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May Procession 2010

Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:49:01 +0000

May Procession 2010

We had a beautiful day yesterday with five First Holy Communions and our annual May Procession. The school children have central roles in the procession, during which four statues are crowned. Our Lady is truly the Queen of our Hearts! Keep “reading” for pictures from this event.

The Christian Training of Children – Co-operation with Pastor and Teacher

Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:22:16 +0000

Table of contents for Mother Love

Little Book of Instructions for Christian Mothers [continued]
(from Mother Love – A Manual for Christian Mothers – by Rev. Pius Franciscus, O.M.Cap., 1926)

On the Christian Training of Children

A well-earned treat after climbing the 294 stairs of the Bunker Hill Monument

Chapter XI. – A Christian Mother’s Co-operation with Pastor and Teacher

The first aids of a mother in her arduous task of properly rearing her children are derived from the sacramental grace of matrimony. They come to her in the form of supernatural inspirations, interior counsels, admonitions and encouragements. Besides these there are also external aids, among which the father of her little ones holds the first place; then we may add older brothers and sisters and servants of the household. All of these, if good and virtuous, will at least exert a morally educative influence by their good example and by occasional admonitions. In a wider sense the whole environment of the child, made up of playmates, relatives, friends and school companions, collaborate with the mother in the moral and intellectual development of the child. Indeed, even such who speak unfavorably of the qualities of her boy or girl, may be considered as a help in this task, because through their seemingly unkind criticism the mother frequently becomes aware of some fault or faults in the children, which might never be detected by her. But by far the most powerful external aid she derives from the pastor of the parish and from the child’s teacher at school

Happy to be Our Lady's flower girls

Church and school are, indeed, powerful aids; but they cannot do the whole work, they can merely help. The principal work must be done at home, as well in the matter of instruction as particularly in the matter of discipline.

The education of the child should begin in mother’s arms. Mother should even at this early stage direct the child’s attention to the external objects, which may be perceived with the eyes, the ears or the touch, and thus inaugurate the development of the external senses. As the child grows older, she should assist it in expanding its circle of observation, with patient interest listen to its questioning, and be willing to satisfy its awakening curiosity by answering according to the truth and according to the child’s mental capacity. The words the child tries to enunciate, she should strive to have it pronounce as exactly and distinctly as possible, especially such as make up forms of prayer, even though the child does not understand them. The good God understands His little child of grace and the Holy Ghost gives it a modicum of perception, through which the child learns to love the holy words it speaks. Gradually the child will acquire through its associations and environment a knowledge of many visible things and conditions, and also a greater knowledge of God, of Christ, of the Blessed Virgin, of the saints, and of may truths of our Holy Faith. In this way the foundation is laid upon which the school will erect a still greater edifice of learning and knowledge. In this way the child’s interest has been roused and, when the schooldays arrive, the child listens eagerly, attentively and intelligently to the teachings of priest and teacher, and to the joy of its parents, it makes rapid progress in all its schoolwork.

Graduating Class of 2009 (in third grade)

During its years at school the child should be allowed sufficient time to study its lessons and perform its homework. The parents should carefully supervise these home-lessons, and urge the child to apply itself to all its studies. The parents should also examine the child in its memory-work and from time to time inquire from its teacher regarding its attention and deportment in school. According to these reports the parents should either praise or reprimand and even punish the child if milder means produce no improvement. The child should as far as possible never miss school. Indeed, parents should strive to teach the child to love attending the school by encouraging words and occasional rewards for faithful attendance. After the day’s work is done the child should be allowed to enjoy itself in innocent games and recreations. And just as the love for school must be instilled into the child so also the love of church attendance should be encouraged by every possible means; and it should be urged to attend [M]ass not only on school-days but also on free days, but especially on Sundays and feastdays of obligation.

