Category Archives: Education

Teaching the Art of Study ~ The Catholic Teacher’s Companion

09 Wednesday Feb 2022

Posted by in Catholic Teacher's Companion, Education

≈ 1 Comment

This book was written at the turn of the 20th century for Catholic teaching nuns. It is called The Catholic Teacher’s Companion  – A book of Inspiration and Self-Help by Rev. Felix M. Kirsch, O.M.C. (1924). The lessons between the covers are valuable for parents, educators and all who work with children.

TEACHING THE ART OF STUDY

The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort, is not fit to be deemed a scholar. —CONFUCIUS

All teachers agree with Janet Erskine Stuart that children do not know how to learn lessons when the books are before them, and that there is a great waste of good power, and a great deal of unnecessary weariness from this cause. If the cause of imperfectly learned lessons is examined it will usually be found there, and also the cause of so much dislike to the work of preparation.

 Children do not know by instinct how to set about learning a lesson from a book, nor do they spontaneously recognize that there are different ways of learning, adapted to different lessons.

BOOKS ALONE ARE NOT ENOUGH

It is a help to the children to know that there is one way for the multiplication table and another for history and another for poetry, as the end of the lesson is different.

They can understand this if it is put before them that one is learnt most quickly by mere repetition, until it becomes a sing-song in the memory that cannot go wrong, and that afterward in practice it will allow itself to be taken to pieces.

They will see that they can grasp a chapter of history more intelligently if they prepare for themselves questions upon it which might be asked of another, than in trying by mechanical devices of memory to associate facts with something to hold them by; that poetry is different from both, having a body and a soul, each of which has to be taken account of in learning it, one of them being the song and the other the singer.

Obviously there is not one only way for each of these or for other matters which have to be learnt, but one of the greatest difficulties is removed when it is understood that there is something intelligible to be done in the learning of lessons beyond reading them over and over with the hope that they will go in.

 In his Collationes in Hexaemeron St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, gives some helpful directions concerning the art of study.

Our study must, first, be orderly. In the second place, it must be persevering. St. Bonaventure finds desultory reading a great hindrance, for it betrays a restless spirit, which makes no progress, nor does it permit anything to take root in the memory. We learn to know a person minutely by looking at him often and by studying him, not by a mere glance.

In the third place, we must study with pleasure. God has proportioned both food and taste, so that both must correspond if the food is to be wholesome. He who finds the food distasteful, as did the Israelites with the manna, experiences but one taste. Spiritual men, however, find therein the sweetness of every taste.

 Finally, says St. Bonaventure, our studies must remain within proper bounds, and must be prudent. We must be discreet and moderate, and not attempt a learning beyond our strength. The exact limit for every student is drawn by his talents. Beyond this he should not seek to go, nor should he remain below it.

The Seraphic Doctor concludes his directions with an illustration from St. Augustine. Those who do not carry on their studies in an orderly manner are like colts which gallop hither and thither, while the useful beast of burden plods securely on, and arrives at its destination, because it proceeds steadily and perseveringly.

The teacher cannot give too much attention to the subject of teaching her pupils the art of study. Any student of waste in education realizes that the greatest source of waste is found in unintelligent methods of the pupils’ work.

One of our most needed reforms is found in this field. Much would be gained if all teachers could be brought to realize that, the formation of habits, rather than the acquisition of facts, is the dominant purpose of the school.

NEW PODCAST! You see, we don’t marry Prince Charming and live happily ever after. We are humans and we have faults….many faults….Both of us, husband and wife. It takes consistent effort to make a good marriage. Every day, every hour, every minute, we need to be thinking the right thoughts, praying the right prayers, listening to the right people and doing the right things…

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is border-400.png

Establishing clear-cut family rules requires complete agreement between father and mother. Few things disturb a child more than when his father establishes one standard of conduct and his mother makes continuous exceptions to it. Once a father and mother agree, neither should change the rules without consulting the other, or the child will not know what is expected of him. And both father and mother must share in enforcing them. – Rev. George Kelly, 1950’s

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is border-400.png

Beautiful Wire Wrapped Rosaries! Lovely, Durable. Each link is handmade and wrapped around itself to ensure quality. Available here.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is border-400.png

We live in an age characterized by agitation and lack of peace. This tendency manifests itself in our spiritual as well as our secular life. In our search for God and holiness, in our service to our neighbor, a kind of restlessness and anxiety take the place of the confidence and peace which ought to be ours. What must we do to overcome the moments of fear and distress which assail us? How can we learn to place all our confidence in God and abandon ourselves into his loving care? This is what is taught in this simple, yet profound little treatise on peace of head. Taking concrete examples from our everyday life, the author invites us to respond in a Gospel fashion to the upsetting situations we must all confront. Since peace of heart is a pure gift of God, it is something we should seek, pursue and ask him for without cease. This book is here to help us in that pursuit.

Reverend Irala here addresses ways to promote mental and emotional well-being to help increase one’s health, efficiency and happiness. He speaks on topics such as how to rest, think, use the will, control feelings, train the sexual instinct, be happy, and choose an ideal. Included are also many practical instructions on dealing with mental struggles of all kinds. This book is most useful in our present times of worldly confusion.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

The Best Security ~ The Education of Catholic Girls

11 Thursday Nov 2021

Posted by in Education

≈ 1 Comment

The Education of Catholic Girls – Janet Erskine

To be well grounded in the elements of faith, and to have been so taught that the practice of religion has become the atmosphere of a happy life, to have the habit of sanctifying daily duties, joys, and trials by the thought of God, and a firm resolve that nothing shall be allowed to draw the soul away from Him, such is, broadly speaking, the aim we may set before ourselves for the end of the years of childhood, after which must follow the more difficult years of the training of youth.

The time has gone by when the faith of childhood might be carried through life and be assailed by no questionings from without. A faith that is not armed and ready for conflict stands a poor chance of passing victoriously through its trials, it cannot hope to escape from being tried.

“We have labored successfully,” wrote a leading Jewish Freemason in Rome addressing his Brotherhood, “in the great cities and among the young men; it remains for us to carry out the work in the country districts and amongst the women.”

Words could not be plainer to show what awaits the faith of children when they come out into the world; and even in countries where the aim is not so clearly set forth the current of opinion mostly sets against the faith, the current of the world invariably does so.

For faith to hold on its course against all that tends to carry it away, it is needful that it should not be found unprepared. The minds of the young cannot expect to be carried along by a Catholic public opinion, there will be few to help them, and they must learn to stand by themselves, to answer for themselves, to be challenged and not afraid to speak out for their faith, to be able to give “first aid” to unsettled minds and not allow their own to be unsettled by what they hear.

They must learn that, as Father Dalgairns points out, their position in the world is far more akin to that of Christians in the first centuries of the Church than to the life that was lived in the middle ages when the Church visibly ruled over public opinion.

Now, as in the earliest ages, the faithful stand in small assemblies or as individuals amid cold or hostile surroundings, and individual faith and sanctity are the chief means of extending the kingdom of God on earth.

But this apostleship needs preparation and training. The early teaching requires to be seasoned and hardened to withstand the influences which tend to dissolve faith and piety; by this seasoning faith must be enlightened, and piety become serene and grave, “sedate,” as St. Francis of Sales would say with beautiful commentary.

In the last years of school or school-room life the mind has to be gradually inured to the harder life, to the duty of defending as well as adorning the faith, and to gain at least some idea of the enemies against which defense must be made.

It is something even to know what is in the air and what may be expected that the first surprise may not disturb the balance of the mind. To know that in the Church there have been sorrows and scandals, without the promises of Christ having failed, and even that it had to be so, fulfilling His word, “it must needs be that scandals come” (St. Matthew XVIII. 7), that they are therefore rather a confirmation than a stumbling-block to our faith, this is a necessary safeguard.

To have some unpretentious knowledge of what is said and thought concerning Holy Scripture, to know at least something about Modernism and other phases of current opinion is necessary, without making a study of their subtleties, for the most insecure attitude of mind for girls is to think they know, in these difficult questions, and the best safeguard both of their faith and good sense is intellectual modesty.

