We wish a most blessed and merry Christmas to each and every one of you. It is our great joy to present our gift of Masses and prayers offered for you, our family, friends, and benefactors, for your intentions and for your needs.
During the weeks of Advent, the Church has prayed and prepared for the coming of the Redeemer. Over and over again, the liturgical prayers have repeated the urgent plea: Come, come to save us! At Vespers, on December 23, we chanted the last of the “O Antiphons”:
“O Emmanuel, our King and our Law-giver, Longing of the Gentiles, yea, and salvation, thereof, come to save us, O Lord our God!” We must, each and every one of us, make this plea our very own. As we watch the world fall deeper and deeper into sin and apostasy, we are reminded of our need of and utter dependence upon Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
The holy Liturgy is not simply a happy remembrance or commemoration. The precious and pivotal moments of salvation in history are actually renewed upon the altar. At holy Mass, the moments of Christmas night in the cave of Bethlehem are made present to us. These moments are filled with profound hope to the world. We are also offered a foretaste and participation in the final and infallible victory, the completion of Christ’s coming, which has yet to take place. The great mystery of redemption, both its beginning long ago, and its consummation yet to come, are united in the present moment, realized in each individual soul during the holy Mass. What joy should be ours! A true sharing in the victory already won!
The true joy of Christmas will always be irrepressible, keeping our faith alive even through the darkest of times. It is like a great flaming torch that we can hold high above our heads, the flame of God’s love, which turns despair to hope, sorrow to joy, and death to life. This torch cannot be extinguished, and it is a living flame in the hearts of those who cling to the true meaning of Christmas. May God bless each and every one of you abundantly this Christmas and throughout the new year.
In our Infant King,
Your Capuchin Sisters
When we arrived in July, we learned that the “G” on the house was for “Guthrie”, the original builders/owners. Though town members call it the “G House”, the Sisters call it God’s house, for that is truly what it has become…On December 22, we had everything ready for our very modest Franciscan convent chapel…On Christmas Eve, as the world awaits the birth of our Savior, in our convent…at long last… we truly have Emmanuel, “God with us”, in our tabernacle. All of your intentions are in our hearts and are being offered incessantly to our Divine Spouse.
Ave Maria! We pray you are all in the midst of a very holy and grace-filled season of Advent. Work continues on our little convent chapel. We hope to have it ready within the next two weeks so that we may welcome the Infant Jesus, our God and Spouse, into our hearts, our souls, and our tabernacle at Christmas. What a joyful Christmas it will be to dwell with the King of Heaven!
We now have a “Sister Carpenter”, who frequently calls upon St. Joseph to help her with work she never imagined herself doing in the convent: stripping and refinishing old wood, constructing chairs and kneelers, and learning the names of various tools and how they work. The early Franciscans, embracing Lady Poverty with great jealousy, worked in this same fashion, and we are learning just how spoiled we are in the modern world. While we are unable, due to small numbers in our beginning stages, to do everything by the labor of our own hands, we are attempting to do what we can.
We are now also experiencing our first true Winter in Colorado. Coming from Texas, this has been very…well…cold! We laugh at our frailty and remind ourselves that the elements provide plenty of opportunity to save souls if we remain in the presence of God and keep always in front of us the reason we consecrated our lives to God. We give others plenty of opportunity to save souls too when they are forced to drive in the snow behind the nuns with the Texas license plate!
Our appeal for your help continues, as we are now beginning to receive correspondence from young ladies around the country, and we have no room to receive them. We are praying a perpetual novena to St. Joseph to provide a permanent home where our foundation may grow and where we may truly live according to the spirit of St. Francis and our Capuchin customs. We live in a world that no longer understands religious life and the necessity of consecrated souls to pray and sacrifice for the conversion and salvation of sinners, for our country, for our world, and for the triumph of the Holy Catholic Church against her enemies within and without. We rely solely upon Divine Providence and the generosity of the faithful in order to live. We thank all of you for your generous support, and we assure you that we carry each and every one of you, with all of your intentions, in all of our prayers and sacrifices. In every Mass and at every holy Communion and, since we have a special claim on the Heart of Our Lord, we trust in Him with great confidence to repay you all the promised hundred-fold in this life and in eternity.
May God bless you, and may Our Lady keep you close to her Immaculate Heart!
