C4 STUDY OF THE CHILD'S SPIRITUAL POWERS r With Discussion Glub Outline REV. DANIEL M. DOUGHERTY I I C a t h o l i c C h i l d G u i d a n c e A Study of the Child's Spiritual Powers With Discussion Club Outline by REV. D A N I E L M . DOUGHERTY T NEW YORK T H E P A U L I S T P R E S S 4 0 1 WEST 59TH STREET Nihil Obstat: ARTHUR J . SCANLAN, S . T . D . , Censor Librorum. Imprimatur: ® FRANCIS J . SPELLMAN, D . D . , Archbishop of New York. New York, March 6, 19 Ul. COPYRIGHT, 1 9 4 1 , BY T H E MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF S T . P A U L THE APOSTLE I N THE STATE OF N E W YORK Deacidifled PRINTED AND PUBLISHED I N THE U. S. A. BY THE PAULIST PRESS, NEW YORK, N . Y. (CASJ C O N T E N T S PAGE FOREWORD 5 T H E H O M E AND T H E C H I L D 7 H I S " O T H E R E Y E S " H T H E C H I L D ' S "STRONG A R M " 1 6 T H E C H I L D ' S GLOWING H E A R T 2 1 T H E GREAT H I N G E 2 5 K E E P I N G H I S BALANCE 2 9 L I T T L E B O D Y : GREAT SOUL 3 3 STRONG A N C H O R FOR STRONG SEAS 3 7 T H E C H I L D ' S GARDEN OP VIRTUES 4 3 FOREWORD IN approaching the study of any subject, the first step is to arouse interest. Such is the only purpose of this pamphlet, to arouse interest in the spiritual life of children. I t does not presume to go beyond that. For the succeeding steps in this most important study, the reader is encouraged to t r y these simple t r e a t m e n t s : (a) For the theology of the subject, the following volumes in the Treasury of F a i t h Series (Macmillan) : Sanctifying Grace: Actual Grace; The Supernatural Virtues; The Sacramental System; The Sacrament of Baptism; The Sacrament of Confirmation. (b) For the application in the life of the child, articles in various numbers of The Journal of Religious Instruction; The Catholic School Journal. THE HOME AND THE CHILD 44'T'HE home is the child's school of schools. As a rule t h a t education will be more effective and lasting which is received in a well-ordered and well- disciplined Christian family." So said Pope Pius XI. So must every parent echo in deed and in word. A parish school may have the finest equipment. Every effort may be made by priests, Sisters and teachers "to f o r m unto the Lord a perfect people," but the amount of success or failure in the endeavor rests with the home. "The a r t of a r t s is the guidance of souls" and the practice of this art, as f a r as children are con- cerned, is left by God's plan in the hands of parents, first of all. Others may help or hinder, but the main aids or obstacles are the parents. They cannot be pas- sive in this great work. They cannot release them- selves f r o m it by delegating it to others. You have often heard of mothers who appear with their children and say, "These are my jewels, my treas- ures." Are they j u s t prattling under a strain of senti- mentality? No, because their eyes of f a i t h peer be- neath Tommy's face and through Mary's eyes and see what Christ s a w : "The Kingdom of God is within you." What does t h a t mean? Is it j u s t a poetic way of talk- ing about the child's innocence? It is f a r , f a r more. It indicates the spiritual birth-right of every child bap- tized in Christ Jesus. I t tells of the greatest g i f t God gives to man, a share in His very Life, a p a r t in the blissful activity t h a t goes on in the Holy Trinity f o r - ever. The Kingdom of God within the child is the "treasure hidden in the field," "the pearl of great price" of which Christ spoke. Recognition of its pres- ence in a child's soul means the opening of limitless possibilities f o r the child's growth. Ignorance and forgetfulness of its presence means a stunted soul. This pamphlet will t r y to show what it is t h a t 7 8 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE makes Tom and Mary and Joan and Peter such treas- ures. I t will t r y to make parents aware if they be not, or more aware if they are, of the equipment t h a t each baptized child has in the way of God's grace. I t will t r y to reveal, as f a r as human mind can grasp and human words say, something of the mystery of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God in a child's, mind and heart. Why? So t h a t parents may know what the formation of a Christian child means; so t h a t they may be able to guide, guard, direct and protect the precious inheritance which the child has through Baptism, namely, the Life of God spoken of by Christ when He said, " I am come t h a t they may have Life and have it more abundantly." The psychologist may tell us much about the child's temperament; the doctor may tell us much about the child's body, the social worker much about the effect of his surroundings, but only God's Church can tell us about the one thing t h a t gives meaning to the whole child, the revealed t r u t h t h a t he is a child of God. I t is unfortunate t h a t Catholics generally know so little about the child's capacity f o r virtue. Because of this, even intelligent parents make mistakes of many kinds, but especially the tragic mistake of t r e a t i n g their child naturally and not supernaturaUy. Pope Pius X when he insisted on children ap- proaching the Sacraments a t an early age said, "There will be saints among the children." He did not mean t h a t children would show a flair f o r the externals of piety; he did not mean t h a t f r o m their early years they would show an inclination f o r the priesthood or the religious life; he meant very simply and forcefully, t h a t children who made intelligent and fervent use of the Sacraments f r o m - t h e i r early youth would develop and grow in the Christ-Life, in the resemblance they have through Baptism to the Son of God. 9 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE Let us look more closely a t a child. His little body is full of motion. He has power to move himself. This is life, the power to move oneself. But this much he has in common with the lower animals. W h a t has he more? Long before w h a t we usually call the dawn of reason, about six or seven, the average child has begun to use his mind. He does some thinking. Of course, it is not complex but it is an honest-to-goodness use of his intelligence. And with the use of his mind, he begins the use of his will, the power to choose f r e e - ly. Now the mind and the will a r e the highest activi- ties of the child and it is with the mind and the will t h a t God's Life or grace works. The child in Baptism has known the touch of God, nay, more t h a n a touch. The child has been given a power to share in God's activity.' Which means ? T h a t a child has the capacity or power to use his mind and will in the same activity as does God. He can know God; he can love God. And in t h a t knowledge and love he can find happiness. This power, this move- ment of the mind and will toward God is more t h a n natural. I t is supernatural. To see this with f a i t h is to unlock the doors to his heritage as a child of God. To guide him in t h e use of these powers f r o m the first glimmerings of intelligence is the work given to a Christian parent. To indicate more about this beau- t i f u l task is the purpose of this writing. I t has been told t h a t Tertullian, one of the earliest Christian writers, had the custom of going to t h e bed- side of his son and there kneeling down reverently, he would adore the presence of God in the child's soul. W h a t a new meaning would come into every Christian home, w h a t new glow to the h e a r t s of Christian p a r - ents, if their dealing with children were marked with such a spirit of f a i t h ! 10 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE Questions IS W h a t words of Pius X I emphasize the importance of the home in the child's formation? 2. As far as the child is concerned, what do these words of Christ mean, "The Kingdom of God is within you"? 3. W h y is it more important that a parent know the guidance of the Church than the direction of the psychologist, doctor or social worker? 4. W h a t did Pius X mean when he said, "There will be saints among the children"? 