The discipline which is demanded from the child at school, must be an object of attention at home also, and a mother should assist the pastor and teacher in upholding that discipline. Neither pastor nor teacher will accomplish very much, if children have not been taught a high regard for their authority. Hence a mother should inculcate a deep reverence for the priest and teacher in the hearts of her little ones. She should make it plain to them, that just as the parents represent the authority of God and in the name of God must exact reverence, love and obedience, so also the priest and the teacher, being in school and church the substitutes of the parents, are entitled to the same reverence, love and obedience. She should also in her own words and deeds manifest the esteem which she teaches them to have for priest and teacher; she should never tolerate from her children nor in their presence from any one else any kind of slurring remarks or reproaches against the priest or teacher. Just as there must be no discord between father and mother, so also there must be no apparent differences between the parents and the proper authorities in school and church.

Consultation . . .

Whenever differences do occur, they should be amicably settled and should never be argued in the presence of the children. Only by such mutual helpfulness, harmony and cooperation, will the best interests of the child be served and its temporal and eternal welfare by safeguarded.

Parents and children should pray for each other and for the priest and the teacher, just as priest and teacher will pray for them. Indeed, through earnest prayer for relief in each other’s needs mutual affection will be upheld, peace will be maintained and harmony will be promoted. Through prayer for each other we bring upon our efforts the blessings of God, the grace to conquer temptation and the fortitude to combat all obstacles. Briefly we may affirm that united prayers are the source of every spiritual success as well as the condition of the means to obtain the desired results according to the words of our Divine Teacher Himself who said: wherever two or three are united in prayer, they will obtain all they ask for.

A Christian mother must never send her children to a school where the belief in God and His commandments are not taught, where the doctrines of Christ are not accepted, nor Christ Himself is recognized as the Son of God, where Christian principles are made subservient to the principles of the world.

Graduate of 2007 with her grandparents

When you send your children to such a school, you are endangering the salvation of their souls, even though such a school may have otherwise the reputation of solid learning. The worldly advantages of such a neutral school may, indeed, be of great benefit to the future temporal well-being of your children, but the danger threatening their spiritual welfare should be the determining factor, and no truly Christian parents will let merely worldly consideration influence the choice of a school for their children. In the choice of a school mother and father should be determined by the words of Christ: “What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?”

Still circumstances may exist which practically force parents to send their children to a non-religious and neutral school. In this case the parents should investigate the spirit of that school. If it is not antagonistic to positive religion, if there need be no fear for faith or morality, and if the bishop or the pastor also approves the school under the existing conditions, parents may decide to send their children there; but they should also provide in some way for adequate instructions in religion, when they must send their boys and girls to such a school. If the school is downright irreligious or heretical, they should never send the children to it. If parents are at liberty to choose from different good schools, we would earnestly advise them to choose the school where religion and Christian disciple pervades the whole atmosphere, even though the children may not learn so much there as in another.

To be continued . . .

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The Christian Training of Children – Combating Pride

Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:19:14 +0000

Table of contents for Mother Love

Little Book of Instructions for Christian Mothers [continued]
(from Mother Love – A Manual for Christian Mothers – by Rev. Pius Franciscus, O.M.Cap., 1926)

Looking at science projects

On the Christian Training of Children

Chapter VI. - How the Christian Mother Should Combat Pride in Her Child.

In the last two chapters I have briefly pointed out how a Christian Mother may successfully counteract in a child its inborn lust of the eyes and of the flesh. The means recommended are, indeed, effective but not infallible, unless the mother will reenforce [sic] her instructions, her admonitions and her corrections by the mortification of her own evil inclinations and by presenting to her children in her own daily life an example of self-denial and restraint. Teaching and good example are practically certain of producing favorable results under the grace of God. In the present chapter I shall give a more detailed instruction on the manner of combating the third concupiscence, called by St. John the pride of life. The conquering of this concupiscence is more difficult, because the sins caused by it, seemingly contain something elevating and pure, although they are more offensive to God and more destructive to the soul. Some pious author distinguished the lust of the eyes as a human fault, the lust of the flesh as a bestial aberration, but the pride of life as a hellish, a devilish guilt. Pride is, indeed, the worst of the three concupiscences and must, therefore, be combated just as relentlessly as the other two.