The Capuchin Sisters of St. Joseph
Before the snowfall, the Sisters work to clear an area for Our Lady’s spring grotto.
Our first attempt at refurbishing an old table
We quickly discovered it was an outdoor job….
When power tools failed, we discovered it was a two person job!
One of our Capuchin customs is to kneel for collations during Advent.
The Sisters are learning many trades, including electrical work.
Pax et Bonum! This past week, we celebrated the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. We were blessed with a beautiful sung Mass, where we remembered all of your intentions. How appropriate that this feast is followed tomorrow by that of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, since we cannot reflect upon the Cross without contemplating her standing with unwavering Faith and love at its foot. On Wednesday, we will celebrate the feast of the Stigmata of our Seraphic Father and Founder, St. Francis of Assisi. St. Bonaventure wrote of him that he was adorned with the Sacred Stigmata and bore the image of the Crucified, not carved in wood or stone by the hand of an artist, but engraved upon his flesh by the finger of the living God. These three feasts make for a very beautiful and grace filled week in the Franciscan Order, an Order particularly devoted to the Passion and Death of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
We have a few pieces of news to share with you. This past week, we welcomed a young lady from Louisiana who is discerning her vocation to the religious life. Every religious vocation, especially in this time of crisis in the Church, is a miracle and a great grace for holy mother Church. It seems to be almost entirely forgotten that the lives of prayer and sacrifices of the religious are especially necessary to stay the hand of God and draw down from heaven the graces of conversion for our families, our cities, our country, and the entire world. Please keep her in your prayers. Also, we were recently surprised with the gift (on loan) of a tabernacle. It is a very old but very beautiful piece that needs repair. We are now very joyfully working on all that is necessary to make it ready for the Divine Guest. A friend, who is extremely talented at woodworking, has offered to make the repairs, and the Sisters will complete all of the silk, linen and embroidery work. We are praying very fervently for benefactors so that we may construct a little portable chapel here while we continue to implore heaven to help us find a permanent home. We ask your prayers for this intention also, as it is necessary that we have a permanent home in order to continue to accept vocations and grow our Franciscan convent.
Finally, we wish to share with you some reflections that we hope may be of help, especially to mothers. We often hear from parents regarding their teenage children. The problems, as well as the solutions, are generally the same. What is modeled for the children shapes who they will become. If the Faith is not the center of your home-life, it cannot be expected that it will be the center of your child’s life. The most important duty in the lives of parents is the formation of their children. This is not a personal opinion but, rather, the teaching of the Church. Time wasted is time that can never be returned to you and, in the blink of an eye, the children are grown, and the consequences of a tepid home life have taken deep root. If, then, you are troubled that your children are being swept along in the current of the world, it is necessary to take a look at life in your family home.
First, does your family pray together, and what place does prayer hold in your home? The family Rosary is so important! In fact, at all six of her apparitions in Fatima, Our Lady asked for the Rosary to be said every day and warned that it, along with devotion to the Immaculate Heart, is the last remedy for the world. Your children need to see mom and dad on their knees with a dedicated time to pray. So often, we hear the term “Rosary ride.” It seems that it has become a trend to pray the Rosary in the car while on the way to some event. While it can readily be understood that this may be necessary from time to time and a very good custom for an extra Rosary, what message does it give when the daily Rosary is specifically set aside for a car ride, so that it can be checked off of the to-do list in order to do things one considers more important or more enjoyable at home? Does it foster a love for prayer and reflection on the mysteries of our Faith? The same could be said for holy Mass when families make it a custom to arrive at the last minute and leave immediately after Mass, without making a preparation for or thanksgiving after Holy Communion. Do you and/or your children miss Mass on Sundays or holy days in order to take part in sporting or other events? This is a violation of a precept of the Church, a grave sin, and yet it seems to be more and more common. We deceive ourselves if we say our Faith is the most important thing in our lives while putting prayer and the holy Mass in the second place. These are good questions by which to examine ourselves.
A formation in strong moral principles is also extremely important. We frequently hear about teenage girls leaving home as quickly as possible after graduating, “dating” young men of questionable character, and making bad decisions that come with life-altering consequences. It is true that even if parents do everything possible to properly form their children and set a good example in the home, many will still stray from the Faith and make bad decisions. The current of the world is very strong, and swimming against the current requires great fortitude, which can only be attained by prayer and sacrifice, which children should learn from their parents.