Without making acquaintance in detail with the phenomena of spiritualism and kindred arts or sciences, it is needful to know in a plain and general way why they are forbidden by the Church, and also to know how those who have lost their balance and peace of mind in these pursuits would willingly draw back, but find it next to impossible to free themselves from the servitude in which they are entangled.

It is hard for some minds to resist the restless temptation to feel, to see, to test and handle all that life can offer of strange and mysterious experiences, and next to the curb of duty comes the safeguard of greatly valuing freedom of mind.

Curiosity concerning evil or dangerous knowledge is more impetuous when a sudden emancipation of mind sweeps the old landmarks and restraints out of sight, and nothing has been foreseen which can serve as a guide.

Then is the time when weak places in education show themselves, when the least insincerity in the presentment of truth brings its own punishment, and a faith not pillared and grounded in all honesty is in danger of failing.

The best security is to have nothing to unlearn, to know that what one knows is a very small part of what can be known, but that as far as it goes it is true and genuine, and cannot be outgrown, that it will stand both the wear of time and the test of growing power of thought, and that those who have taught these beliefs will never have to retract or be ashamed of them, or own that they were passed off, though inadequate, upon the minds of children.

Every day you need to lift your husband up in prayer. Ask St. Joseph to help him to be a good husband and father. He needs you, who are his closest companion, to lift him up each day to our Heavenly Father. Ask Our Lord to protect him and to protect your marriage. What a wonderful gift a praying wife is! -Finer Femininity

Sign up for the Advent Giveaway by following this link!

Leane and Theresa from Finer Femininity discuss the lovely Catholic customs and traditions in the home during the Advent and Christmas season…

Doilies by Rosie! These are beautiful, lacy, handmade doilies made with size 10 crochet cotton. They have been blocked and starched and are ready to decorate and accent your home decor.
 
“The quality & workmanship of this crocheted doily is suburb! And the beauty even more so–I am so happy to be able to purchase a handmade doily just as lovely as my grandma used to make…” Available here.

A very valuable book for the guys plucked out of the past and reprinted. It was written in 1894 by Fr. Bernard O’Reilly and the words on the pages will stir the hearts of the men to rise to virtue and chivalry…. Beautifully and eloquently written!

A very beautiful book, worthy of our attention. In it, you will find many pearls of wisdom for a woman striving to be the heart of the home, an inspiration to all who cross her path. You will be inspired to reconsider the importance of your role of wife and mother! Written by Rev. Bernard O’Reilly in 1894, the treasures found within its pages ring true and remain timeless…

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

The Pupils’ Success ~ The Catholic Teacher’s Companion

17 Friday Sep 2021

Posted by in Catholic Teacher's Companion, Education, FF Tidbits, Parenting

≈ 1 Comment

This excerpt is a lesson for all educators…including, and especially, mothers and fathers. There aren’t many schools nowadays that are reputable (there are some, indeed), so mothers and fathers have had to take much of burden of educating their children, especially in their religion. Take heart, your reward will be great in heaven!

Some readers may be tempted to restrict the idea of the pupils’ success to what is seen on the night of the school commencement. But we have in mind the school commencement merely as the scene whence the graduates must pass to the larger stage of the world to play their parts.

The Rev. Daniel A. Lord, S.J.,  has brought out vividly the part that the Sisters play in both phases of the pupil’s success:

Back stage, hot in heavy habits that were never designed for work among canvas wings, the Sisters, tired, flushed, but happy, watched the end of their year’s work.

The next day they too were to leave; some for the motherhouse, some for the summer courses at Catholic colleges, all eventually for the annual retreat.

The curtain dropped for the last time, and the boys and girls surged out to greet happy relatives, some with a quick good-by to their teachers, others thoughtless and forgetful of all except that for them school was at an end and they were free.

Yet, though few children came to thank them, and fewer still of that seething audience gave a passing thought to the Sisters backstage, all that was epitomized in the entertainment just concluded, and the diploma just conferred was credited by a higher Power to them.

Because of their patient drilling some boy would rise higher in life. Later on some girl would come with the man who loved her, to seek out the Sister who had kept her feet straight in her youthful days.

Some boy in the grip of temptation would remember her insistent lessons of loyalty to God and put sin ruthlessly behind him. Perhaps in some distant day a wanderer from the faith of his fathers would on his deathbed murmur the act of contrition she taught him, and by that childhood prayer open for himself the gates of eternal bliss.

And perhaps before God’s altar some young priest, in the full tide of his newly-received priesthood, would pause at the Memento to whisper the name of the nun whose lessons and prayers had first turned his eyes toward the service of the Sanctuary.

Her work, unrecognized, unappreciated, but heroic with the heroism of patient unselfishness and devotion to a high ideal, is one of the loveliest things in the Church today.

She is the greatest asset of Catholic education. I crave your thanks for the teaching Sister.

The Rev. Robert Schwickerath, S.J., relates an incident of the life of Father Bonifacio, a distinguished Jesuit educator, who for more than forty years taught the classics.

One day he was visited by his brother, a professor in a university, whom he had not seen for many years. When the professor heard that the Father had spent all the years of his life in the Order in teaching Latin and Greek to young boys, he exclaimed:

“You have wasted your great talents in such inferior work! I expected to find you at least a professor of philosophy or theology. What have you done that this post is assigned to you?”

Father Bonifacio quietly opened a little book, and showed him the list of hundreds of pupils whom he had taught, many of whom occupied high positions in Church or State, or in the world of business.

Pointing at their names, the Father said with a pleasant smile:

“The success which my pupils have achieved is to me a far sweeter reward than any honor which I might have obtained the most celebrated university.”

Father Schwickerath justly adds to this account that “not all teachers have the consolation of seeing their pupils in high positions. It happens that the best efforts of a devoted teacher seem to be lost on many pupils. Even this will not discourage the religious teacher.

He will remember that his model, Jesus Christ, did not reap the fruit which might have been expected from such a Master. Not all that He sowed brought forth fruit a hundredfold, not even thirtyfold. Some fell upon stony ground, and other some fell among the thorns, and yet He went on patiently sowing.

So a teacher ought not to be disheartened if the success should not correspond with his labors. He knows that one reward is certainly in store for him, the measure of which will not be his success, but his zeal; not the fruit but his efforts.”

It is the prospect of this reward that inspires the devoted service of our Sisters.

Not long ago, in distant Algiers, an American tourist visited the lepers’ colony out of pure curiosity. These poor lepers were cared for by a Community of Sisters. The man was attracted by one of these self-sacrificing women because of her youth, beauty, and refinement, and to his surprise he learned that she was an American girl.

Being introduced to her, he said: “Sister, I would not do this work for $10,000 a year.”

“No,” said the Sister, “nor would I do it for $100,000 nor a million a year.”

“Really,” said the stranger, “you surprise me. What, then, do you receive?”

“Nothing,” was the reply, “absolutely nothing.”

“Then why do you do it?”

The Sister lifted the crucifix that was pending from her rosary and, sweetly kissing it, said, “I do it for the love of Him, for Jesus who died for the love of them and for the love of me. In the loathsome ulcers of these poor lepers I see the wounds of my crowned and crucified Savior.”

For the rest, we believe that the very choicest reward will be meted out to the School Sisters for that portion of their work that to human seeming is generally in vain. Our School Sisters may gain honor from their talented pupils; they will earn their bread (in a certain sense) by training the vast body of mediocre children; but they will merit heaven by the patient labors they devote to the dullards in their schools.

A holy house is one in which God is truly King; in which He reigns supreme over the minds and hearts of the inmates; in which every word and act honors His name. One feels on entering such a house, nay, even on approaching it, that the very atmosphere within and without is laden with holy and heavenly influences. -True Womanhood, Rev. Bernard O’Reilly, 1894 https://amzn.to/2PsM94w (afflink)

NEW! Make a statement with these lovely and graceful handcrafted aprons….fully lined….made with care. Aprons tell a beautiful story…..a story of love and sacrifice….of baking bread and mopping floors, of planting seeds and household chores. Sadly, many women have tossed the aprons aside and donned their business attire. Wear your apron with joy….it is a symbol of Femininity….”Finer” Femininity! 🌺 💗

Available here.