St. Michael the Archangel with the cry-Who is like to God-drove the bad angels out of heaven and out of the company of the good angels. In the same manner a Christian Mother should contemplate the dignity and majesty of God, and remember His rightful claim upon our worship and submission; hence like St. Michael she must not relax in her efforts, until the devil of pride is cast out of the heart of her child, and the child itself, strengthened in earnest piety, has become an angel of humility and modesty, of obedience and good deportment.

The first visible sign of pride in a child is wilfulness [sic]. In combating it, the mother must, indeed, manifest a knowing and prudent love which never connives at a child’s contrariness or humors its exhibitions of obstinacy. The child may weep and cry, it may fuss and stomp its feet-the more unruly it conducts itself, the more the mother must ignore it. Such treatment will soon put an end to its noisy demonstrations, and the child will gradually show a more tractable disposition. Then also insist on immediate and prompt obedience. “A good child must obey quickly.”

Shut the Door - a skit performed by the 7th & 8th grades for Saint Patrick's Day

Irreverence, stubborness [sic] and insubordination must not be tolerated. A command given by father or mother, must be carried out, and the child that will not obey, should be banished from the table and from the presence of father and mother and no conciliatory countenance be turned to it until it has fulfilled the will of its parents. Certainly the directions and the commands of father and mother must not exceed the limitations of the child; they should be reasonable and well-considered, and be given with dignified earnestness, in brief and gentle words, and with perceptible marks of affection. Children should be taught to obey cheerfully to please their parents; they should obey conscientiously, whether they be observed or not, because Jesus Christ gave the example of obedience, because parents are representatives of God, because the will of the parents is the will of God, because obedience or disobedience to them is obedience or disobedience to God, and therefore will be rewarded or punished by God.

Considerate and affectionate demands on the part of the parents, and ready, cheerful obedience on the part of the children are the foundation stones of a good education. When, therefore, a good education is not achieved it is usually due to some defect in the exercise of parental authority or in the observance of filial submission. Generally speaking, the greatest fault is on the side of the parents. Children are so completely dependent on their parents, that they must practically obey, if the parents earnestly insist upon it. When the children are disobedient, disrespectful, bold and spiteful, there is no other cause but lack of firmness and enforcement of parental rights. In every Christian family one principle must always stand forth in the fullness of its meaning, namely: Not the will of the children is law, but the children must obey the will of the parents without exception and without contradiction.

Another St. Patrick's Day skit

Other manifestations of pride are meddlesomeness, lying, and an assumption of cleverness and wisdom. Among girls are to be found especially dissimulation, self-love, vanity and conceit. A child must be trained to be truthful and sincere in its words and its conduct, and simple and modest in all its dealings with others. Whatever good it may possess, it should consider an undeserved gift of God, for which it must be grateful, and of the use of which it must some day render a strict account. The child’s attention should be called to its own shortcomings, and at the same [time] be directed to the good qualities of others, to the virtues of the saints and to the perfections of God, so that it may learn to think lowly of itself and willingly humble itself before others.

Pride shows itself also in quarrelsomeness, in lording it over others, and in vengefulness. Among boys, in particular, we also find as a fruit of pride a certain spirit of independence which brooks no restraint, and ambition that tolerates no rivalry, and a coarseness of feeling that borders on brutality. All these qualities are evidences of a hard heart and must be corrected with a firm hand; and, if no improvement is observed, mother and father should even resort to severe corporal punishment.

After the child’s natural roughness has been pretty well polished off in this manner, it must also be taught to get rid of its sensitiveness or touchiness and to conquer its natural aversions or dislikes. The wonderful example of Christ should constantly be kept before its mind, especially His patient endurance of all kinds of injuries, His imperturbably meekness and mildness and His everready [sic] willingness to forgive His enemies and traducers for whom He even prayed after they nailed Him to the Cross. Surely this example will have a powerful influence over the impressionable child-mind and inspire the child to earnest efforts of imitation.