5. "The child through Baptism has been given power to share in God's activity." Discuss. HIS "OTHER EYES" A T the birth of a child, special precautions a r e taken to protect his sight. So precious are the eyes of the little one t h a t the concern manifest then, continues through the years, and by periodic examination and testing, parents and others do all t h a t is possible to insure good vision. This is because they realize t h a t the eyes are perhaps the most important of the senses, and without good eyes, the child will be handicapped in the learning process. "All knowledge comes through the senses," and defective sight is often the cause of defective knowledge. At the spiritual birth of the child in Baptism, God gives the child a Gift which might well be called "his other eyes." I t is the Gift of Faith. I t opens a door to a world of knowledge t h a t is not reached through bodily eyes. I t is the world of God's own secrets, His mysteries, which He has allowed men to see only through this Gift. For example, think a moment of the mystery of the Most Holy T r i n i t y : there are Three Persons in One God. Now there were learned, very learned men before the coming of Christ. They f a t h - omed the depths of reason and they brought to men, a knowledge of the secrets of n a t u r e which they arrived a t through a keen use of their senses. But it was not until Christ came into the world, and lifted the veil and spoke the Mystery of the Trinity, and allowed men by a g i f t of His power to know of it, t h a t they were aware of the g r e a t T r u t h hidden f r o m the founda- tion of the world. And so, with other mysteries of Faith. Marvelous, indeed, are the possibilities of the hu- man mind. Prodigious in many ways is the activity of man's senses which has opened up vast spheres of 11 12 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE new learning, enriched life, and made it more glamor- ous as the days go on. But the Gift of F a i t h pos- sessed by the baptized child gives him title to a mental awareness which is beyond the scope of the senses, which has its beginnings in time, it is true, but will have no end because the object of the knowing is God Himself Who is inexhaustible Perfection. This pamphlet attempts to point out to parents some very practicable suggestions about what is often taken f o r an unpractical or unreal world, the world of the spirit. Our Divine Lord said r a t h e r plainly, "He t h a t followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, b u t hath the Light of Life." To walk or live only in the realm of sense-knowledge is to live only p a r t of life. A baptized child who is growing mentally by the use of his senses, but who fails to grow mentally by the use of his faith, is cut off f r o m the most precious p a r t of life. And today, because the external world is so attractive to the senses, it is a duty of parents to be doubly alert in catering to the child's world of faith. In other words, parents have a solemn duty to help create an atmosphere in which a child can readily use the F a i t h given to him a t Baptism. For this F a i t h is a virtue, which means a power. I t is the power to believe firmly all the t r u t h s which God has revealed and the Church teaches, because God has revealed them, and the Church, His Voice, speaks them. Now a power which God expects to grow into a habit of abiding thought will never come to f r u i t un- less the child is given an opportunity to practice be- lieving. Doesn't it seem a strange thing t h a t parents will take delight in encouraging the child as he in- dulges in the fancies of the world of "make-believe," but will never think to even introduce him to the world of "I believe"? While his imagination is a powerful activity and should be kept alive and growing through 13 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE use, his F a i t h is f a r more i m p o r t a n t and should not be allowed to die through non-use. Did you ever hear the incident told by Enid Dinnis, of the two boys who entered a church where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed f o r adoration? One of the boys was not bap- tized, and the other was. The unbaptized boy was fascinated by the lights and flowers surrounding what looked to him like a big, golden clock. Said he to the baptized boy, " W h a t time is it on t h a t clock?" To which came the reply of the boy with f a i t h , " T h a t clock doesn't tell t i m e ; it tells E t e r n i t y . " Isn't it r a t h e r sad to find children who have been taken through the world of "The Big, Bad Wolf," "Red Riding Hood," "Cinderella," "Pop-Eye," "Buck Rogers," the movies and the f u n n i e s and who revel in all of these, and yet, or maybe because of this, have no relish f o r the things of the s p i r i t ? Is there now no fascination f o r a baptized child in the world where God is his F a t h e r and Christ his Brother and Mary his Mother? The world where sun, moon and stars, and plants and animals in all their amazing variety and wonder hold f o r t h an invitation to come and see and understand how lovingly the Eternal F a t h e r has provided f o r him? Was Christ wrong when He stood the child in the midst of the disciples and told them, "Unless you become as one of these, you cannot enter the Kingdom"? I s n ' t there something in the child because of the Gift of F a i t h a t Baptism which opens up the vision of God? Of whom more truly t h a n the child was it said, "Blessed are the clean of h e a r t ; they shall see God"? Why do p a r e n t s allow the child to get so mixed-up with the things of sense and time, t h a t there is no room f o r the things of f a i t h and eternity? These are not idle questions, and their answers should stir up determination in p a r e n t s to shut out 14 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE the world a bit f r o m the lives of their children, so t h a t God and His Kingdom may have a place. Among the f u n d a m e n t a l things t h a t can be done f o r children to enable them to grow in F a ith, the most important is the cultivation of QUIET. Baptized children, a p a r t f r o m their play-time, have a r i g h t to an atmosphere of quiet. The world of blaring radios, movies, picture- papers, is not a child's world, and it does something dreadful to a child. I t stimulates his senses overmuch and in the wrong direction. In these days of living in close quarters, in small apartments, it may require some sacrifice f o r a weary p a r e n t to shut off an enter- taining program on the radio. I t may require more t h a n persuasion to send a child to bed early. I t may take effort to guide the child to reading of the r i g h t kind, which will calm him instead of disturbing him. But this is all p a r t of the task of the Catholic p a r e n t and cannot be neglected without damaging the child. Another fundamental which will be possible in a quiet atmosphere is the cultivation of prayer. Long prayers are not necessary nor even possible f o r a child, but a simple recollection of God's presence is possible, and can be easily cultivated with the parents' aid and example. P r a y e r s a t the bedside at morning and night, prayers a t table, with greater emphasis on w h a t is being done t h a n how, a r e of g r e a t importance. A g r e a t help in creating a p r a y e r f u l attitude in children is the telling of stories of the lives of Saints. There are many of these printed today f o r children—notably those by Joan Windham, published by Sheed & Ward —which make very real the world of Faith. But the p a r e n t who is alive to the precious Gift of F a i t h will need no urging to find ways and means to cultivate it in the child. The baptized child who grows up in the atmosphere of F a ith, who loves to pray often and well, is safeguarded against tremendous dangers 17 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE to his peace of mind as well as the integrity of his will. No parent who has been careful to t r a i n a child to live by F a i t h need worry t h a t he will come to know the world to his detriment. For the child with the vision of F a i t h will-easily penetrate and see the wiles and deceits of the devil, the unreality and the dumbshow of the world, and will walk hand-in-hand with Christ his Brother and Mary his Mother to the feet of the Eternal F a t h e r Who with the Holy Spirit and the angels and the saints live in glory forever and ever. Questions 1. W h y is the g i f t of Faith called the child's "other eyes" ? 2. W h y must parents give the child opportunities to practice believing? 3. What may be the effect on the child's faith of the constant use of " f u n n y books" and movies? 4. How will the cultivation of Q U I E T help a child's faith? 