 

Hands Free Mama is the digital society’s answer to finding balance in a media-saturated, perfection-obsessed world. It doesn’t mean giving up all technology forever. It doesn’t mean forgoing our jobs and responsibilities. What it does mean is seizing the little moments that life offers us to engage in real and meaningful interaction. It means looking our loved ones in the eye and giving them the gift of our undivided attention, living a present, authentic, and intentional life despite a world full of distractions.

With his facile pen and from the wealth of his nation-wide experience, the well-known author treats anything and everything that might be included under the heading of home education: the pre-marriage training of prospective parents, the problems of the pre-school days down through the years of adolescence. No topic is neglected. “What is most praiseworthy is Fr. Lord’s insistence throughout that no educational agency can supplant the work that must be done by parents.” – Felix M. Kirsch, O.F.M. https://amzn.to/2T06u28 (afflink)

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

True Education (Part Two)

27 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by in Education, Parenting, Virtues

≈ 1 Comment

Stuart, Janet Erskine, The Education of Catholic Girls, 1912

The following are points very necessary in Catholic education (Part Two)…

Part One is here.

5. Proper views of Jesus Christ and His mother. For Catholic children this relationship is not a thing far off, but the faith which teaches them of God Incarnate bids them also understand that He is their own “God who gives joy to their youth”—and that His mother is also theirs.

There are many incomprehensible things in which children are taught to affirm their belief, and the acts of faith in which they recite these truths are far beyond their understanding.

But they can and do understand if we take pains to teach them that they are loved by Our Lord each one alone, intimately and personally, and asked to love in return.

“Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not,” is not for them a distant echo of what was heard long ago in the Holy Land, it is no story, but a living reality of today.

They are themselves the children who are invited to come to Him, better off indeed than those first called, since they are not now rebuked or kept off by the Apostles but brought to the front and given the first places, invited by order of His Vicar from their earliest years to receive the Bread of Heaven, and giving delight to His representatives on earth by accepting the invitation.

It is the reality as contrasted with the story that is the prerogative of the Catholic child. Jesus and Mary are real, and are its own closest kin, all but visible, at moments intensely felt as present.

They are there in joy and in trouble, when everyone else fails in understanding or looks displeased there is this refuge, there is this love which always forgives, and sets things right, and to whom nothing is unimportant or without interest.

Companionship in loneliness, comfort in trouble, relief in distress, endurance in pain are all to be found in them.

With Jesus and Mary what is there in the whole world of which a Catholic child should be afraid. And this glorious strength of theirs made perfect in child-martyrs in many ages will make them again child-martyrs now if need be, or confessors of the holy faith as they are not seldom called upon, even now, to show themselves.

There is a strange indomitable courage in children which has its deep springs in these Divine things; the strength which they find in Holy Communion and in their love for Jesus and Mary is enough to overcome in them all weakness and fear.

6. Thoughts of the faith and practice of Christian life.

And here it is necessary to guard against what is childish, visionary, and exuberant, against things that only feed the fancy or excite the imagination, against practices which are adapted to other races than ours, but with us are liable to become unreal and irreverent.

We must guard against too vivid sense impressions and especially against attaching too much importance to them, against grotesque and puerile forms of piety, which drag down the beautiful devotions to the saint.

In northern countries a greater sobriety of devotion is required if it is to have any permanent influence on life.

But again, on the other hand, the more restrained devotion must not lose its spontaneity; so long as it is the true expression of faith it can hardly be too simple, it can never be too intimate a part of common life.

Noble friendships with the saints in glory are one of the most effectual means of learning heavenly-mindedness, and friendships formed in childhood will last through a lifetime.

To find a character like one’s own which has fought the same fight and been crowned, is an encouragement which obtains great victories, and to enter into the thoughts of the saints is to qualify oneself here below for intercourse with the citizens of heaven.

To be well grounded in the elements of faith, and to have been so taught that the practice of religion has become the atmosphere of a happy life, to have the habit of sanctifying daily duties, joys, and trials by the thought of God, and a firm resolve that nothing shall be allowed to draw the soul away from Him, such is, broadly speaking, the aim we may set before ourselves for the end of the years of childhood, after which must follow the more difficult years of the training of youth.

The time has gone by when the faith of childhood might be carried through life and be assailed by no questionings from without.

A faith that is not armed and ready for conflict stands a poor chance of passing victoriously through its trials, it cannot hope to escape from being tried.

“We have labored successfully,” wrote a leading Jewish Freemason in Rome addressing his Brotherhood, “in the great cities and among the young men; it remains for us to carry out the work in the country districts and amongst the women.”

Words could not be plainer to show what awaits the faith of children when they come out into the world.

For faith to hold on its course against all that tends to carry it away, it is needful that it should not be found unprepared.

The minds of the young cannot expect to be carried along by a Catholic public opinion, there will be few to help them, and they must learn to stand by themselves, to answer for themselves, to be challenged and not afraid to speak out for their faith, to be able to give “first aid” to unsettled minds and not allow their own to be unsettled by what they hear.

They must learn that, as Father Dalgairns points out, their position in the world is far more akin to that of Christians in the first centuries of the Church than to the life that was lived in the middle ages when the Church visibly ruled over public opinion.

Now, as in the earliest ages, the faithful stand in small assemblies or as individuals amid cold or hostile surroundings, and individual faith and sanctity are the chief means of extending the kingdom of God on earth.

But this apostleship needs preparation and training. The early teaching requires to be seasoned and hardened to withstand the influences which tend to dissolve faith and piety; by this seasoning faith must be enlightened, and piety become serene and grave, “sedate,” as St. Francis of Sales would say with beautiful commentary.

In the last years of school or school-room life the mind has to be gradually inured to the harder life, to the duty of defending as well as adorning the faith, and to gain at least some idea of the enemies against which defense must be made.

It is something even to know what is in the air and what may be expected that the first surprise may not disturb the balance of the mind.

To know that in the Church there have been sorrows and scandals, without the promises of Christ having failed, and even that it had to be so, fulfilling His word, “it must needs be that scandals come” (St. Matthew XVIII. 7), that they are therefore rather a confirmation than a stumbling-block to our faith, this is a necessary safeguard.

To have some unpretentious knowledge of what is said and thought concerning Holy Scripture, to know at least something about Modernism and other phases of current opinion is necessary, without making a study of their subtleties, for the most insecure attitude of mind for girls is to think they know, in these difficult questions, and the best safeguard both of their faith and good sense is intellectual modesty.

Without making acquaintance in detail with the phenomena of spiritualism and kindred arts or sciences, it is needful to know in a plain and general way why they are forbidden by the Church, and also to know how those who have lost their balance and peace of mind in these pursuits would willingly draw back, but find it next to impossible to free themselves from the servitude in which they are entangled.

It is hard for some minds to resist the restless temptation to feel, to see, to test and handle all that life can offer of strange and mysterious experiences, and next to the curb of duty comes the safeguard of greatly valuing freedom of mind.

Curiosity concerning evil or dangerous knowledge is more impetuous when a sudden emancipation of mind sweeps the old landmarks and restraints out of sight, and nothing has been foreseen which can serve as a guide.

Then is the time when weak places in education show themselves, when the least insincerity in the presentment of truth brings its own punishment, and a faith not pillared and grounded in all honesty is in danger of failing.

The best security is to have nothing to unlearn, to know that what one knows is a very small part of what can be known, but that as far as it goes it is true and genuine, and cannot be outgrown, that it will stand both the wear of time and the test of growing power of thought, and that those who have taught these beliefs will never have to retract or be ashamed of them, or own that they were passed off, though inadequate, upon the minds of children.