Immaculate Heart of Mary - The high school classroom statue

The worst fruits of human pride are sins against God Himself, namely, indifference to religion and religious practices. These manifest themselves by repeated neglect of divine service, particularly, of the Holy Sacrifice of Mass, by irreverent conduct in Church and at devotional exercises, by desecration of the Lord’s Day and feast days of obligation, by superstitious observances and mockery of religion, by ridiculing the veneration of the saints, their pictures and relics, by cursing and sinful taking of oaths and such other sins against the three first commandments of the decalogue. Indifference towards God and all that relates to Him is, indeed, at the bottom of man’s perversity as of all sin, and only in so far as this indifference can be rooted out, can the heart of man be remodeled and the image of the Divinity be restored in him. Hence the principal efforts must be directed towards this purpose and parents must never cease till they have implanted into the hearts of their children a sincere love of God and a salutary filial fear of Him, till they have awakened in them an ardent zeal for His honor and glory and an eager, joyous readiness to live according to His Will. In this matter, particularly, parents must give a good example, so that the child may see that they themselves are sincerely and truly religious.

The parents must also carefully observe the child at its prayers, never condone any fault in the recital of them, immediately correct any faulty pronunciation of the names of God or of the saints, and, in general, supervise its conduct in all matters pertaining to religion and its practices. Faults and sins against the first three commandments must not be considered lightly and should be earnestly reprehended and, if necessary, more severely punished than faults and sins against any other commandment. The degree of firmness with which parents persist in their efforts to educate and train their children in the proper reverence towards God and religion, will naturally depend upon the degree of esteem in which they hold their dignity as representatives of God and guardians of His honor; the more they realize the dignity of their position, the more they will uphold and defend the rights of God.

To be continued . . .

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The Christian Training of Children – Combating Concupiscence of the Eyes

Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:48:05 +0000

Table of contents for Mother Love

Little Book of Instructions for Christian Mothers [continued]
(from Mother Love – A Manual for Christian Mothers – by Rev. Pius Franciscus, O.M.Cap., 1926)

On the Christian Training of Children

We should see the goodness of God in everything!

Chapter V. - How the Christian Mother Should Combat the Concupiscence of the Eyes in Her Child.

The second evil propensity, the concupiscence of the eyes, is the inordinate pleasure in things which attract the eye, such as riches, clothes, houses, furniture, etc. Holy Scripture says: “What doth it profit the owner of riches, except to feast his eyes on them?” Ecclesiasticus, ch. 5, v. 10.

The child must be made to realize that it had, properly speaking, nothing of its own, that everything belongs to its parents. The things a child receives from them, should be considered a gift, for which it owes them a debt of gratitude. It should also be made to understand, that even its parents can call nothing their own, that all they have is loaned to them and should be used for performing works of love and mercy according to the Will of God. Furthermore, the child should be taught to consider the poor its equals, and be glad to share with them whatever they need, so that in the day of judgment it may be rewarded for its helpfulness as having done unto Christ whatever was done unto the least of His brethren. Poverty, in general, should be appreciated as a visitation and a grace of God, by which men become like unto the Master and worthy of eternal life. Heaven should be described to the child as a land teeming with riches and treasures, the least part of which is more valuable than all the accumulated values of the whole world. Finally, the child should be taught that riches and possessions are rather dangerous for the soul and that rich people who are not poor in spirit, whose hearts are not detached from the things of this world, have a hard time saving their souls, as Christ Himself says, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Poverty, on the other hand, with its privations, when borne with patience and for the love and glory of God, is a rich source of eternal merit and reward.

Watching the Blueberry Melodrama with a Sister for company!

Pilfering, which is frequently practiced among children, should be earnestly censured, because it is petty thieving; and continued pilfering as well as larger thefts should be severely punished. A child should never be allowed to take anything without permission, and whatever it needs, it should be obliged to ask for. If the child’s wishes are granted, it should be required to express its thanks, and, if they be refused, it should be trained to accept the refusal with submission and never be permitted to show its disappointment by pouting or grumbling. It should be taught gladly to share with others whatever it has received for its own use or pleasure. When others have more, or prettier, or better things, it should be taught to rejoice in their greater fortune, while on the other hand it should deeply sympathize with the losses of others as if those losses were its own. Gifts of money[,] which a child sometimes receives from friends and relatives, should not be at its own disposal, nor should it have the control of its own little money-bank. Money expenditures for any purpose whatever should always have the permission and the approval of the parents.