Concerning this formation of your children, it is necessary to ask what place the television holds in your home? Even in what are considered “more wholesome” movies or shows, the values of the world are often presented, and your children are being formed by what they see and hear. Most notably are the tendencies to present divorced and remarried couples as acceptable and even the norm, entitled or back-talking children, career women who do not submit to their husbands and husbands who do not honor their wives, immodest fashions, “dating” and company-keeping, even among children, which is an occasion of mortal sin, etc., etc. etc. The show may be considered “clean”, but what are your children learning as they watch these shows day after day? In the sixteenth century, St. Teresa of Avila was shown her place in hell for reading what were called “chivalry books.” Certainly those books were nothing in comparison to what is on television today.
Are your children exposed to bad companions? St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis de Sales, St. John Bosco, St. Alphonsus Liguori, and many other saints warned of the dangers to the immortal souls of children by this occasion of sin. It is extremely important that your children, no matter what age, are not permitted to go out with friends without a chaperone. It only takes one brief moment, a glance, a picture, or a suggestion for your child’s curiosity to be aroused and innocence to be lost, even little by little. If you have not yet read it, we highly recommend the books , The Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco. If the dangers were so strong in that period, what would the saint think of the perils we expose our children to today?
Are your children attending public school? Many parents will argue they have no choice in this matter. It is not our purpose here to debate, so we will focus our attention on those parents who do have a choice and who, for reasons of sports, scholarships, or convenience, place the immortal souls of their children in danger. Not considering only the multitude of dangers your children are exposed to in public schools (the LGBTQ agenda, impurity, indoctrination with anti-Catholic teaching, to name only a few), the Catholic Church (prior to Vatican II) strongly cautioned against sending children to public schools and often explicitly forbade it, primarily viewing them as threats to the Catholic Faith due to their secular or Protestant foundations. The teaching of the Church is that the primary duty of parents is to ensure that their children receive a proper Catholic education and formation. In 1890, Pope Leo XIII identified public schools as hostile to religion and “the stronghold of the powers of darkness.” In 1929, Pope Pius XI reaffirmed that parents have the primary right and duty to educate their children and declared the secular school to be fundamentally flawed. Are sports and scholarships, which are here today and gone tomorrow, worth putting your child’s immortal soul at risk?
Mothers, how do you dress? Do you make concessions in order to “fit in” or appear more fashionable? Do you consider that Mary-like modesty is only for church, failing to consider that both in and out of Church Almighty God is present, and men are equally tempted by immodesty outside of the church as inside? Our Lady of Fatima warned in 1917 about immodest fashions and that more souls go to hell for sins of the flesh than any other sin. If she was offended by the fashions in 1917, what would she think of leggings, tight pants and jeans, shorts, mini-skirts, low cut tops, bathing suits, girls and boys swimming together half-naked, etc.? The clergy and the sisters are often met with the objection from women that fashions change with the times. The fashions of our world, a world over which Satan is the prince, are rapidly changing to undress the woman and to lead souls to sin and, ultimately, to hell. There are resources for modest clothing and, even if we must be creative, it is our duty to make war against the immodest fashions of our day. Remember that, at your judgment, you will render an account of your own sins of immodesty, as well as all of the sins that were committed as a result of your scandal.
Parents, do you correct your children, or is your home a democracy? Are your children permitted to tell you what they will and will not eat, what they do and do not want to do, what time they will get up in the morning and go to bed at night, etc? Are they allowed to speak disrespectfully to you or as if they are your equal? Unless a child learns to obey promptly and without question, he or she will become master of the household. You must exercise the necessary firmness with your children at an early age in these and all matters for, if you do not exercise your authority through laziness, poor judgment, or a mistaken notion of kindness and tenderness, you will quickly see that it is too late. These seemingly small things lead to a world of problems for the future of your children. If they are not taught to obey authority and to practice mortification and self-restraint while they are young, evil tendencies will set in, and they will likely have great difficulty controlling their need to gratify themselves, opening wide the door to sensuality and all manners of vice.