To know that in the Church there have been sorrows and scandals, without the promises of Christ having failed, and even that it had to be so, fulfilling His word, “it must needs be that scandals come” (St. Matthew XVIII. 7), that they are therefore rather a confirmation than a stumbling-block to our faith. -Janet Erskine, 1912

Madonna of Heaven Apron!

! Feminine and Beautiful! Fully lined, quality material, made with care and detail!

Available here.

Women historically have been denigrated as lower than men or viewed as privileged. Dr. Alice von Hildebrand characterizes the difference between such views as based on whether man’s vision is secularistic or steeped in the supernatural. She shows that feminism’s attempts to gain equality with men by imitation of men is unnatural, foolish, destructive, and self-defeating. The Blessed Mother’s role in the Incarnation points to the true privilege of being a woman. Both virginity and maternity meet in Mary who exhibits the feminine gifts of purity, receptivity to God’s word, and life-giving nurturance at their highest.

You’ll learn how to grow in wisdom and in love as you encounter the unglamorous, everyday problems that threaten all marriages. As the author says: If someone were to give me many short bits of wool, most likely I would throw them away. A carpet weaver thinks differently. He knows the marvels we can achieve by using small things artfully and lovingly. Like the carpet weaver, the good wife must be an artist of love. She must remember her mission and never waste the little deeds that fill her day the precious bits of wool she s been given to weave the majestic tapestry of married love.

This remarkable book will show you how to start weaving love into the tapestry of your marriage today, as it leads you more deeply into the joys of love.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

True Education (Part One)

25 Wednesday Aug 2021

Posted by in Education, Parenting, Virtues

≈ 1 Comment

Stuart, Janet Erskine, The Education of Catholic Girls, 1912

The following are points very necessary in Catholic education…

“These are qualifications that are never attained, because they must always be in process of attainment, only one who is constantly growing in grace and love and knowledge can give the true appreciation of what that grace and love and knowledge are in their bearing on human life: to be rather than to know is therefore a primary qualification. Inseparably bound up with it is the thinking right thoughts concerning what is to be taught.”

1. To have right thoughts of God. It would seem to be too obvious to need statement, yet experience shows that this fundamental necessity is not always secure, far from it.

It is not often put into words, but traces may be found only too easily of foundations of religion laid in thoughts of God that are unworthy of our faith. Whence can they have come?

Doubtless in great measure from the subtle spirit of Jansenism which spread so widely in its day and is so hard to outlive—from remains of the still darker spirit of Calvinism which hangs about convert teachers of a rigid school—from vehement and fervid spiritual writers, addressing themselves to the needs of other times—perhaps most of all from the old lie which was from the beginning, the deep mistrust of God which is the greatest triumph of His enemy.

God is set forth as if He were encompassed with human limitations—the fiery imagery of the Old Testament pressed into the service of modern and western minds, until He is made to seem pitiless, revengeful, exacting, lying in wait to catch His creatures in fault, and awaiting them at death with terrible surprises.

But this is not what the Church and the Gospels have to say about Him to the children of the kingdom.

If we could put into words our highest ideals of all that is most lovely and lovable, beautiful, tender, gracious, liberal, strong, constant, patient, unwearying, add what we can, multiply it a million times, tire out our imagination beyond it, and then say that it is nothing to what He is, that it is the weakest expression of His goodness and beauty, we shall give a poor idea of God indeed, but at least, as far as it goes, it will be true, and it will lead to trustfulness and friendship, to a right attitude of mind, as child to father, and creature to Creator.

We speak as we believe, there is an accent of sincerity that carries conviction if we speak of God as we believe, and if we believe truly, we shall speak of Him largely, trustfully, and happily, whether in the dogmas of our faith, or as we find His traces and glorious attributes in the world around us, as we consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, or as we track with reverent and unprecipitate following the line of His providential government in the history of the world.

The need of right thoughts of God is also deeply felt on the side of our relations to Him, and that especially in our democratic times when sovereignty is losing its meaning.

There are free and easy ideas of God, as if man might criticize and question and call Him to account, and have his say on the doings of the Creator.

It is not explanation or apology that answer these, but a right thought of God makes them impossible, and this right thought can only be given if we have it ourselves.

The Fatherhood of God and the Sovereignty of God are foundations of belief which complete one another, and bear up all the superstructure of a child’s understanding of Christian life.

2. Ideas of ourselves and of our destiny. It is a pity that evil instead of good is made a prominent feature of religious teaching.

To be haunted by the thought of evil and the dread of losing our soul, as if it were a danger threatening us at every step, is not the most inspiring ideal of life; quiet, steady, unimaginative fear and watchfulness is harder to teach, but gives a stronger defense against sin than an ever present terror; while all that belongs to hope awakens a far more effective response to good.

Some realization of our high destiny as heirs of heaven is the strongest hold that the average character can have to give steadiness in prosperity and courage in adversity.

Chosen souls will rise higher than this, but if the average can reach so far as this they will do well.

3. Right ideas of sin and evil. It is possible on the one hand to give such imperfect ideas of right and wrong that all is measured by the mere selfish standard of personal security.

The frightened question about some childish wrong-doing—”is it a mortal sin?” often indicates that fear of punishment is the only aspect under which sin appears to the mind; while a satisfied tone in saying “it is only a venial sin” looks like a desire to see what liberties may be taken with God without involving too serious consequences to self.

“It is wrong” ought to be enough, and the less children talk of mortal sin the better—to talk of it, to discuss with them whether this or that is a mortal sin, accustoms them to the idea.

When they know well the conditions which make a sin grave without illustrations by example which are likely to obscure the subject rather than clear it up, when their ideas of right and duty and obligation are clear, when “I ought” has a real meaning for them, we shall have a stronger type of character than that which is formed on detailed considerations of different degrees of guilt.

On the other hand it is possible to confuse and torment children by stories of the exquisite delicacy of the consciences of the saints, as St. Aloysius, setting before them a standard that is beyond their comprehension or their degree of grace, and making them miserable because they cannot conform to it.

It is a great safeguard against sin to realize that duty must be done, at any cost, and that Christianity means self-denial and taking up the cross.

4. Thoughts of the four last things. True thoughts of death are not hard for children to grasp, to their unspoiled faith it is a simple and joyful thing to go to God.

Later on the dreary pageantry and the averted face of the world from that which is indeed its doom obscure the Christian idea, and the mind slips back to pagan grief, as if there were no life to come.

Thoughts of judgment are not so hard to give if the teaching is sincere and simple, free from exaggerations and phantoms of dread, and on the other hand clear from an incredulous protest against God’s holding man responsible for his acts.

But to give right thoughts of hell and heaven taxes the best resources of those who wish to lay foundations well, for they are to be foundations for life, and the two lessons belong together, corner-stones of the building, to stand in view as long as it shall stand and never to be forgotten.

The two lessons belong together as the final destiny of man, fixed by his own act, this or that. And they have to be taught with all the force and gravity and dignity which befits the subject, and in such a way that after years will find nothing to smile at and nothing to unlearn.

They have to be taught as the mind of the present time can best apprehend them, not according to the portraiture of medieval pictures, but in a language perhaps not more true and adequate in itself but less boisterous and more comprehensible to our self-conscious and introspective moods.

Father Faber’s treatment of these last things, hell and heaven, would furnish matter for instruction not beyond the understanding of those in their last years at school, and of a kind which if understood must leave a mark upon the mind for life.

Establishing clear-cut family rules requires complete agreement between father and mother. Few things disturb a child more than when his father establishes one standard of conduct and his mother makes continuous exceptions to it. Once a father and mother agree, neither should change the rules without consulting the other, or the child will not know what is expected of him. And both father and mother must share in enforcing them. – Rev. George Kelly, 1950’s

St. Anne Wire Wrapped Rosary! Lovely, Durable…

Each link handmade, wrapped around itself to ensure quality!