5. Give two means of developing the child's prayer- life. THE CHILD'S "STRONG ARM" TT is of the very nature of childhood to be dependent. A child looks to his elders for food and clothing, housing and protection, and happiness above all. A child seems to demand almost instinctively f r o m us that we keep him safe, and give him the desires of his little heart. He does this without expressing it most of the time. We give him these things without adver- tence most of the time. We realize it only upon re- flection, or when he makes the fact of their absence known to us. We get a glimmer of his deep-seated t r u s t of us only a t intervals, as when, f o r example, a f t e r some f r i g h t , he sobs himself to a safe sleep in our arms. The child lives happily only when he is secure. Disturb this security in any way, and you have al- lowed the entrance of pain into his little life. Chil- dren suffer acutely, more mentally than physically, perhaps because they are not made to suffer much at all. By God's plan, adults must make a strong wall of understanding sympathy about them, until they have grown steady enough by nurture to stand the burden of life. These are some of the reasons why parents should be more aware of the presence in the baptized child, of a God-given capacity to HOPE and TRUST. This virtue grows out of the child's Faith and becomes a "strong a r m " about him, as he moves on through the maze of experiences which make up his life. His "other eyes" of f a i t h enable, him to see God's Provi- dence about him, and God's Life in him. He is con- scious that God loves him, and this makes him happy. St. Francis de Sales, who maintained a child-like con- fidence in God all his days, owed it to his clear view of the fact, as he puts it, t h a t "God and my mother love me." 16 17 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE The virtue of Hope given at Baptism is a capacity to lean on God for all t h a t is necessary for salvation, through the merits of Christ. In a simpler way, it may be looked at as the virtue t h a t enables the bap- tized child to rely upon God for happiness here and hereafter. Parents who wish to assist the child in the prac- tice of Hope must be aware of the distinction between pleasure and happiness. Many make the mistake of preparing the child f o r happiness by giving him pleas- ure, and too much of it. The taste f o r pleasure over- developed usually leads to unhappiness. And f o r these reasons: Happiness is the satisfaction t h a t comes from delighting the mind and the will; pleasure is the satis- faction t h a t comes from delighting the senses. I hear agreeable sounds, I smell a rose, I taste well-cooked food, I touch a piece of velvet, I see a snowfall—in all these, I find pleasure, and these are good. But if a child gets to the stage when sound and smell, taste and touch and sight give pleasure to the senses and no more, then he has missed the meaning of life. The child is more than an animal, more than a creature of sense. He has intelligence and will, and his highest delight, his happiness, consists in the proper use of mind and will. The child's thought-life and the child's virtuous acts of will are the sources of his happiness. It is true t h a t a child relies upon us very much to provide the necessary sense pleasures, because sense pleasure under control means his appetites, and the satisfaction of these normally makes for a balanced physical and emotional life. But if we teach him to rely on these pleasures f o r his happiness, we have made a f a t a l mistake. We must teach him t h a t these are only means to an end, and if the end cannot be obtained through their use, they must be foregone. The child must be given the opportunity to exercise 18 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE the virtue of HOPE by relying on God f o r the assur- ance of his happiness in this world as well as the next. And where are these opportunities? They follow f r o m the exercise of his faith. When he knows by f a i t h t h a t he is not a mere animal, but actually a son of God and a brother of Jesus Christ, t h a t he can count on God f o r love when all others fail, then he begins to know security. And f o r the child, this is happiness, this is the highest delight of his mind and will. I t is no wonder t h a t St. Paul said, "We are saved by H O P E , " and in no life is this more t r u e than in the life of the child. Because, before he has achieved the so-called "self-reliance" t h a t the world would have him cultivate, he has learned to lean on God. "I re- membered God and was delighted," says David the Psalmist, and it symbolizes the easy contentment of the child who has learned early to walk, sheltered by God's "strong a r m , " the virtue of Hope. Certainly, there was nothing taught more emphatically by Christ than this utter reliance upon the F a t h e r f o r every- thing. No wonder, then, t h a t Christ saw in the child the perfect example of Christianity which is essen- tially the religion of HOPE born of F A I T H in God's LOVE. P a r e n t s do well to tell and retell the story of the Saviour, reading and re-reading f o r themselves the Gospel, until they have learned those countless inci- dents where Christ shows His own child-like t r u s t in the Father. Plainly we can see this, when the Christ- mas scene is enacted again in the Liturgy. If we, as adults, feel a t ease in the presence of God as a child, and forget the b a r r i e r our sins have put between us and Him, and know only His gracious love, then we can understand a bit, perhaps, how a child approaches Him more securely as a child. When the child knows t h a t Jesus was a weak and helpless baby, and allowed 19 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE Himself to be the abiding object of care on the p a r t of Joseph and Mary, then he knows in a new and vital way how close he is to Jesus, how much God loves him. How important, then, f o r parents to let the child grow up with Jesus growing up, go to school with Jesus going to school, obeying and being subject with Jesus. Thus, the child walks hand-in-hand by f a i t h with Christ, and grows in hope because he is happy. How easy f o r him to relish each new experience with God, as he approaches the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, as he grows in the more constant use of prayer. Do our children need exercise in the virtue of hope? Only a very ignorant adult would say, "No." About us are millions of young and old confusing pleasure with happiness, and making a sorry task of their lives by so doing. Witness the unhappy efforts of people in mature life as they t r y to achieve through natural means, a serenity and poise and security which they neglected to build in themselves as children by means of the virtue of hope. Broken hearts, shattered careers, empty lives tell the story of neglect of t r u s t in God. The so-called wildness of youth is due entirely to a wrong concept of true happiness, founded on hope. Happy the children who stand a t Christmas time at the crib, grasping the tiny hands of the Baby in their own. Happy those who walk later with the Boy down to Nazareth, linking their growing lives with His. They will never have to look for the world's empty wells to satisfy their t h i r s t for happiness. They have known Jesus, their Hope. Having Him, they need nothing else beside. With David the Psalm- ist, they can well say, "In peace, in the selfsame, I shall sleep and rest, for Thou, 0 Lord, hast singularly settled me in HOPE." 20 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE Questions 1. Explain a child's sense of dependence. 2. W h a t does the virtue of hope enable a child to do? 3. W h y must parents be careful to help a child con- trol his craving for pleasure? 4. Name some practical ways for a child to exercise hope. 5. How does an intimate knowledge of Christ's life help a child to rely on God for happiness? THE CHILD'S GLOWING HEART W / " H E N parents and others speak of children as be- " ing "the light," "the warmth," "the h e a r t " of the home, they implicitly indicate the lovableness of children and their capacity to love. Now, in a bap- tized child, this quality is more than a g i f t of nature or temperament. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that the virtue of Charity which is given to a child at Bap- tism makes him "intimate with God." I t does this by giving him power to be a true child of God. By reason • of this, he has power to know God as He knows Him- self, to love Him as He loves Himself and to enjoy His company. The familiarity with spiritual things t h a t we ob- serve in children is not the same inclination that makes them play with toys and engage in games of fancy. The simple joy of their attitude toward God as Crea- tor, Redeemer and Sanctifier is the chief effect of the presence of the virtue of Charity in them. The gay response that a child makes to the things of faith, the warm confidence that he places without questioning in those who take God's place in his life are manifesta- tions of "the joy t h a t no man can take from him." The only time this joy is mingled with sadness, St. Thomas says, is when the child becomes aware of any evil, physical or moral, that prevents happiness for himself, those around him or those of whom he knows. It is well to observe that this sadness comes from the lose of or interference with happiness, not from the loss of pleasure, or passing good. It is f o r this reason that a parent who trains his child to use "his other eyes" of f a i t h and "the strong a r m " of hope, is by t h a t guidance giving him a sense of values which will keep the gloom of selfishness out of his life while 21 22 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE he bears the sadness of selfless sympathy along with his abiding joy. Another effect of the virtue of Charity given to a child at Baptism is PEACE. St. Thomas tells us t h a t "peace is the tranquillity of order." When a child has come to grow in the love of God and neighbor by exer- cising this capacity given at Baptism, his emotions, his mind and his will have a certain harmony about them. Grown-ups look wistfully a t the serenity, the poise, and the easy contentment of children. But chil- dren possess these without any special effort other than t h a t of keeping their simple inclinations turned towards God. For this reason, it is the bounden duty of parents to keep the child f r o m acquiring or multi- plying his desires f o r unnecessary things or things which merely give pleasure. Cravings for satisfaction for the senses quickly remove the child's inclination f o r love, and substitute the selfishness which destroys Charity. It is of great importance, too, for parents to know t h a t because of the virtue of Charity, the child has a leaning and an aid towards mercy and kindliness. He is not a little animal who has to be domesticated so that he can live with the group and be thoughtful of them. He is already a domestic, a family member of the very House of God. Charity has put into him a capacity to be "at home with God," and he needs only guidance and encouragement to see t h a t he can prac- tice this everywhere. Mercy, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is a sor- row for the misery of others as if it were in some sense our own. Such an attitude while it may seem to an adult, grown weary of human selfishness, a rather difficult one a t times, is not a strenuous effort for the child. Witness the intelligent sympathy shown by Catholic children in the work of the Foreign Mis- 23 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE sions. See how eagerly they respond to sacrifices to contribute to the rescuing of abandoned infants so t h a t these little ones may be made members of the Kingdom. Reflect that a story with a sad incident will often move a child to grief, and the sight of a loved one in suffering—even when the beloved is an animal—lets loose a flood of genuine tears. The kindliness of chil- dren, too, is evident to all who deal intimately with them. If this is not chilled or hardened by the exam- ple and attitude of adults, it is a most tender thing. Love responds to love, and the response in a good child is an eager one. He needs only little encourage- ment to express himself in kind words and kind deeds because he knows nothing of unkind thoughts. He knows nothing of these unless—and this is the tragedy at times—he lives with adults who think that way. One of the most pathetic happenings to witness is that of a gossiping or a bickering or a resentful child. He has not only grown old before his time—if there is ever a time to grow old in the ways of God— but more sad, he has lost his glowing heart. The child's heart is a glowing thing because it radiates not something he has inherited f r o m his par- ents, or achieved through his own efforts. It radiates the Charity of God which "is poured f o r t h in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Who is given to us," as says St. Paul. May all Christian parents help their children to GLOW with God-given Charity! Thus will the King- dom of God grow on earth. Like St. Augustine, called the "saint of the glowing heart," children will do what their elders fail to do. In his words, they will say, "I do not want to love our Lord alone. I do not want to possess Him alone. I will light the fire of His love in the hearts of all around me." 24 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE Questions 1. Whence come the simple joy of the baptized child in the things of faith? 2. What, according to St. Thomas, introduces sadness into a child's life? 3. W h a t relation is there between the virtue of charity and serenity of soul? 4. Explain mercy and kindliness in a baptized child. 5. W h a t causes a tendency to gossip and bickering in a child? THE GREAT HINGE \ T graduation exercises, orators like to speak of the children as being "on the threshold of life." This makes a pretty picture but it is not real. A child is, from the very dawn of his active intelligence, very much "in life." The time of childhood all through is well-called "the doorway of life." The senses of the child are his doorways, and through them, back and forth, he goes the livelong day, carrying impressions to be made into ideas. These ideas then function or are brought into the outside world through the activ- ity of the will and the co-operation of the body. The parent who is alive to this ceaseless process will do much to guide the child in the use of his God-given powers, the powers of nature, but more especially, the powers of grace, the virtues. Before ideas can be the basis of good activity, they must pass through another doorway, t h a t of right rea- son. If this doorway swings easily, and permits the idea to get to the will as a "good thing to do," then the will accepts the idea and puts it into activity. In His goodness, God has provided a means to smoothly swing this doorway of reason, a great hinge that keeps the reason steady to swing to the right, and keeps the will swift to give the command to do it. This great hinge is the virtue of Prudence. It is true that the world associates prudence with maturity, with grown-ups, and does not expect us to have it until we are old! It is f o r this reason, proba- bly, t h a t so many adults are very imprudent in their lives. If we wait—as most of us do—to get our pru- dence with the years, it is usually what is called the "prudence of the flesh" or the world's way of doing things, rather than what God wants. In God's plan, children must be allowed to practice prudence. 25 26 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE Prudence, St. Thomas tells us, is the act of giving a command or a decision a t the time when one has to act. What we ordinarily call prudence is really only preliminary to real prudence. Taking counsel with oneself or consulting with others is merely a step to the command or decision which is essentially the act of prudence. Now, in our attempts to guide the child in the use of "the great hinge" upon which the door of his right reason depends, we must understand what it is t h a t makes up prudence. We are told by the great Saint t h a t prudence is made up of (1) a memory of past t h i n g s ; (2) an in- sight into the reasons f o r doing things; (3) a docility and respect f o r what has been determined by wise people; and (4) a thoughtfulness before an act as to the way of doing it and its likely effects. All this means t h a t when we are training a child to use his prudence, we must give him through stories t h a t indicate both the use and the misuse of "the great hinge," a memory of what has been done by others so that he will be able to act wisely to command what is right. Primarily, a Christian child should be given early through story form, a memory of the story of the Fall of Adam and Eve, a misuse of prudence, and the Rise of all men through Christ, a r i g h t use of pru- dence. Similar stories in the lives of saints and his- torical people will f u r t h e r aid his memory, and then, as he grows older, the memory of his own use and mis- use of prudence will come home to him through the practice of the examination of conscience. A child should be t a u g h t as p a r t of his evening prayer, to re- call the acts of the day, and recognize his successes and his failures. F u r t h e r , a child should be trained to an insight into the reasons why things are done. He is best aided in this by being encouraged to think before he speaks and 27 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE acts. This is done when the parents help the child to sense a problem where it exists, and seek slowly to solve it, and quickly to decide the answer and follow it. Even puzzle games and toys can be used to develop the consciousness of reasons for doing things. With older children, their conduct problems will permit abundant exercise for the virtue of prudence. Because obedience is eminently an act of the virtue of pru- dence, in face of a problem, children should be given the opportunity to think through the way of doing it, and to accept the guidance of a wiser head, if their own way of acting is not correct. Respect and patience on the part of the adult for the child's growing prudence will give rise to a greater docility on the part of the child who will