Finally, let us consider the topic company-keeping (“dating”). Company-keeping has for its purpose marriage. Even if the period of dating does not end with marriage because the couple discovers that marriage is out of the question for them, the purpose of testing and of finding out was still kept. When marriage is unlawful, impossible, or entirely out of the question (as is certainly the case with your school-age children), there is no moral justification for dating and exposing oneself to the intrinsic danger of such relationships. Teenagers who are permitted to date are placed in a very strong and dangerous occasion of mortal sin. Parents have the obligation of forming their children and helping them to understand this principle early in life. Your children should never be permitted to be alone in the company of the opposite sex. Parents who encourage or permit their children to date, or who think it is innocent or cute, place the souls of their children in danger and will have to carry that responsibility before God on the day of judgment. We cannot tell you how often we have received the calls from heart-broken parents whose children, after having been permitted to date, have ended up in serious moral troubles that will affect the rest of their lives and the lives of those involved.
In close, although this may seem overwhelming and discouraging, Almighty God gives us everything we need to perform well our duties of state and, if the difficulties are great, His grace is far greater. Begin now to pray with your children. Frequent the sacraments, recite the Rosary every day, and instruct your children in the catechism and the truths of our holy Catholic Faith. Establish your homes on the foundation of the Catholic Faith and enthrone them to the Sacred Heart. By so doing, your homes will become veritable strongholds of Faith, schools of virtue, abodes of peace and love, which the angels of God will delight to visit and which God Himself will look down upon with pleasure and bless with a foretaste of the joys of Heaven.
It is well to remember that “Children have not been given to parents as a present, which they may dispose of as they please, but as a trust, for which, if lost through their negligence, they must render an account to God.” St. Alphonsus Liguori
May God bless you!
Capuchin Sisters of St. Joseph
We welcomed an aspirant from Louisiana on the feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis.Making habit Rosaries for future Capuchin Sisters.
Pax et bonum! At long last, we have arrived to Burlington, Colorado, and the next chapter in our community life begins. We marvel at Divine Providence and the loving care of our Heavenly Father, Who continues to provide for us in ways beyond all human expectation. Like our seraphic father, St. Francis, our beginnings were very meager. In fact, we started out in a small 15′ x 15′ space. From there, a very generous family offered a 450 square foot apartment on their property, which we fondly called our “Rivo Torto”, after the little ruined building where St. Francis and his first followers began their community life and from whence many blessings flowed for the founding of the Order. We were very happy in this little place!
However, our constant prayer has been that we may be near daily Mass in order to take our longed-for place before the tabernacle and receive our Divine Spouse in Holy Communion daily. Our congregation prays a perpetual novena to St. Joseph and to Our Lady of Prompt Succor. Both have refused us nothing that has been for the good of our congregation. Quite spontaneously, a generous benefactor has offered the use of a home less than two blocks from the Church and our Father Director. Needless to say, words fail to express our heartfelt gratitude towards all of the good souls whose generosity and sacrifice have made our life possible. While words fail us, we confidently look to our loving Father in heaven to repay each of them the promised hundredfold in this life and in eternity.
We continue to beg the charity of your prayers and for your support, as three young ladies prepare to visit in order to discern their vocations. We continue to work towards the goal of a permanent convent to house the vocations God may send to us. We ask your prayers for our fidelity and perseverance, and we assure you of a constant place in the heart of our prayers. May God bless and keep you!
Arrival at the house in Burlington. It was our first experience driving a U-Haul truck… Thank you, guardian angels for guiding us safely to port!
The school children gathered for one last picture before we set off.
A little rabbit has taken up residence in the flower garden. St. Francis loved God’s little creatures, who always do the will of God, and we take great joy in them too.
One of the apostolates of our congregation is the doctrinal formation of children in order to prepare them for the combat they must surely face in this life. In order for this formation to bear fruit, it is necessary that parents understand the gravity of their duty towards the eternal souls of their children and the account they will render to God.
Advice to Parents
by Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
Saint Alphonsus, founder of the Redemptorist Order, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, expounds on the privilege and grave responsibilities of parents.
The gospel tells us that a good plant cannot produce bad fruit and that a bad one cannot produce good fruit. We learn from this that a good father brings up good children. But, if the parents are wicked, how can the children be virtuous? Our Lord says, in the same gospel, Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? (Matt. 7:16). So, it is impossible, or rather very difficult, to find children virtuous, who are brought up by immoral parents. Fathers and mothers, be attentive to this sermon, which is of great importance to the eternal salvation of yourselves and of your children. Be attentive, young men and young women who have not as yet chosen a state in life. If you wish to marry, learn the obligations which you contract with regard to the education of your children, and learn also, that if you do not fulfill them, you shall bring yourselves and all your children to damnation. I shall divide this into two points. In the first, I shall show how important it is to bring up children in habits of virtue; and, in the second, I shall show with what care and diligence a parent ought to labor to bring them up well.