Available here.

book suggestions

To the modern mind, the concept of poverty is often confused with destitution. But destitution emphatically is not the Gospel ideal. A love-filled sharing frugality is the message, and Happy Are You Poor explains the meaning of this beatitude lived and taught by Jesus himself. But isn’t simplicity in lifestyle meant only for nuns and priests? Are not all of us to enjoy the goodness and beauties of our magnificent creation? Are parents to be frugal with the children they love so much?

For over half a century, Catholic families have treasured the practical piety and homespun wisdom of Mary Reed Newland’s classic of domestic spirituality, The Year and Our Children. With this new edition, no longer will you have to search for worn, dusty copies to enjoy Newland’s faithful insights, gentle lessons, and delightful stories. They’re all here, and ready to be shared with your family or homeschooling group. Here, too, you’ll find all the prayers, crafts, family activities, litanies, and recipes that will help make your children ever-mindful of the beautiful rhythm of the Church calendar.

A Good Teacher is Like a Gentle Spring

20 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by in Education, FF Tidbits

≈ 1 Comment

Marva Collins is famous for applying classical education successfully with impoverished students, many of whom had been wrongly labeled as learning disabled by public schools. She once wrote, “I have discovered few learning disabled students in my three decades of teaching. I have, however, discovered many, many victims of teaching inabilities.”

from Ordinary Children, Extraordinary Teachers by Marva Collins

A student is like a tree.

Teachers who spend more time talking about what children should know and what they cannot do are delaying the time when that child’s leaves can once again come into fruition.

Surely the harsh winter of some teachers may be the culprit, but pointing fingers won’t help the child who sits before you. This child will constantly be at risk in society until somewhere someone sees him or her as a blank sheet of paper on which the good teacher will do the writing.

The good teacher gives children the opportunity to have their past failures burned. They are given a new lease on life …a new opportunity to have the past die, never to be born-again.

Caring cannot be forced; it must come of its own accord. When a teacher cares enough to keep polishing, the shiny luster that all children have comes shining through.

Think for a moment about going into an antique shop where one views old silver. One person sees blackened metal and calls it worthless. Another viewer sees the blackened silver and realizes what it can become. With polishing, the true, fine luster comes shining through. The same silver existed all the time. The only difference is how the viewer saw its value and potential.

So it is with children. Without vision of what a child can become, his potential perishes.

The good teacher removes the layers of dead leaves left from a harsh winter of uncaring and gives the child the sweet breath of spring. . .a new life. Spring itself means new beginnings. . .new life.

marva

“To rear your child successfully, begin by resisting the first signs of evil inclinations and by sowing the first seeds of good in his soul. You can never pay too much attention to your child’s character formation in the first years. In this early period, the education of the child is based entirely on habits. On the parents depends the formation of either good or bad ones. To develop good habits in the little one is to prepare for him now the path he will follow as an adult.” -Education of Children, S. Hart

Painting by Marie Witte

 

We often don’t realize the impact of those lessons, those Catholic lessons, that are taught each day to our children. It is so much worth the effort! The signs of the cross, kneeling to say prayers, dipping fingers in holy water, laying fresh flowers at the statue of Our Lady, etc., etc. These are gold nuggets that will live on in your children’s lives. This is building Catholic Culture!

The following  books are to help you parents with those little things…..They are story books from my new little series, “Catholic Hearth Stories”. I wrote them especially for my grandchildren….and am sharing them with yours.

Catholic Hearth Stories are tales filled with traditional, old-fashioned values. They are about everyday situations in the life of a Catholic family…Tales about home, friends, fun, sacrifice, prayer, etc. These are full-color books sure to capture the heart of your children.

Each book is about 35 pages of full-color pictures that tell a lovely Catholic story. The ages they are appropriate for are approximately 4 – 12 years.

Celine’s Advent: Take a walk through Advent as Celine and her family prepare for the coming of the Baby Jesus at Christmas! You will enjoy celebrating the beauty of the season with Celine as she helps her mom with the special traditions and activities that make the liturgy come alive in their home! Her “peanut gallery” consists of a mouse named Percy and some charming and delightful Christmas Angels! They are sure to capture your heart!

Joseph and the Bow Shoot: Meet Joseph, a Catholic boy who wants to enter the Parish Bow Shoot but doesn’t have a bow. How does he overcome this obstacle and what lessons does he learn along the way?

Two Tea Parties and a Sacrifice: Meet Agnes, a fourteen-year-old Catholic girl, who is challenged to make a sacrifice. Will she cheerfully accept what she knows is God’s will in this situation?

Brendan, The Seafarer: It’s Brendan’s birthday and he is fighting pirates, steering ships and wielding swords! He learns of St. Brendan, the Navigator and the pious Christopher Columbus. Life is a nautical adventure for him! Will his daydreaming cause him trouble? What lessons does he learn?

Available here.  (Also sold individually)

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Sa

A book of your favorite litanies….

Chosen by God for the incomparable vocation of spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster father of Our Lord Jesus Christ; St. Joseph received magnificent divine graces and favors not granted even to the Old Testament Patriarchs. Known as the most humble of men; St. Joseph received from Almighty God the authority to command both Our Lady and the Son of God Himself; and in Heaven he continues to have great intercessory power with God.
The Divine Favors Granted to St. Joseph shows how this greatest of the Patriarchs is the patron of all Christians and how wonderfully he answers prayers; plus; it gives many of the ways of honoring him and many prayers to request his intercession. One of the finest books on St. Joseph; it will surely inspire the reader with a profound devotion to this great “Patron of the Universal Church.” Impr. 176 pgs;

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

“WHY I LIKE TEACHING” – The Catholic Teacher’s Companion

15 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by in Catholic Teacher's Companion, Education

≈ 1 Comment

Every mother and every father is a teacher. How important it is to have enthusiasm for this noble profession, in spite of the bumps, which inevitably follow our instructing footsteps.

What a legacy we leave behind!

This book was written at the turn of the 20th century for Catholic teaching nuns. It is called The Catholic Teacher’s Companion  – A book of Inspiration and Self-Help by Rev. Felix M. Kirsch, O.M.C. (1924). The lessons between the covers are valuable for parents, educators and all who work with children.

“WHY I LIKE TEACHING”

Our teachers may derive inspiration from the prize essay on this subject written by Mr. John Dixon, school superintendent of Columbus, Wisconsin:

“I like teaching because I like boys and girls, because I delight in having them about me, in talking with them, working with them, and in possessing their confidence and affection.

“I like teaching because the teacher works in an atmosphere of idealism, dealing with soul and heart, with ideas and ideals.

“I like teaching because of the large freedom it gives. There is abundance of room for original planning and initiative in the conduct of the work itself, and an unusual time margin of evenings, weekends, and vacations in which to extend one’s interests, personal and professional.

“I like teaching because the relation of teacher to learner in whatever capacity is one of the most interesting and delightful in the world.

Teaching is attractive because it i-poses a minimum of drudgery. Its day is not too long, and is so broken by intermissions, and so varied in its schedule of duties, as to exclude undue weariness or monotony. The program of each school-day is a new and interesting adventure.

“Teaching invites to constant growth and improvement. The teacher is in daily contact with books, magazines, and libraries, and all the most vital forces of thought and leadership, social and educational.

It is work that stimulates ambition and enhances personal worth. There is no greater developer of character to be found.

Also, teaching includes a wide range of positions and interests, extending from kindergarten to university, covering every section where schools are maintained and embracing every variety of effort, whether academic, artistic, industrial, commercial, agricultural or professional.

“There is no work in which men and women engage which more directly and fundamentally serves society and the state.

Teaching is the biggest and best profession in the state because it creates and molds the nation’s citizenship. It is the very foundation and mainstay of the national life.

“The true teacher is, and may well be, proud of the title, for his work is akin to that of the Master Builder, the creation of a temple not made with hands.”

In the following poem Mr. Louis Burton Woodward answers a question frequently asked but seldom as beautifully answered:

WHY I TEACH

Because I would be young in soul and mind

Though years must pass and age my life constrain,

And I have found no way to lag behind

The fleeting years, save by the magic chain

That binds me, youthful, to the youth I love,

I teach.