t r u s t the grown-up and rely upon his experience. A child thus encouraged to act prudently, to think before he acts, and then act promptly to do the right, will grow in awareness of his problem and his possi- bilities in the present, and the effects of his actions in the f u t u r e . He will thus avoid the defects or sins against prudence of which St. Thomas speaks. He will not be hasty, thoughtless, inconstant, sly or deceitful, and especially, he will not be negligent nor lazy. Baptism makes a child a "son of God." The use of the powers given in Baptism makes a child an active "son of God." The use of the "great hinge," pru- dence, makes the door of his right reason swing promptly and decisively toward the will of God. Isn't it sad to look around and see so many apathetic grown- up Catholics? Catholics who are lazy about the one thing necessary, their own spiritual growth? Catho- lics who are thoughtless of the effect their lives have upon other Catholics and upon the whole world ? Catholics who are sly and deceitful and live lives of pretense? Such lives are distorted lives, unbalanced 28 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE existences. They are like doors hanging loosely on their hinges, or creaking f o r w a n t of use or oil. Such Catholics have not the virtue of prudence, they put off the r i g h t decision to act, when it is time to do so. Christ gave a picture of the prudent Christian in the parable of the Five Wise and the Five Foolish Vir- gins. The wise virgins were prudent virgins, they acted promptly. They received their reward. Are you t r a i n i n g your child to use his God-given Prudence now? Questions 1. W h y call the virtue of Prudence "The Great Hinge"? 2. Ordinarily what we call "prudence" is only a step in the process. W h a t four qualities does real pru- dence possess? 3. How does the daily examination of conscience help a child to grow in prudence? • 4. Tell why older children should be given an oppor- tunity to think through their problems, and then, accept guidance. 5. W h a t are some of the effects of imprudence which right training will offset? KEEPING HIS BALANCE AS we move along in this study of the virtues given to children with their Baptism, it must be evident to all that we are slow, too slow in encouraging chil- dren to use these powers. Often, under the name of psychology or child guidance» false worldly thinking encourages parents to use methods that produce at most, a temporary good. Here, as elsewhere, it is true t h a t "they build in vain who build without the Lord." Justice is the name given to the special power of the baptized soul by which he is inclined to desire spontaneously and without ceasing the good of those around him, so t h a t he wants each one to have his due. The soul under the influence of this blessed power does not need force or f e a r to cause him to render to God and neighbor their due, but he has abid- ingly with him, the whispering Holy Ghost saying very gently, "Pay what thou owest!" Only through the aid given to the naturally selfish soul by grace is the miracle accomplished by which the individual achieves the perfect balance represented in sculpture by the even scale. Lest we think t h a t the virtue of justice is a harsh one, a virtue concerned merely with measuring out to each what belong to each and no more, St. Thomas pic- tures it with the accompanying Gift of Piety as the virtue which sanctifies the relations between man and man, and between them and God. He sees in it an inclination to treat God as a Father, tenderly serving Him and obeying Him, and then looking towards all men as most dear brothers in Christ. There is noth- ing cold, nothing artificial about this capacity to be just. I t has about it none of the calculating way of the world which aims merely at being honest. It wants to give not because it has to, but because giving is one 29 30 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE of the attributes of a kindly Father, and justice makes the soul like Him in generosity. How important it is, then, in a world sick with bar- tering and commercialism and rugged individualism, to build up in our baptized children, the capacity they have to be just. Justice, as we understand it, is the capacity above all, to be reverent, to be truthful in our dealings with others and with God. Justice tells the soul it possesses t h a t he walks in the world as in a sanctuary, t h a t all about him are holy things, the things of God and the personality and property of his brother humans. Justice helps the child to be reverent, but we must guide him and indicate to him the objects of rever- ence. We must show the child first of all, how to pray. That is his fundamental debt to God, to lean upon Him f o r everything. And it is well to remember t h a t say- ing prayers is not praying. L i f t i n g up the mind and h e a r t to God is a t the basis of good praying, and little children can do this. They can do it under guidance, when they see the trees and birds and sun and stars, and say very simply in admiration, " I t ' s grand, God!" This is a prayer of adoration, profound and intense. When they come to their eating, to their playing, to their sleeping, a little "Thank You, God!" gives direc- tion to a life of humble thanksgiving. When they tell God they are sorry they have not given Him all t h a t belongs to Him, their little sighs are deep contrition. When they talk to Him, earnestly, and with assurance about their tiny needs and the wants of their parents, they are truly showing their dependence upon the Lord and Giver of all. When they learn to kneel and stand and behave in the Church, they are giving to God in union with the official Church, the worship t h a t belongs to Him alone. This reverent justice shown to God continues in 31 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE their attitude towards their p a r e n t s and those over them. Esteem f o r authority helps much, and the wise p a r e n t will never criticize priests, teachers, policemen or others with the task of supervision, in the presence of little ones. They will, on the contrary, establish habits of loyalty to those above them, and a spirit of gracious thanksgiving f o r f a v o r s conferred. Children with this God-given virtue of Justice must be guided in the respect shown to the personality and property of others. St. Thomas w a r n s us of rudeness, whether in speech or in action, towards others. We owe to others reverence, because they are children of God and the little one who is shown how to esteem others rightly, is a happy child, indeed. Courtesy shown to companions, extra courtesy shown to un- f o r t u n a t e companions, should be the norm t h a t p a r - ents hold up to the child. Idle comparisons with play- mates, bickering and quarreling with words of abuse f o r others, should be checked f r o m the s t a r t by p a r - ents who w a n t their children to practice Justice. High and holy reverence f o r the t r u t h in speech should be insisted upon, also. No p a r e n t worthy of the name will countenance lying or pretense or any f o r m of hypocrisy in a child. How utterly sad f o r a little inno- cent child to come to the point where he thinks he must hide under the lie to save himself f r o m a real or imag- inary punishment! P a r e n t s should cultivate such con- fidence in a child t h a t the child will not hesitate to manifest his own faults, and take in the proper spirit, the necessary correction. How pathetic, too, f o r a child to come to the point where he must pose and pre- tend in order to get affection and appreciation! A child must betaught t h a t the basis of t r u e values is within and not without. I t should be the earnest effort, too, of p a r e n t s to build up respect f o r the property of others. The best 32 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE and surest way of doing this is by giving the child property of his own. The j u s t child will reverence his own clothing, his toys, his food, his f u r n i t u r e , because they are the g i f t s of God and the f r u i t of his parents' effort. The j u s t child will hold the same idea toward money. The wise parent will not indulge the child with extra money f o r foolish pleasure, but he will cultivate the sense of honest possession in a child by allowing him the simple use of modest sums. Out of this, he should be encouraged to save. The child who steals, who violates the property rights of others, is usually the child who has been pampered and so given exces- sive needs f o r pleasure, or the child who has nothing a t all and envies others. If a parent discovers a child in stealing, he must insist t h a t the child r e t u r n the property or its equivalent, but he must never destroy the child's reputation either at home or outside by indicating him as a "child to be watched." St. Thomas tells us t h a t a f t e r the "great hinge" virtue of Prudence, the most important of all the moral virtues is the virtue of Justice. Good Catholic parents will do all in their power, aided by prayer, to build up the virtue which in his relations with God and men, helps the child to keep his balance. Questions 1. To what does the virtue of Justice incline the child? 