A father owes two obligations to his children; he is bound to provide for their corporal wants, and to educate them in the habits of virtue. It is not necessary to say anything else about the first obligation, than, there are some fathers more cruel than the most ferocious of wild beasts, for these squander away in eating, drinking, and pleasure, all their property, or all the fruits of their industry, and allow their children to die of hunger. Let us discuss education, which is the subject of this article.
It is certain that a child’s future good or bad conduct depends on his being brought up well or poorly. Nature itself teaches every parent to attend to the education of his offspring. God gives children to parents, not that they may assist the family, but that they may be brought up in the fear of God, and be directed in the way of eternal salvation. “We have,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “a great deposit in children, let us attend to them with great care.” Children have not been given to parents as a present, which they may dispose of as they please, but as a trust, for which, if lost through their negligence; they must render an account to God.
One of the great Fathers says that on the day of judgment, parents will have to render an account for all the sins of their children. So, he who teaches his son to live well, shall die a happy and tranquil death. He that teaches his son…when he died, he was not sorrowful, neither was he confounded before his enemies (Eccl. 30: 3,5). And he will save his soul by means of his children, that is, by the virtuous education which he has given them. She shall be saved through childbearing (I Tim. 2:15).
But, on the other hand, a very uneasy and unhappy death will be the lot of those who have labored only to increase the possessions, or to multiply the honors of their family, or who have sought only to lead a life of ease and pleasure, but have not watched over the morals of their children. Saint Paul says that such parents are worse than infidels. But if any man have not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel (I Tim. 5:8).
Were fathers or mothers to lead a life of piety and continual prayer, and to communicate every day, they should be damned if they neglected the care of their children.
If all fathers fulfilled their duty of watching over the education of their children, we should have but few crimes. By the bad education which parents give to their offspring, they cause their children, says Saint John Chrysostom, to rush into many grievous vices; and thus they deliver them up to the hands of the executioner. So it was, in one town, a parent, who was the cause of all the irregularities of his children, was justly punished for his crimes with greater severity than the children themselves. Great indeed is the misfortune of the child that has vicious parents, who are incapable of bringing up their children in the fear of God, and who, when they see their children engage in dangerous friendships and in quarrels, instead of correcting and chastising them, they take compassion on them, and say, “What can I do? They are young; hopefully they will grow out of it.” What wicked words, what a cruel education! Do you hope that when your children grow up, they will become saints? Listen to what Solomon says, “A young man, according to his way, even when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). A young man who has contracted a habit of sin, will not abandon it even in his old age. His bones, says holy Job, will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust (Job 20:11). When a young person has lived in evil habits, his bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, so that he will carry them to the grave, and the impurities, blasphemies, and hatred to which he was accustomed in his youth, will accompany him to the grave, and will sleep with him after his bones are reduced to dust and ashes. It is very easy, when they are small, to train children to habits of virtue, but, when they have come to manhood, it is equally difficult to correct them, if they have learned habits of vice.
Let us come to the second point, that is, to the means of bringing up children in the practice of virtue. I beg you, fathers and mothers, to remember what I now say to you, from on it depends the eternal salvation of your own souls, and of the souls of your children.
Saint Paul teaches sufficiently, in a few words, in what the proper education of children consists. He says that it consists in discipline and correction. And you, fathers, provoke not your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord (Ephes. 5:4). Discipline, which is the same as the religious regulation of the morals of children, implies an obligation of educating them in habits of virtue by word and example. First, by words: a good father should often assemble his children, and instill into them the holy fear of God. It was in this manner that Tobias brought up his little son. The father taught him from his childhood to fear the Lord and to fly from sin. And from infancy he taught him to fear God and abstain from sin (Tobias 1:10). The wise man says, that a well educated son is the support and consolation of his father. Instruct your son, and he will refresh you, and will give delight to your soul (Prov. 29:17). But, as a well instructed son is the delight of his father’s soul, so an ignorant child is a source of sorrow to a father’s heart, for the ignorance of his obligations as a Christian is always accompanied with a bad life.