Because I would be wise and wisdom find

From millions gone before whose torch I pass,

Still burning bright to light the paths that wind

So steep and rugged, for each lad and lass

Slow-climbing to the Heights above,

I teach.

Because in passing on the living flame

That ever brighter burns the ages through,

I have done service that is worth the name

Can I but say, “The flame of knowledge grew

A little brighter in the hands I taught,”

I teach.

Because I know that when life’s end I reach

And thence pass through the gates so wide and deep

To what I do not know, save what priests teach,

That the remembrance of me men will keep

Is what I’ve done; and what I have is naught,

I teach.

To preserve and increase her first love for teaching the Sister must be on her guard lest her interest in her work be based on other than idealistic grounds.

It is only with an enthusiasm based upon these grounds that she will be able to bear the thousand disappointments that every teacher is heir to.

But with an abiding love for teacher all labor will be light: Ubi amatur, non laboratur; aut si laboratur, labor amatur—”Where there is love, there is no labor; or if there be labor, it will be a labor of love.”

The teacher imbued with deep-seated enthusiasm for her profession will not think of the school-room as a field to work in, but as a force to work with.

“The study of Religion should be a regular part of the curriculum and taught just as thoroughly as Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and other subjects.

The child gains a deep and reverent understanding of the principles of his faith, and practicing his religion becomes second nature to him.

Parents who believe that Sunday School instruction is adequate for a religious education would protest vigorously if their child were instructed only one hour each week in geography, history or some other subject of considerably less importance in the long view.” -Fr. George Kelly, Catholic Family Handbook https://amzn.to/2ovgHpU (afflink)

REVIEW: “The quality & workmanship of this crocheted doily is superb! And the beauty even more so–I am so happy to be able to purchase a handmade doily just as lovely as my grandma used to make…” Available here.

Drawing on the experience of dozens of saints, Fr. Plus explains sure ways we can recollect ourselves before prayer so that once we begin to pray, our prayers will be richer and more productive; he teaches us how to practice interior silence habitually, even in the rush and noise of the world; and he explains each of the kinds of prayer and shows when we should and should not employ each.

We all pray, but few of us pray well. And although that’s troubling, few of us have found a spiritual director capable of leading us further along the path of prayer.

Fr. Raoul Plus, S.J., is such a director, and reading this little book about the four types of prayer will be for you like hearing the voice of the wise and gentle counsellor you long for but can’t find: one who knows your soul well and understands its needs.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

The Spirit and Personality of the Teacher (Part Two)

26 Wednesday Aug 2020

Posted by in Catholic Teacher's Companion, Education

≈ 2 Comments

Photo from the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

This book was written at the turn of the 20th century for Catholic teaching nuns. It is called The Catholic Teacher’s Companion  – A book of Inspiration and Self-Help by Rev. Felix M. Kirsch, O.M.C. (1924). The lessons between the covers are valuable for parents, educators and all who work with children.

Part One is here.

MODERN IRRELIGION

Especially in these latter days when religion has been crowded almost entirely even out of Catholic homes, must we turn to our Catholic teachers to imbue our children with a deeply religious spirit.

The Catholic teacher must largely take, in this regard, the place of a Catholic mother. The children in our schools must therefore not be put on starvation diet, getting but little bits and scraps now and then, but must wax strong on wholesome, substantial spiritual nourishment, and must, above all, breathe continually the ozone of a truly religious atmosphere.

Now, who will charge the classroom with religious influences if not the Sister who there presides? And how can she do so unless she first of all has been fully charged with this spirit?

It is an old-time truism, Nemo dat quod non habet—”No man can give that which he has not himself.” Teachers cannot impart what they themselves do not possess: For they must have the truth themselves, If they the truth would teach.

We shall realize the urgency of this problem when we consider how much of the temporal and eternal welfare of the pupils depends upon the teacher’s example and instruction:

A pebble on the streamlet bank

Has shaped the course of many a river,

A dewdrop on the baby plant

May warp the giant oak forever.

The teacher is unconsciously an object lesson to her pupils. From morning till evening occasions are constantly arising that will put to the test her patience, her gentleness, her prudence, her charity, her self-control, and a number of other virtues which are the natural offspring of a good religious character.

Nor is it simply in the more important actions of the day, when she is supposed to be more on her guard, that she will thus have a chance to reveal herself, but even in the most minute actions, in her every stir, and look, and word, and gesture, even in the very tone of her voice, will she proclaim whether she is a deeply spiritual woman or still amenable chiefly to natural and human impulses.

Corresponding impressions and lasting impressions, favorable or unfavorable, will naturally be produced on those who are the constant witnesses for years of every detail of her conduct. All this calls, on the part of the teacher, for unceasing efforts of self-education.

The teacher, however, who does not consider self-education and self-improvement part of her daily task, can never hope to understand the import of the education of others. The fundamental aspect of the matter was grasped by the devout and relatively unlearned religious teacher whose motto was “Since to make saints is my mission, I must be a saint myself.”

We gladly admit that, all else being equal, the teacher of religion, for instance, who knows a great deal about biology and child psychology and dogmatic theology has an ad-vantage over her learned sister; but there is not one of us who, commissioned to select a teacher of religion for a given class, would prefer a biologist or a theologian to a zealous and unassuming saint.

We all realize that the best woman to teach religion is the woman who lives religion, and that though her methods be antiquated or uncertain she still has a power in the Catholic school because she is possessed of the spirit of religion and the spirit of Jesus Christ.

THE TEACHER’S MAINSTAY

But it is not only for the sake of her pupils that the teacher must cultivate a deeply religious spirit. She needs this spirit for herself. Only great women can weather the great storms of the soul. And the great women are they who cherish the high aspirations, the visioning dreams, the deep yearnings that spring from religion.

Religion must be the mainspring of the teacher’s life. What the spring is for the watch, that religion must be for her life. Of what use a gold case, a jeweled set of works, artistic engravings, etc., if the spring be missing, or broken?

Professor Frederick Paulsen, though not a Catholic, confesses that a truly religious life is the only foundation of assured peace of soul. And the celebrated educationist, Frederick William Foerster, admits that Christ Crucified is the best solution of a teacher’s difficulties. But a greater Teacher than these has said.: “Cast all your care on Him, for He hath care of you.”

It might be well for the teacher to give special attention to what St. Francis of Sales calls the little virtues: humility, patience, meekness, benignity, bearing one another’s burdens, condescension, mildness of heart, cheerfulness, cordiality, compassion, forgiving injuries, candor, and simplicity.

Would that all our teachers would practice the virtue mentioned last, in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi! Yes, Franciscan simplicity would mean the end of so many needless worries.

Here is a teacher breaking her head over many problems. The Superior seems to be displeased with her. The Pastor, too, evidently has a bone to pick with her. Then, one of the Sisters did not greet her this morning with her usual cordiality. Many of the pupils are likewise, as it seems, losing confidence in her. And so the weary list continues, and robs the distressed Sister of all her peace of soul.

St. Francis was not disturbed by any such vanities. He would under the circumstances regard his Superior with the same reverence as before. He would cooperate with the Pastor as though nothing had happened. He would treat his fellow-Religious with the same brotherliness as heretofore.

He would continue to regard the pupils with ever increasing affection. He would, in a word, be disturbed by nothing. He would continue ever the same Brother Joy. For in his eyes all was infinitely simple.

Let the teacher act likewise. Let her not bother about others, but be herself. There will always be some to approve and some to disapprove, no matter what she does or does not do. In all her needs the religious teacher should have recourse to prayer.

Sr. M. Giralomo, a successful teacher of teachers, was in the habit of telling the candidates for the profession: “A Christian teacher should speak a hundred times as much to God about her pupils, as to her pupils about God.”

Another teacher worded the same advice thus: “When in doubt play trumps.” One with God is a majority, and as long as the Sister prays she need fear no difficulties no matter how formidable.