Combating the spirit of the world and the inordinate love for temporal possessions, fostering in her children the spirit of Christ, and arousing in their hearts an ardent desire for heavenly things-it is these duties that a Christian mother should consider her most important task, and what we have said may assist her in her very arduous task.

To be continued . . .

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The Christian Training of Children – Combating Concupiscence of the Flesh

Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:40:08 +0000

Table of contents for Mother Love

Little Book of Instructions for Christian Mothers [continued]
(from Mother Love – A Manual for Christian Mothers – by Rev. Pius Franciscus, O.M.Cap., 1926)

On the Christian Training of Children

Yes, come with me!

Chapter IV. - How the Christian Mother Should Combat in Her Child the Concupiscence of the Flesh.

The first evil inclination, the concupiscence of the flesh, seeks inordinately after all that gratifies the body, tickles the senses, and excites them to pleasure. Certainly the physical needs must be provided for and the sense activities must be exercised, otherwise life would not be worth living. But, how easily may the proper measure of enjoyment be exceeded, and thus that which might have been, according to St. Paul, a source of heavenly merit and for the greater honor and glory of God, is turned into a source of demerit, sin and punishment!

If then, dear Christian mother, you do not want your child to become the slave of sensual and carnal pleasures, you must train it from its earliest years to self-restraint and self-denial, to application and industry, to order and cleanliness. Among other things therefore a prudent Christian mother will provide for a thorough ventilation of the living and the bed rooms, so that wholesome, fresh air may constantly fill them. She will provide for the children plain, nourishing food, sensible clothing, and a neat comfortable bed; on the other hand, she will withhold from them everything that merely indulges the sensual appetite or wantonly excites the nerves. Children must not be permitted to eat as much and as often as they please, but whatever their reasonable needs demand, should be granted kindly and graciously. Cookies and candies and other palate-ticklers should not be allowed too frequently, since experience teaches that excessive munching of sweetmeats is not only injurious to the teeth and stomach but also to the general health. Try to impress upon the minds of your little ones, Christian mother, that it is a good work occasionally to give up some creature comforts and enjoyments for the love of God, that God especially loves children who act that way and rewards them for it in body and soul. Performing such little mortifications with a good intention is a powerful means of obtaining many favors from God. But in these mortifications children should be supervised so that they may not overdo them.

Playing is hard work!

A Christian mother should let her children play much in the open air, even when the weather is somewhat cold and unpleasant. She should put them to bed early and in the morning also get them out early. They should be taught to get up immediately on the first call, to dress themselves quickly and to make their morning ablutions with cold water. Each child should have its own little daily work to do according to its age and strength, and a fixed time to do it. Dresses and coats, hats and caps, shoes and slippers, as well as playthings should not be allowed to be scattered around, and for everything that belongs to a child there should be a fixed place and it must be trained to put them in the proper places itself. Dirty hands and dirty faces as well as dirty clothes must never be tolerated.

Children should always be cheerful not only at their games and recreations but also at their work and even in their little trials and hurts. As early in life as possible they should be taught that the afflictions and reverses of life, such as excessive cold or heat, slander or gossip, offenses and insults and abuse, sickness and wounds and death, are blessings in disguise and sent by God to wean us from the world and its attractions and arouse in us a greater love and desire for the eternal joys of heaven. They should also be taught to see in them a means which God provides, to atone for our sins, our faults and imperfections. Finally, they should be taught that Jesus Christ Himself was willing to endure the same or similar afflictions during His life here on earth, and that it is a mark of great love of Christ to be satisfied to live amid the same conditions as He did and to bear willingly what He was willing to bear.

