(Ephesians 5:8)
Parents, leaders, and educators, we have a mission, a duty to lead children's souls toward the Light which will be their guide and their happiness. In order to illuminate the way that lies before each one of us, once a week we invite you to discover some of the words of certain wisemen and witnesses, measuring their worth by the words of St. Thomas Aquinas: “Do not consider the one who speaks, but whatever good you hear from him, confide it to your memory.” (from The Sixteen Ways to Acquire the Treasure of Knowledge by St. Thomas). Happy reading!
The walls of Jericho will always continue to fall for those who sound the trumpet with great trust.
Father Vallée (1841-1927)
Dominican, Prior of the Dominican monasteries of Lille, Dijon, and Le Saulchoir
“His whole life Father Vallée was proud of being from Normandy, and he certainly cut a typical figure of these men of the Norman Conquest, men who were seafarers and accustomed to the North, men whom chroniclers describe as tall with blue, lively eyes, which were both dreamy and profound, as if they were constantly scanning the horizon, the shifting line between sky and sea… Father Vallée was a born leader. He didn’t veil his decisions in diplomatic formulations; once he had decided something before God, the order was given as if coming from God Himself. His total insouciance for reactions caused by his decisions, and his absolute indifference to any judgment one might pass concerning him gave him an independence and a strength which were victorious in advance. The absence of any personal stakes in the debate robbed self-love of its best weapons. However, Father Vallée was not only a leader of religious; he was also a friend and a father to them, attentive to their health, helpful in their difficulties, always ready to lend them a hand. His austerity was neither stilted nor sad. Joyous at recreation and in the refectory, he loved to tell stories seasoned with his particular Normand humor, and he was the first to laugh with his infectious childlike laugh. He also loved to tease, and he took as good as he gave, but the moment the bell rang he was the first to return to silence and to go wherever the Rule called him. He never felt the disordered eagerness to save souls which often makes good souls think that they are indispensable to God’s work. And thus, this great religious was an exceptional optimist. Some reproached him for this optimism, saying that he knew too little of human nature, but it would be much more true to say that, better than many others, he knew the heart of God.”
Amélie de Pitteurs (1871-1960)
Writer
In the same category « Education – Pedagogy », also read :