Shakespeare paid his tribute, in Measure for Measure, to the potency of the Sister’s prayer:

Not with fond shekels of the tested gold,

Or stones, whose rates are either rich or poor

As fancy values them: but with true prayers,

That shall be up at heaven, and enter there,

Ere sunrise: prayers from preserved souls,

From fasting maids, whose minds are delicate

To nothing temporal.

Yes, the praying School Sister is a wonderful power for good, and her influence endures long after her boys and girls have passed out of her schoolroom. It is she who inspires letters like the one written by a soldier-boy on the eve of his departure from France: DEAR SISTER:

I have seen much of the evil side of life. I have come close to things that you know nothing of. But I want to tell you that I haven’t done one thing of which you would be ashamed.

The memory of such a Sister has been the mainstay of thousands of men and women fighting the grim battle of life. Hence we do not find it strange that a British Inspector of Schools expressed his conviction that “it would be ideal if all England could be taught by nuns.”

If our Catholic young men and women, who are aiming to lead a virtuous celibate life in the world, understood how much spiritual comfort, strength and consolation they would derive from the monastic or conventual life, by consecrating themselves to it in lowliness of mind and uprightness of heart, our monasteries and convents would not have to be clamoring for candidates to do the work of God and religion they are most eager to do, much of which must be left undone because of the lack of laborers. -Rev. Fulgence Meyer, 1924, Painting Ferdinand Georg Walmuller, 1700’s

Beautiful Blessed Mother Wire Wrapped Rosary! Lovely, Durable…

Each link is handmade and wrapped around itself to ensure quality. Available here.

This booklet contains practical advice on the subjects of dating and choosing a spouse from the Catholic theological viewpoint. Father Lovasik points out clearly what one’s moral obligations are in this area, providing an invaluable aid to youthful readers. Additionally, he demonstrates that Catholic marriage is different from secular marriage and why it is important to choose a partner who is of the Catholic Faith if one would insure his or her personal happiness in marriage. With the rampant dangers to impurity today, with the lax moral standards of a large segment of our society, with divorce at epidemic levels, Clean Love in Courtship will be a welcome source of light and guidance to Catholics serious about their faith.

Save

Save

Sav
A Frank, Yet Reverent Instruction on the Intimate Matters of Personal Life for Young Men. To our dear and noble Catholic youths who have preserved, or want to recover, their purity of heart, and are minded to retain it throughout life. For various reasons many good fathers of themselves are not able to give their sons this enlightenment on the mysteries of life properly and sufficiently. They may find this book helpful in the discharge of their parental responsibilities in so delicate a matter.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

Self-Reliance & Reverence – The Catholic Teacher’s Companion

12 Friday Jun 2020

Posted by in Catholic Teacher's Companion, Education, Parenting, Virtues

≈ 1 Comment

This book was written at the turn of the 20th century for Catholic teaching nuns. It is called The Catholic Teacher’s Companion  – A book of Inspiration and Self-Help by Rev. Felix M. Kirsch, O.M.C. (1924). The lessons between the covers are valuable for parents, educators and all who work with children.

SELF-RELIANCE

The children of today must be trained to stand on their own feet. The temptations of the present age are so numerous, and the moral support that the young people receive from their environment is all too often practically nil so that the pupils must upon leaving school he fortified to stand four-square to all the winds that blow.

Here again the teacher’s personality is an important factor. If her life and conduct are governed by the teachings of Christ, if she acts on principle and is not subject to the whims of the moment, she may hope to make true Catholic men and women of her boys and girls.

Our age needs boys and girls who have back-bone enough to lead Catholic lives amid frightful temptations, who are trained to practice virtue and shun vice even if the watchful eye of the teacher, priest, or parent is not observing them. But they cannot be trained to such independence of conscience if the teachers will not give their pupils more liberty as they grow up to the beginning of manhood and womanhood.

Put your pupils therefore on their honor; give them motives other than working for good marks and gold medals; let them obey and be industrious at their books because they will thus serve their own best interests.

Teach them the principles of manhood, and give them opportunities to translate these principles into their daily lives. In the higher grades of the elementary school and throughout the high school the teacher has many opportunities for allowing her pupils scope for the exercise of self-reliance. But even in the primary grades she should be on the alert to train the pupils to be self-active.

When assigning tasks, she should afford opportunities for the pupils’ initiative; for instance, when giving themes for compositions, or when controlling the reading of authors. She may also train the pupils to self-reliance by encouraging them to make collections of stamps, plants, insects, bugs, butterflies, etc.

Another means for training them to be self-reliant is to encourage them to tutor some of the weaker pupils of the class. By placing mite boxes for the missions or by starting a school savings bank, she will encourage her pupils to make sacrifices of their own accord, and to deny themselves the enjoyment of sweets or the use of tobacco.

It goes without saying that the campus and the playground offer untold possibilities for the development of self-reliance, and the teacher should make her influence felt in this direction also.

The charge is sometimes made that boys brought up in orphan asylums fail as soon as they are given the liberties of the world. The boys will undoubtedly fail if they have not been trained to use the liberties aright.

Though guarded scrupulously against all that might prove a temptation, they are not prepared for the battle that is unavoidable in the world at large, and hence in their later lives are at the mercy of the snares that beset their path on every side.

The boys and girls attending our schools are exposed to dangers enough, but what must be insisted upon is that they be trained in self-help for the greater struggle that is certain to be theirs.

Let them be taught the practice of living in the presence of God. Let their minds be impressed with the idea that we all are soldiers, that life is a warfare, where each must face for himself the eternal enemy of our souls and his accomplices among wicked men and in our own lower nature.

Men keep sacred the memory of those teachers of their boyhood days who appealed to them to be little men, little soldiers against the devil and his wily temptations. Act in this way with your pupils, and in their adult lives they may be bruised and scarred in many a battle, but they will bless the memory of their teachers for training them to stand to their guns.

It might be mentioned in this connection that the teacher should not neglect to train her pupils’ sense of honor. She will do this most effectively by giving praise and blame in just proportion. She must use praise and blame more frequently with very young pupils, as they are not capable of judging themselves, and have no standard other than the teacher’s word for evaluating their work or conduct. But the more mature pupil must be habituated to perform his tasks out of a sense of duty.

While a judicious admixture of praise and blame will probably produce the best results, we feel safe in saying that praise is, on the whole, more effective than blame.

REVERENCE

Educators are complaining quite generally about the decay of reverence among young people. There is therefore need for training our pupils to practice reverence. They should learn to reverence their fellow-men, who are made after the image of God, and are prospective citizens of heaven.

They should be taught to reverence themselves as being temples of the Holy Ghost. They owe special reverence to their father and mother; to their teachers, who are their foster-parents; and to their priests, who are their fathers in God.

The reverence that our pupils owe to their superiors is grounded on the principle that human authority takes the place of God among men.

Special laws were passed in ancient Sparta to enforce the reverence due to the aged. When an aged man entered the room, a youth who might happen to be present had to give up his seat to him, and was not permitted to speak except when asked.

At Athens an old man came into the theater after all places had been taken, yet none of his fellow-citizens offered him a seat. But when he approached the Spartan ambassadors, they all arose to offer him a seat in the most honored place.

The Athenians applauded the respect of the Spartans, but one in the audience remarked truly enough: “Though the Athenians know what is right, they fail to practice it.”

Reverence, like all other virtues, must be taught by doctrine, practice, and example. Teachers should inculcate reverence by practicing it toward their pupils.

A Latin proverb tells us, Maxima debetur puero reverentia, “We owe very great reverence to the child.”

Every teacher must therefore in her own conduct be a model of politeness and refinement. She must, indeed, demand respect for herself, but if the precept is reinforced by her own refined demeanor and due reverence for all, she will undoubtedly receive universal respect.

She must, therefore, be courteous when asking pupils for service, and must not neglect to acknowledge their kindness. Thus she will prepare the way for insisting that the pupils, too, should be courteous to one another.