2. W h y is there nothing cold nor calculating about the Christian virtue of Justice? 3. W h a t little prayer practices will help a child to grow in Justice toward God? 4. Tell the parts that courtesy and truthfulness play in forming the just child. 5. How does t h r i f t and saving help the child to be just? LITTLE BODY: GREAT SOUL U T F E A R nothing but f e a r , " said Cardinal Mercier, the g r e a t P r i m a t e of Belgium at the time of the World War. Upon honest reflection, every human be- ing can echo the thought. Most certainly, our Divine Lord would encourage such thinking. For if there is one thing more t h a n others which stands out in the Gospel story, it is the f a c t t h a t Christ destroyed f e a r by love. " F e a r not, it is I." Why He did it is easy to see. Adam and Eve, our first parents, in God's orig- inal plan were in perfect control of themselves and of the orders of creation below them. By the g i f t of God, they were without f e a r until by their sin, they moved out of the realm of security into the unknown. At once, they became a f r a i d . And they transmitted this f e a r together with other ills to their posterity. When He walked the earth, Christ conquered f e a r in the lives of those about Him. The sinner and the saint, the g r e a t and the lowly, the learned and the unlearned, all classes and conditions, were at ease with Him. They had Only to be honest and they knew His mercy. This deep-down-in-the-soul security, this t r i - umph over the circumstances and events of life, this serenity in the face of pain and even death, this t r u e poise alike in little children and adults, came to be the m a r k of the Christian soul. And it came to be because of the Baptism which Jesus had established as a Sac- r a m e n t to give men the' virtue of FORTITUDE or BRAV- ERY. This g r e a t power or virtue which Baptism gives to a Christian enables him to hold firm in the presence of the greatest f e a r , and to keep within bounds the most daring boldness. Every age in world history has needed this power f o r every man. With our eyes be- 33 34 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE wildered by the world's confusion today, all adults will agree that our children will need it today and tomorrow. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us first of all, t h a t FORTI- TUDE helps a person to be GREAT-SOULED or magnani- mous. It makes the soul brave to overcome fears, to go ahead and do great things, things that may not seem to be great in the eyes of men but are truly great. St. Thomas realizes t h a t the world has confused people in their standards and so he points out t h a t one of the difficulties or sins which keeps people from having great souls is VAINGLORY. This, he tells us, is the show- ing off of one's own excellence which one seeks in everything, and which may lead one to commit all man- ner of sins. Some of them he mentions: hypocrisy, stubborness, discord, strife and disobedience. What parent can fail to recognize in this list some basic difficulty of childhood? How many parents, however, will recognize the root of VAINGLORY? HOW many will see the danger which they cause when they encourage the child to "show off" some minor talent to win ap- plause, or to strive f o r some honor merely that the parent may be gratified ? In these days of child prodi- gies in every field, and "child beauty contests," how difficult for the good Catholic parents to keep them- selves f r o m exploiting the child as St. Thomas says, for "some glory that has no object, or an object of little worth, or one which is not directed to the one true end, the glory of God and the welfare of men." On the other hand, is it not well f o r Catholic par- ents to think of the other sin which keeps children f r o m being GREAT-SOULED, namely, the minimizing of the child's gifts, so t h a t he becomes small-souled ? St. Thomas calls this pusillanimity, and perhaps, when we look for the real reason why Catholics with all their g i f t s of grace, fail to achieve great things for God and 35 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE country, we shall find the answer here. So many of our gifted children—and all are gifted by grace, if not all equally by nature—remain a t a low level of achieve- ment simply because p a r e n t s do not help them to over- come by the virtue of FORTITUDE, the FEAR which will not face the effort of study and persevering effort to achieve a worth-while goal. Again, St. Thomas points out to p a r e n t s truly in- terested in guiding their children, t h a t the virtue of FORTITUDE gives the child a capacity to be P A T I E N T and to PERSEVERE. Patience, he tells us, has to do with the bearing with troubles which come unceasingly in life, whether they come by life's own whims or by the actions of others in dealing with us.. Unfortunately, many p a r e n t s have passed on to children, the "chip- on-the-shoulder" attitude, so t h a t they a r e ready to hide their own f e a r of effort under the plaint t h a t other people and circumstances a r e against t h e m ; t h a t others always seem to make the r i g h t contacts, etc., etc. Again, so many effeminate parents, both men and wom- en, by their example, have inclined their children to give way to the least difficulty and the least fatigue. They pamper their little aches and pains, they excuse their f a u l t y relationship with other children, they tell the children t h a t the teacher misunderstands them, and so on. And when a child of this type takes r e f u g e in obstinacy, another defect mentioned by St. Thomas, they encourage the child to hold out f o r "principle," and so set him on the way to be a t permanent odds with the rest of the world. When Pope Pius X in encouraging children a t an early age to go to f r e q u e n t Holy Communion, foretold t h a t "there would be saints among the children," he knew w h a t he was talking about. F o r the child who has been given the virtue of FORTITUDE in Baptism, a virtue which sets him bravely to face his own weak- 36 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE nesses and the confusion of the world, is made into a t r u e tower of strength when he feeds on Christ, "the bread of the strong." Christian p a r e n t s who are well aware t h a t "the life of man is a continual w a r f a r e " should do all they can to encourage the child to use the virtue of FORTITUDE, so t h a t though he be little in body, he will be w h a t God wants the Christian to be—GREAT I N SOUL. Questions 1. How does Fortitude help the child to acquire serenity and a sense of security? 2. W h a t is the source of hypocrisy and disobedience? 3. W h a t should parents avoid and what should they encourage in the talents of their children? 4. Explain the qualities in Christian Fortitude which offset softness and instability in children. 5. How will a child little in body be great in soul? STRONG ANCHOR FOR STRONG SEAS IT SHOULD be quite plain f r o m our study thus f a r t h a t the baptized child is indeed fortunate in the possession of the virtues. Armed with capacities and powers f o r living a happy life in the truest sense of the word, he has only to be guided and encouraged by those over him to achieve this success. His is a suc- cess not to be had by a hit-and-miss system, but by a divinely-planned program. The g i f t s of grace given to him with his Baptism lead him by the sweet com- pulsion of the Spirit of God and his own directed ef- f o r t s to a f r u i t f u l integrity, a harmonious blending of all his powers of body and soul. This t r u t h is strikingly evident in the virtue of temperance, the power to control the bodily appetites. St. Thomas tells us t h a t it is given by God so t h a t the appetites will not be carried away by pleasure. When the virtue of temperance keeps within the bounds of reason, the appetite for self-preservation with regard to food and drink, it is called abstinence and sobriety; when it does the same f o r the appetite for race-preser- vation, it is called chastity. To control in the child the appetite for food and drink is not overly difficult, because lack of control on his p a r t usually brings a painful reminder in the form of an ache in the stomache or head. However, parents have a serious duty to'emphasize abstinence and so- briety by their own example and in