It was related that, in the year 1248, an ignorant priest was commanded, in a certain synod, to make a discourse. He was greatly agitated by the command and the Devil appearing to him, instructed him to say, “The rectors of infernal darkness salute the rectors of parishes, and thank them for their negligence in instructing the people; because from ignorance proceeds the misconduct and the damnation of many.”
The same is true of negligent parents. In the first place, a parent ought to instruct his children in the truths of the Faith, and particularly in the four principle mysteries. First, that there is but One God, the Creator and Lord of all things; secondly, that this God is a remunerator, Who, in the next life, will reward the good with the eternal glory of Paradise, and will punish the wicked with the everlasting torments of Hell; thirdly, the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, that is, that in God there are Three Persons, Who are only One God, because They have but One Essence; fourthly, the mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word, the Son of God, and True God, Who became man in the womb of Mary, and suffered and died for our salvation.
Should a father or mother say, “I myself do not know these mysteries,” can such an excuse be admitted? Can one sin excuse another? If you are ignorant of these mysteries, you are obliged to learn them, and afterwards to teach them to your children. At least, send your children to a worthy catechist. What a miserable thing to see so many fathers and mothers, who are unable to instruct their children in the most necessary truths of the Faith, and who, instead of sending their sons and daughters to Christian doctrine, employ them in occupations of little account, and when they are grown up, they do not know what is meant by mortal sin, by Hell, or eternity. They do not even know the Creed, the Our Father, or the Hail Mary, which every Christian is bound to learn under pain of mortal sin.
Religious parents not only instruct their children in these things, which are the most important, but they also teach them the acts which ought to be made every morning after rising. They teach them first, to thank God for having preserved their life during the night, secondly to offer to God all their good actions which they will perform, and all the pains which they will suffer during the day, thirdly, to implore of Jesus Christ and Our Most Holy Mother Mary to preserve them from all sin during the day. They teach them to make, every evening, an examination of conscience and an act of contrition. They also teach them to make every day, the acts of Faith, Hope and Charity, to recite the Rosary, and to visit the Blessed Sacrament. Some good fathers of families are careful to get a book of meditations to read, and to have mental prayer in common for half an hour every day. This is what the Holy Ghost exhorts you to practice. Do you have children? Instruct them and bow down their neck from their childhood (Eccl. 7:25). Endeavor to train them from their infancy to these religious habits, and when they grow up, they will persevere in them. Accustom them also to go to confession and communion every week.
It is also very useful to infuse good maxims into the infant minds of children. What ruin is brought upon children by their father who teaches them worldly maxims! “You must,” some parents say to their children, “seek the esteem and applause of the world. God is merciful; He takes compassion on certain sins.” How miserable the young man is who sins in obedience to such maxims. Good parents teach very different maxims to their children. Queen Blanche, the mother of Saint Louis, King of France, used to say to him, “My son, I would rather see you dead in my arms, than in the state of sin.” So then, let it be your practice also to infuse into your children certain maxims of salvation, such as, What will it profit us to gain the whole world, if we lose our own souls? Everything on this earth has an end, but eternity never ends. Let all be lost, provided God is not lost. One of these maxims well impressed on the mind of a young person, will preserve him always in the grace of God.
But parents are obliged to instruct their children in the practice of virtue, not only by words, but still more by example. If you give your children bad example, how can you expect that they will lead good lives? When a dissolute young man is corrected for a fault, he answers, “Why do you censure me, when my father does worse?” The children will complain of an ungodly father, because for his sake they are in reproach (Eccl. 41:10). How is it possible for a son to be moral and religious, when he has had the example of a father who uttered blasphemies and obscenities, who spent the entire day in the tavern, in games and drunkenness, who was in the habit of frequenting houses of bad fame, and of defrauding his neighbor? Do you expect your son to go frequently to confession, when you yourself approach the confessional scarcely once a year?
It is related in a fable, that a crab one day rebuked its young for walking crookedly. They replied, “Father, let us see you walk.” The father walked before them more crookedly than they did. This is what happens to the parent who gives bad example. Hence, he has not even courage to correct his children for the sins which he himself commits.
