would become of those children, and what they would one day accomplish! But even supposing that all those confided to me follow the common way, I have in them the surest means of renewing my parish. To-day they receive the movement, in fifteen years they will give it. They will transmit good principles, happy inclinations to their own children, who will transmit them in their turn. Behold, it is thus that holy traditions are established, and a chain of solid virtues perpetuated; ages will reap what I have sown in a few days. It is by these considerations that the greatest saints, and the finest geniuses of Christianity, became so much attached to the education of youth. St. Jerome, St. Gregory Pope, St. Augustine, St. Vincent Ferrier, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Francis de Sales, St. Joseph Calasanctius, Gerson, Bellarmin, Bossuet, Fenelon, M. Olier, etc., believed they could never better employ their time and talents than in consecrating them to the education of the young. "It is considered honorable and useful to educate the son of a monarch, presumptive heir to his crown.... But the child that I form to virtue, is he not the child of God, inheritor of the kingdom of heaven?"—(Gerson.) "Believe me," said St. Francis de Sales, "the angels of little children love those with a particular love who bring them up in the fear of God, and who plant in their tender souls holy devotion." Have we always comprehended all the good that we can do to children by our humble functions?
But if we wish for the end, we must also wish for the means—for Catholic schools. They are the nurseries of the Church, as novitiates are the nurseries of religious orders. The chief pastoral work of the Church is to be done in the school. The school must be the chief solicitude of the priest. He must consider no trouble too great, no sacrifice of time and convenience too much, in order to secure good attendance and efficiency in the school. Neither sick calls, nor any other ecclesiastical duties, should be allowed to interfere with the school. He must be the life and character of the school, and it is principally he who must administer correction. The authority of the priest, his interest in the school, and his relation towards the parents, are far more persuasive and effectual as corrections, than scoldings and penances inflicted by the master and mistress.
It seems to me that we cannot insist too much upon the vital importance of the Catholic school. A priest's time is never better employed than when three or four hours of it are daily spent in school—and that so regularly, that his presence in the school is looked for alike by teachers, children, and parents—and when he then occupies another portion of his day in looking after the defaulters, and in talking with parents over the school duties, and the future prospects of their children. Thus the parents feel that in sending their children to be educated there, they are not turning them over to a number of paid teachers, nor even to Brothers and Sisters, but to the clergy themselves, for their education. This personal interest and solicitude of the priest reacts upon the parents as well as upon the children.
A pastor, then, wishing to secure the salvation of the best part of the flock of Jesus Christ, must do all in his power to establish good Catholic schools, and oblige parents to send their children to them, and not to Public Schools—to the grave of Catholicity. It is then, also, and not till then, that we shall see more young people called to the priesthood, and to such religious orders as devote themselves especially to the education of youth. In Europe, the bishops and priests, together with the laity, fight for the liberty of educating the children according to Catholic principles and customs. In this country, our religious liberty is as great as it possibly can be. Now not to profit by this liberty, is for the shepherds of the flock of Jesus Christ to incur the greatest guilt; it is to be like that ungodly Bishop of Burgos, who, on being told by Las Casas that seven thousand children had perished in three months, said: "Look you, what a queer fool! what is this to me, and what is that to the King?" To which Las Casas replied: "Is it nothing to your Lordship that all these souls should perish? Oh, great and eternal God! And to whom, then, is it of any concern?"—(Life of Las Casas, by Arthur Helps.)