these days of liquor parties, a double task falls to parents of keeping chil- dren and liquor in their respective places at the same time. It is not so easy, however, to assist the child in the cultivation of chastity. Too often, the virtue's growth 37 38 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE is left severely alone, and when the ugly head of un- chastity rears itself in the life of the adolescent, the parents t r y to salve their consciences by exclamations similar to those in the Gospel story of the parents of the boy born blind, "Who hath opened his eyes, we know not!" Eyes opened during childhood to the fierce, white beauty of chastity will not be dazed later by the lurid glow of unchastity. Our late Holy Father, Pius XI, in his letter "On the Education of Children," emphasizes the positive aspect of child training when he speaks of the virtue of chastity. There has been and there is, a great deal of confusion regarding this important virtue, simply because it has been approached f r o m the negative as- pect, or in terms of sin. By insisting to children t h a t they must avoid this type of word, that kind of thought, this form of action, etc., etc., we have implicitly brought such things to their attention. In fact, what usually happens is t h a t any discussion about this vir- tue is done negatively, and is held over until we begin to suspect that it is about time they were interested in such sin. Not much seems to be done particularly to build up in the child's mind, a concept of the little virtue of modesty, to give him a love for it, and to in- dicate how he can use occasions to practice this virtue, which is the bulwark of chastity. By the laws of habit, no one is suddenly bad and no one is suddenly good. Life is a growth, and whatever way the forces are per- mitted to go, in t h a t direction are the habits formed. St. Thomas Aquinas comes to the assistance of those who want to proceed sensibly with children in build- ing up the virtue of chastity. He tells us that "Modesty is that virtue which restrains the sensitive appetite in things which are less difficult to regulate. These things are the desire of one's own excellence; the desire to know; the exterior actions of the body; and one's man- 39 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE ner of dress." The restraint of these things comes un- der the headings of humility, the virtue of the studious, and modesty in the strict sense. Thus, a child who is to live chastely must begin (even remotely in the earliest years) to be humble, to have a wholesome curiosity, and to have good manners. These are positive attitudes; they are foundation stones. Therefore, any plan of training children must embody in theory and practice, opportunities to know, love and practice these little virtues. One tangible way, for instance, to exercise a child in humility is by training him, in little things, to a sense of duty. Humility is the virtue of knowing one's place, and if a child is slowly but surely, given a chance to become aware of his place by having a task to do, he will surely grow in this fundamental. So many things are done for us in modern life by machines, t h a t the children learn to depend on externals overmuch. This, strange to say, gives rise to a false independence which is a species of pride. The child, of course, is not aware of his growth in such an attitude until he is confronted by situations where his lack of humility causes a con- flict with some power stronger than himself. A child, on the other hand, who has been trained to be self- reliant, to be dutiful, and so, to know his place, has a strong wall set around himself against the intrusion of the selfishness whose particular attraction is pleas- ure of the flesh. Again, training in wholesome curiosity is very nec- essary to offset what St. Thomas calls the "inordinate desire to know what one has no right to know, or to know what may prove a source of danger to virtue owing to one's weakness." I t is this "inordinate de- sire" t h a t our Holy Father warns against when he cau- tioned against the "naturalism" which would scatter before the child's mind, a wholesale collection of mor- 40 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE bidities on the plea t h a t such "knowledge is a safe- guard." A training in wholesome curiosity means t h a t we foster the interests of the child in those things t h a t develop his imagination, his memory and his intellect without stimulating his lower nature. Under this heading, the fostering of a love f o r good reading, en- couraging his little efforts a t a r t i s t r y in any form, his appreciation of music and dramatics, will make the child capable of enjoying pleasures of the mind which he can use during those leisure hours of which modern life is so full. But unless this is done early and with attractiveness, it will not be done a t all. A love of reading or an interest in some mental hobby does imply work. To devote the attention to the printed word so t h a t the ideas conveyed live and give pleasure does require mental effort. I t is certainly much easier to sit with eye fixed on the silver screen and with ear alert to the noises of a sound machine. The child, like the grown-up, takes the easier way out, unless the movies are shut out or rarely indulged in, until the other wholesome habit has been developed. The same holds t r u e of the numberless newspapers and magazines, chock full of pictures, which are left around f o r youthful eyes and minds to f e a s t upon. I t is very easy in an environment of movies and picture-papers to grow unconsciously into the inordinate desire to know and see everything, to a lack of restraint in cus- tody of the senses. That consideration of this safeguard of chastity has been much neglected in our teaching is evident to anyone who has been interested in children and who knows how r a r e a " r e a d e r " is among them, and how utterly restless children are on a dull day when out- door activity is impossible, and a movie inaccessible. I t might seem a t first t h a t good manners is a f a r 41 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE stretch to the virtue of chastity. But it is precisely this t h a t St. Thomas'meant when he spoke of modesty in the strict sense. To him, modesty is "everything in a person's exterior, his movements, gestures, words, tones of voice and general attitude which ought to be according to his status." St. Paul indicated the stand- ard of Christian good manners when he wrote, "You are bought with a g r e a t price; glorify and bear God in your body." And St. Benedict enjoined it as a step in the r i g h t direction when he wrote, "Show the hu- mility of the h e a r t in the bearing of the body." Now, in times like ours when great social changes are taking place, it is inevitable t h a t the standards of external conduct should be affected. In addition, the presentation of worldly types upon the screen and in the news sets up models vastly different f r o m the Christian pattern. The child who will mimic and imi- t a t e those who a r e attractive is deeply influenced by such behavior. Without adverting to it, the child ac- quires mannerisms and attitudes which are unre- strained and unreserved. His bodily movement, ges- tures, and words are impulsive and according to mood. Fashioned in this way by circumstances and environ- ment, he has not the reverence implied in good man- ners. Without such reverence which is a mighty b a r to selfishness, he is an easy prey to the first stirrings of passion. The child, on the other hand, who has learned by the simple practice of good manners to be self-con- trolled always rises above and is master of his circum- stances. He has w h a t moderns call "poise" and the spiritual w r i t e r s "a sense of the presence of God." He has developed his God-given sense of shame on the foundation of reverence, and he has retained his ca- pacity to blush as a danger-signal. For him, precision in speech is a b a r r i e r to the poverty of language which 42 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE is manifested in prudishness and vulgarity. For him the carriage of his little body marks his humble direc- tion towards his F a t h e r ' s House and away f r o m the husks of swine. For him,, the unaffectedness and lack of poise in his good manners is an indication of his f r a n k and generous mind which tries to hide nothing f r o m God or man. Thus, his childlike courtesy to God, to himself and to others is the strong root f r o m which the flower of chastity springs. Training in chastity, a p a r t of the virtue of tem- perance, is a long process. But success can be achieved, by God's grace, if. we do not blunder into modern methods based on "naturalism" against which our Holy F a t h e r warned. If we follow the guidance of St. Thomas and ground our children in humility by giving them a sense of duty, in wholesome curiosity by building up their mental powers through studious interests, and in t r u e modesty through the self-disci- pline of good manners, we shall have made a high wall around their young hearts and save f o r them, the f a i r e s t flower in the garden of the virtues. Questions 1. Show how Temperance helps the child to control his bodily appetites. 