According to Saint Thomas, scandalous parents compel, in a certain manner, their children to lead a bad life. “They are not,” says Saint Bernard, “fathers, but murderers, they kill, not the bodies, but the souls of their children.” It is useless for parents to say: “My children have been born with bad dispositions.” This is not true, for, Seneca says, “You err, if you think that vices are born with us; they have been engrafted.” Vices are not born with your children, but have been communicated to them by the bad example of the parents. If you had given good example to your sons, they would not be so vicious as they are. So parents, frequent the Sacraments, learn from the sermons, recite the Rosary every day, abstain from all obscene language, from detraction, and from quarrels, and you will see that your children follow your example. It is particularly necessary to train children to virtue in their infancy, Bow down their neck from their childhood, for when they have grown up, and contracted bad habits, it will be very difficult for you to produce, by words, any amendment in their lives.
To bring up children in the discipline of the Lord, it is also necessary to take away from them the occasion of doing evil. A father must forbid his children to go out at night, or to go to a house in which their virtue might be exposed to danger, or to keep bad company. Cast out, said Sarah to Abraham, this bondswoman and her son (Gen. 21:10). She wished to have Ismael, the son of Agar the bondswoman, banished from her house, that her son Isaac might not learn his vicious habits. Bad companions are the ruin of young persons. A father should not only remove the evil which he witnesses, but he is also bound to inquire after the conduct of his children, and to seek information from family and from outsiders regarding the places which his children frequent when they leave home, regarding their occupations and companions. A father ought to forbid his children ever to bring into his house stolen goods. When Tobias heard the bleating of a goat in his house, he said, Take care, perhaps it is stolen, go, restore it to its owners (Tobias 2:21).
Parents should prohibit their children from all games, which bring destruction on their families and on their own souls, and also dances, suggestive entertainment, and certain dangerous conversations and parties of pleasures. A father should remove from his house books of romances, which pervert young persons, and all bad books which contain pernicious maxims, tales of obscenity, or of profane love. He should not permit his daughters to be alone with men, whether young or old. But some will say, “But this man tutors my daughter; he is a saint.” The saints are in Heaven, but the saints that are on earth are flesh, and by proximate occasions, they may become devils.
Another obligation of parents is to correct the faults of the family. “Bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord.” There are fathers and mothers who witness faults in the family and remain silent. Through fear of displeasing their children, some fathers neglect to correct them, but if you saw your child falling into a pool of water, and in danger of being drowned, would it not be savage cruelty not to catch him by the hair, and save his life? He that spares the rod hates his son (Prov. 13:24). If you love your children, correct them, and while they are growing up, chastise them, even with the rod, as often as it may be necessary.
I say, with the rod, but not with a stick; for you must correct them like a father, and not like a prison guard. You must be careful not to beat them when you are in a passion, for you will then be in danger of beating them with too much severity, and the correction will be without fruit, for then they believe that the chastisement is the effect of anger, and not of a desire on your part to see them amend their lives. I have also said, that you should correct them while they are growing up , for when they arrive at manhood, your correction will be of little use. You must then abstain from correcting them with the hand; otherwise, they will become more perverse, and will lose their respect for you. What use is it to correct children with injurious words and with imprecations? Deprive them of some part of their meals, of certain articles of dress, or shut them up in their room. I have said enough. Draw from this discourse the conclusion, that he who has brought up his children badly, will be severely punished, and that he who has trained them in the habits of virtue, will receive a great reward.
Shortly before our Seraphic Father St. Francis died, he called together his followers and warned them of the coming troubles in the Catholic Church stating the following:
1. The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase.
2. The devils will have unusual power, the immaculate purity of our Order, and of others, will be so much obscured that there will be very few Christians who will obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with loyal hearts and perfect charity. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate, who, by his cunning, will endeavor to draw many into error and death.
3. Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it.
4. There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God.
5. Then our Rule and manner of life will be violently opposed by some, and terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life; but woe to those who, trusting solely in their Order, shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect.
6. Those who persevere in their fervor and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the earth. but the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted, and will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be like their Head, [Christ] these, the elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy.
7. Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days JESUS CHRIST WILL SEND THEM NOT A TRUE PASTOR, BUT A DESTROYER.”
If anyone is interested, the information above can be found in:
Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi, Washbourne, 1882, pp. 248-250
Capuchin Sisters of St Joseph 