Without getting discouraged, without worrying about past mistakes, going forward, we need to always remember the dignity and the importance of our role as….mother.
This excerpt is from a book called The Christian Mother, The Education of Her Children and Her Prayer. A Catholic book published in 1880.
The Christian mother has been charged by God with a two-fold mission with respect to her children; namely, the securing to them the nourishment of both soul and body. For if she has been fitted by nature to give to her children the milk which sustains the life of their bodies, so likewise has she been peculiarly designed by the God of nature to dispense to them for the nourishment of their souls the rational milk of which the apostle speaks, and which will make them grow unto salvation.
Nor is this latter responsibility less imperative than the former. If she would consider herself derelict of duty to leave her offspring without the nourishment which sustains their natural and temporal life, still more guilty would she be were she to deprive them of the nourishment which will insure their supernatural and eternal life.
And how admirably is she not fitted for this latter mission, of the two more important and more noble! She is by excellence the teacher of her children. Now we all know that much of the progress of a pupil depends not only on his natural gifts and talents, but also on the degree of confidence inspired by his teacher.
But who shares the affection and confidence of the child like the mother? Does he not believe every word she says? And how firmly, therefore, and how deeply may not the Christian mother instill into his young mind those religious truths which will ever remain a pure and wholesome nourishment for his soul, giving it strength to reject the poison of unbelief so temptingly offered to it at some later day.
And if the mother is a true Christian – if she shows forth in her own life the habit of the virtues which she desires to instill into the hearts of her children – how nobly and how successfully will she fulfill her mission!
The child is by nature an imitator. If the model set before him is good there is reason to hope that the copy will be so likewise. Do mothers realize this? And when later in life they fail to see in their children the Christian virtues of humility, patience, charity, and forgiveness, do they not also fail to trace the absence of these virtues to its true and legitimate cause?
Oh! That all mothers would bear in mind that if they desire their children to become true Christians they must present in their own lives the models of which the children will be the living copies.
Like Finer Femininity on Facebook
Prepare now for Advent and Christmas! This little Maglet (magazine/booklet) is full of inspiration and devotions for your Advent and Christmas Season! Check it out here.
Pre-Order your Christmas/St. Andrew Novena Chaplet now so you have it on time! Take a peek at my shop here for details.
Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! :’) I love Cardinal Mindzenty’s poem, I remember my Momma reading it years ago and I loved it then too. <3 🙂 Thank you
Hi Leanne, Where did you get this passage from? It’s very humbling.
Hi Janice, it is from a book called The Christian Mother, The Education of Her Children and Her Prayer. A Catholic book published in 1880.
Thank you so much!! I have been struggling with this, please pray for me to be more like Mother Mary to my children. I am a huge fan of your page, I have learned so much! God bless you and all your family 🙂
Thank you!!