2. How does the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas aid parents in building up the virtue of chastity in children? 3. E x p l a i n the relation between a child's sense of duty and humility. 4. What steps can any parent take to develop whole- some curiosity in a child? 5. What about good manners as a part of the virtue of chastity? THE CHILD'S GARDEN OF VIRTUES IN PRECEDING sections, we indicated to parents how the grace of God works in the soul of a child. We pointed out t h a t the child has a definite capacity for virtue, t h a t he has f r o m God Himself a share in His Divine Life which enables him to act in keeping with the will of God, and so attain happiness. It was seen t h a t God puts into the soul at Baptism, powers of Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude. The nature of these powers and occa- sions when they might be used were shown. We have reserved to now, a discussion on prayer which is truly the child's garden of virtues, since they will never grow elsewhere than in a soul attuned to God. First of all, it is well for parents to remind them- selves that when they teach a child to pray, they are acting as secondary teachers. They are like monitors or directors only. Souls are first taught by God in this intimate matter. "No one comes to Me except the Father draw him," says our Lord. What the parent does is to aid this work, by helping the child to control his environment, and by directing him in the laws of habit formation. The spirit of prayer is a more fundamental thing than the ability to say prayers. A child can memorize the words of a prayer in a short time. He can learn to fold his hands correctly and to bow his head grace- fully without a long drawn-out process. But unless all other conditions are favorable, he will not in a short time learn how to pray. It will take much time. Here as elsewhere in religion, one must look for the inevit- able conflict between nature and grace. It is not nat- ural to p r a y ; it is supernatural. Prayer always 43 44 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE requires effort. Prayer is a "lifting up of the mind and heart to God"; it is not, at least f o r the average soul, a being "lifted up." Today, perhaps more than ever, when the stress of living is so intense, both exte- riorly and interiorly, there is need for a controlled en- vironment as an aid to prayer. By the environment we mean the combination of persons, circumstances and things which surround and influence the individual at a given time. In the envir- onment of the child learning to pray, there are things and persons as sources of help or hindrance. By the things, we mean first, statues, pictures and other sac- ramentals which are p a r t of the traditional setting for prayer. In a home these should be few and well- chosen, rather than many and ill-chosen. For a child, a statue or picture before which he can make his devo- tions morning and evening, should be placed not high up on the wall but at his eye-level. They should be his own, too, and the decoration of little altars and the care of his articles of devotion should be given to him as his personal and individual task. Another thing which the parents must watch is the child's position at prayer. Kneeling in a cramped position or leaning on another because of insufficient space, makes it more difficult f o r the child to lift the mind. The child must gradually learn enough self-control to keep respectful positions at prayer, and this is best done by prefacing the prayer-time with a moment's reflection in order to emphasize the needed reverence. In the matter of persons in the environment of the child, the parent is outstanding. The parents who relish prayer themselves teach prayer best. If a child observes t h a t while he prays, the parents pray and mean it, a big part of the work is done. If a child sees the parent kneel down to pray, or sit down to read a spiritual book in quiet, or stand reverently to pray be- 45 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE f o r e and a f t e r meals, more is done f o r the child's for- mation in prayer t h a n all the talking in the world. In addition, it must be remembered t h a t prayer is a living thing and it must follow the laws of growth. For the acquiring of mental habits, it is said t h a t there are three laws: (1) the law of readiness and interest; (2) the law of exercise and practice; (3) the law of effect, or satisfaction and annoyance. The law of readiness and interest. This means t h a t the habit is best developed when the child has the urge to pray, because of his own felt need. The desire f o r prayer has to be developed. P r a y e r is an acknowledge- ment of the dependence of ourselves on God. The child must grow in the realization of the power and protec- tion of God; God is all-powerful and we are nothing and we can do nothing without Him. This sense of dependence on God can be developed in the child by the telling of stories which bring out God's loving inter- est in man and His answers to prayer. The miracles of Christ, the lives of the saints, and modern evidences of this can be used. I t can be developed also by encour- aging the child to pray f o r what may be called his "childish" needs. When there is a felt need, there is an opportunity for real prayer. Even if the present need of the child seems exaggerated to our adult minds, the child should be encouraged to pray. Later, when he acquires a new sense of value, he will have the habit of turning to God more firmly established. Even though the child's need seems trivial, prayer f o r t h a t need comes spontaneously to him and should be en- couraged. The law of exercise and practice. No matter how many stories we tell to whet the child's desire f o r prayer, or how often we suggest objects of petition, we will not effect much unless we give the child a real opportunity to practice prayer in the ordinary situa- 46 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE tions of life. I t would seem t h a t prayers before and a f t e r meals, offered briefly but reverently and sincere- ly, must never be omitted. P r a y e r before going out of the house which would be made both spontaneous and reflective by having a holy water f o n t a t the door would slowly teach the child t h a t God is with him in his goings-out and comings-in," and t h a t though he may leave parents and home f o r an interval, he never leaves God a t all. The law of effect, or satisfaction or annoyance. For a habit to be effectively formed, the practice must be accompanied with genuine satisfaction to the child When annoyance enters or the task appears burden- some, no progress is made. If it appears to be devel- oping, it will drop away as soon as pressure f r o m with- out disappears. That is why the teaching of prayer requires, such delicate attention. In prayer, the child must come of his own need and f o r his own satisfac- tion. He must not, because he cannot, be driven there The child may spend years saying prayers, but if they are done out of routine, with no g r e a t satisfaction to himself, no habit of prayer will be developed. P r a y e r was the greatest a c t i v i t y of Christ Through the years of the hidden life, and through the long nights of prayer in the active life, Christ showed us how to "lean on the F a t h e r . " No wonder t h a t the disciples knowing their many needs came to Him and said, "Lord, teach us to p r a y ! " They were adults and they knew f r o m sad experience the need of walking hand-in-hand with God through the confused ways of life. How f o r t u n a t e f o r the Christian child while life is still young to learn to build up the grace of God by walking in prayer in the garden of God. 47 CATHOLIC CHILD GUIDANCE Questions 1. W h y is the cultivation of a child's prayer-life essential to growth in virtue? 2. Explain "controlled environment" as an aid to prayer. 3. Tell how stories of Christ's life and those of saints help the child's interest in prayer. 4. Give a list of daily opportunities for a child to exercise prayer. 5. W h y must we guard against routine in teaching a child to pray? The members of T H E P A U L I S T P R E S S ASSOCIATION receive two pamphlets a month, including new pamphlet publications of The Paulist Press. Membership is two dollars the year.