This will require special efforts in the case of boys as it is not ignorance or that is generally responsible for their bad manners, but merely the dread of being considered a “sissy” by the “other fellows.”

Punctuality exacts self-discipline and detachment; it often asks us to interrupt some interesting, pleasant work in order to give ourselves to another kind, perhaps less attractive or less important.
However, it would be a great mistake to esteem our duties and to dedicate ourselves to them according to the attraction we have for them or according to their more or less apparent importance.
All is important and beautiful when it is the expression of the will of God, and the soul who wishes to live in this hole he will every minute of the day, will never omit the slightest act prescribed by its rule of life. -Divine Intimacy

Package Speciall! The Catholic Wife’s Maglet and The Catholic Young Lady’s Maglet….
Dear Catholic Wives, The following pages are for you…to inspire you in your daily walk as a Godly, feminine, loving wife. As wives, we have a unique calling, a calling that causes us to reach into our innermost being in order to give ourselves to our husbands the way Christ would desire. As we learn in Finer Femininity, we, as women, have the awesome responsibility AND power to make or break our marriages and our relationships. Let’s not wait to fix it after it is broken. The principles laid out in this maglet will work if we work them. It is all about self-sacrifice, submission, thankfulness, kindness, graciousness, etc. The world around us teaches the opposite and it is so easy for us to slip into this mindset. Let us use Our Lady as our model and learn the virtues of true womanhood.

Catholic Young Lady’s Maglet:
This Maglet (magazine/booklet) is for you…dear young (and not-so-young), Catholic, Feminine Soul. It is a compilation of traditional, valuable Catholic articles on the subjects that touch the hearts of serious-minded Catholic young ladies. There are articles on courtship, purity, singleness, vocation, prayer, confession, friends, tea parties, obedience, etc. This information is solid, written by orthodox Catholic writers (most of them gone to their eternal home) that cared about the proper formation of a young Catholic adult in a confused world. Take this information to heart and your journey through adulthood will be filled with many blessings! It is 40 pages, packed with information. See photo for Table of Contents.
My Disclaimer: This book is, in general, appropriate for ages 14 and up.

Available here.

Women historically have been denigrated as lower than men or viewed as privileged. Dr. Alice von Hildebrand characterizes the difference between such views as based on whether man’s vision is secularistic or steeped in the supernatural. She shows that feminism’s attempts to gain equality with men by imitation of men is unnatural, foolish, destructive, and self-defeating. The Blessed Mother’s role in the Incarnation points to the true privilege of being a woman. Both virginity and maternity meet in Mary who exhibits the feminine gifts of purity, receptivity to God’s word, and life-giving nurturance at their highest.

You’ll learn how to grow in wisdom and in love as you encounter the unglamorous, everyday problems that threaten all marriages. As the author says: If someone were to give me many short bits of wool, most likely I would throw them away. A carpet weaver thinks differently. He knows the marvels we can achieve by using small things artfully and lovingly. Like the carpet weaver, the good wife must be an artist of love. She must remember her mission and never waste the little deeds that fill her day the precious bits of wool she s been given to weave the majestic tapestry of married love.

This remarkable book will show you how to start weaving love into the tapestry of your marriage today, as it leads you more deeply into the joys of love.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

Purity, Humility – The Catholic Teacher’s Companion

21 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by in Catholic Teacher's Companion, Education, Virtues

≈ 2 Comments

This is an excerpt taken from a treasure of a book published in 1924 called The Catholic Teacher’s Companion – A Book of Inspiration and Self-Help.

I found and bought this particular leather-bound old book at a Catholic garage sale and am sharing some of it with you today. It spoke to me…as we are all teachers, whether it is of our own children, those around us or a teacher in an actual school.

It was originally written for teaching Sisters….

PURITY

This is a virtue which the teacher has much at heart, and yet she may often be puzzled about the best means for inculcating it.

The Rev. Dr. John M. Cooper has therefore rendered a real service not only to our young people but to our teachers as well by treating the delicate subject so very well in his book, Play Fair.

In order to induce the teacher to take up the book, we shall quote a few passages from the chapter on Purity.

“And God created man to His own image: to the image of God He created him: male and female He created them.”

We are men and proud of it. But God, who treats us as men, not as babies, expects us to play the man’s part. God trusts us. He puts us on our honor in the field of purity as in other fields of our lives.

Our sex nature and powers were given us as a sacred trust for the founding of homes and the protection and upbringing of helpless and defenseless childhood. Around these things cluster like stars many of the glories of life, above all, the hallowed name of mother.

But purity, fallen and dragged in the slimy sewers of sin, turns into something more hideous than rotting leprosy. “Here is a champion swimmer. Look at his broad massive shoulders, his deep chest, his muscles of iron.

Every stroke of his mighty crawl drives him through the water with engine – like force. Trained to the very pink of condition, his sun-tanned, brawny, robust body is a sight that makes you glad to look upon.

One day he ventures out in the river too near the falls, is sucked into its powerful draw, and is swept over the brink. A week later there floats up to the surface from down in the depths a bloated Thing with glassy, mud-filmed eyes, reeking with the stench of decomposition.

So changes purity sucked into the draw of sin.

“Be a man, and chaste,” challenged the old pagan writer. And a modern poet has put a still more stirring challenge into the mouth of the noblest of the knights of poetry, Sir Galahad:

My strong blade carves the casks of men:

My stiff lance thrusteth sure.

My strength is as the strength of ten,

Because my heart is pure.

“Your body is like a frisky, spirited colt or bronco. Treat it kindly and fairly and it will carry you galloping toward your goal in life. Give it a chance. But do not let it throw you or run away with you. Make good in the bronco-busting game. Either you must break the bronco, or the bronco will break you.

Any mollycoddle can get himself thrown over a horse’s head. It takes a man to break in a worthwhile colt.

Be a man, and chaste!”

“Unchaste thoughts and images will come at times, invited or without an invitation. Three things will help keep them out or shoo them away.

First, keep busy—with hobbies, collections, pets, sports, athletics, live games, books with much action in them, anything. It will be time to mope and daydream when you are ninety years old. Keep on your toes.

Secondly, if wrong thoughts come, say a short prayer to Our Lord, His Blessed Mother, your Guardian Angel, then turn your attention to some of the things just mentioned and in which you are interested.

Thirdly, stick to frequent Confession and Communion, weekly if possible. Be master of your thoughts and your tongue as well as of your body. Otherwise a boy becomes master of neither and the cringing flunkey of both.”

HUMILITY

Humility is the foundation of all virtuous living, and hence is of basic importance for character training. The normal child is predisposed to humility, as may be seen from the words of Christ wherewith He made the humility of the child the condition for entering into heaven: “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven.”

But if the teacher should discover that a pupil is conceited, she must set about to correct the defect.

In the first place, she will insist on prompt obedience. She will also insist on the child’s showing proper respect to all his superiors.

  1. W. Foerster maintains that it is important in this connection for the children to arise when their elders address them, never to interrupt the conversation of their elders, and not to sing or whistle in their presence.

Religious education offers still more helpful means. The habit of prayer, insistence on original sin with its tragic consequences, consideration of our many sins and frailties, proper preparation for Confession and Communion—all these are means to impress upon the child the need of deep humility, and afford him an opportunity for practicing this very important virtue.

However, while training, her pupils to humility the teacher must be on her guard lest she teach them diffidence and faint-heartedness instead of humility.

Outside of religious motives, there is, indeed, no set of principles that will safely guide her pupils in observing the golden mean between pride and faint-heartedness.

The wisdom and training you give to your child will determine the outcome. It is not the time to give in to weariness, indifference, laziness or careless neglect. Their souls are in your hands…. Painting by Tasha Tudor

Religious Pendant and Earring Sets…Wire-Wrapped, Handcrafted

Available here.

book suggestions

Marva Collins offers a beacon of hope in the midst of America’s educational crises. MARVA COLLINS’ WAY recounts Marva Collins’ successful teaching strategies and offers inspirational advice on how to motivate children to fulfill their potential…

 

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.