Many things are sources of pleasure to children. In the first place there are the things of nature itself. These captivate the eyes of children by their beauty and variety. Naturally, the child admires them, asks questions about them and is happy in knowing them. A Christian mother will not only call attention to their beauty and variety of arrangement, but she will also show how they are evidences of God’s goodness and love as well as proofs of His infinite wisdom and power. The parish church is another source of joy to the child: its majestic appearance, its length and width and height on the outside, and on the inside its altars and their ornamentation, its pews and pictures and statues, its pulpit and confessionals. Gradually, the mother should teach the child the purpose and meaning of them all, so that it may learn to appreciate them as the means by which the salvation of mankind is affected. The feasts of the Church should give the mother opportunities for explanations and stories from the life of Christ in order to instill a greater love of Christ into the heart of her child; when occasion offers she will also narrate stories from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that the child’s affection for our heavenly Mother may constantly grow and confidence in her tender mercy may increase. Again and again she will tell of the lives of different saints, of their zeal for their own salvation as well as for the salvation of the souls of others and of their love of God and His glory. All that was ever learned in Catechism or Bible History, in sermons or conference, in the Lives of the Saints or some other spiritual book, the Christian mother will impart to her little ones in such simple words that even the youngest may understand. Her efforts will surely be blessed by God and she will enjoy not only the pleasure of gladdening the hearts of her children by her story-telling but will also be rewarded by the earnest endeavors with which her children will try to imitate the virtues of Jesus and Mary and of the saints.

Folk dancing - wholesome entertainment

Another species of joy is derived from home-life and the intimate associations of the family-members. Home, sweet home! Oh, that every home were so sweet and inviting, so pleasant and cheery, that neither father nor children would ever desire to be anywhere else but with and around mother! In such a home every say is the herald of new joys, and certain occasions such as the nameday or birthday of father, mother, brother, or sister and the anniversary of some joyous, important event, are celebrated in a festive manner with some innocent amusements and recreation and sincere testimonies of mutual affection.

In this manner the children will be protected against the deceitful allurements of carnal and worldly pleasures which alas! are only too often the death of purity and innocence. Would to God that every mother at least realized her responsibility in this matter! It may be safely affirmed that the loss of the sense of shame and modesty, so noticeable among the youth of the present generation, is primarily due to the indifference of mothers in observing proper precautions in bathing, dressing and bedding her little ones. Other causes are frequently assigned such as the prevailing fashions of the day, the promiscuous gatherings of young people in dancehalls and amusement places and the modern dances themselves, but all these should be considered as contributing causes merely, since the seed of immodesty and shamelessness was sowed earlier in life.

I can only indicate the sowing of this seed by telling what a mother should not do. A Christian mother will never bathe a child while other children are looking on, nor will she bathe them together at the same time. She will never strip them entirely to change their underwear in the presence of others; she will always have separate rooms and beds for her boys and girls. She will earnestly reprimand even the least breach against modesty and, if repeated, she should severely punish the offender. True, the little one may not understand the indecency of its act, but it is important to impress upon it the gravity of the fault by the infliction of some punishment so that it may not in later life fall into sins which, more that all others, are the cause of eternal damnation. The girls in particular, should be trained in Christian modesty, which includes also decency in dress. Fashions change with the times, so that sooner or later we may expect some improvement in present-day styles; but a mother who today dresses her girls in fashionable décolleté and sleeveless undress, is surely not preventing the violation of the sense of modesty, and is, indeed, contributing to the moral laxity of her daughters.

As the children grow older, the vigilance of parents must become more alert, so that the boys and girls may not become victims of vicious companions who are ever ready to initiate the innocent into the clandestine and sinful methods of sex gratification. As soon as parents observe in their boys and girls a curiosity regarding sex, it would be highly imprudent to conceal from them the desired sex-knowledge, because they will not content themselves with evasions, and the danger is lest they obtain that knowledge in a crude and sinful way. Tell them briefly and frankly what they desire to know, and at the same time warn them against speaking on such subjects with outsiders and encourage them to seek all sex-information from you only-the girls from mother and the boys from father. But also, according to the age of the children, admonish them to preserve their mind[s] and heart[s] pure and chaste through an earnest devotion to the immaculate Blessed Virgin, who is ever ready to help and protect us in all unprovoked dangers and temptations.

To be continued . . .

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