The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-07-14
CATHOLIC TEACHERS.

There are so many Catholic teach
ers that they deserve a special prayer
that our Caviour's attraction was for
book all their own-one adapted to
their own spiritual needs.
That prayer book ought to contain
a special eXamen of conscience, and
there are three questions that ought
to be contained in that examen: Have
L been aVerse to a child? Have l
been over-zealous? Have l been I'M
forgiving?
Truly pitiful," writes Walter Ell
lott, c.. S. P, in "The Spiritual Life, :"
is the spectacle of Catholic teacher
harboring feelings of aversion towards
particular children. Can we forget
that our Saviour's attraction was for
common, ordinary people, and espe-
cially for those despised by others?
Can we forget that it was not for
dainty hammered little ones, but just
for the rude children of the people,
who were crowding and annoying
their elders, that He solemnly uttered
His preferences: Suffer little children
to come unto me, and forbid them
not, for the kingdom of Heaven is for
such?
Zeal is defined as the warmth of
love. But sometimes this zeal is so
super-heated that like an oyer-charge
of electricity, it burns out it's own ap-
paratus. There is zeal that destroys
our own kindly feelings. Super
heated zeal puts discordant harshness
into our voice. 1t causes threatening
gestures, hasty corrections. All this is
followed inevitably by feelings of self
reproach. Bitter disappointment, fore
bodings of future -. trouble pos
sess the soul until despair of success
with the children brings the final
catastrophe. Let us realize that to
bear with the most untoward condi-
tiOns in oneself, and in the little ones
for Christ's sake, is often the forlorn
hope, the last desperate assault that
captures the citadel :.
Sometimes a teacher is SO unthink-
ing as to feel that pupil has insulted
him-as if the folly of child could
wound the grown-up wisdom. of a
Christian. But even so: concede that
bitter taunt has shot deep into the
sensibilities of a teacher; what then?
condemned a certain man to death, ST..
AmbroseN managed with much diff
Guilty to get access to the monarch,
and said: Your Majesty, am here to
plead for that mans life for the honor
of God The emperor answered:
That man must die, for he has in
suited me and my Office The saint
replied: That he has insulted thee
and thy Office is all the more reason
why thou shouldst forgive him. How
bold plea, and yet how truly Chris
tian. So let it be when you are in
suited by a rebellious, vicious child"
If one has sinned in the ways MEN
toned above against patience, a re-
form will result in an immediate
change for the better in the discipline
of the school room, and an eternal
change for the better in the character
of the pupils. Continues Father Ell
liott:
"a patient teacher, si1pposing good
sense and steady adherence to rule,
will keep good order in school with
one-tenth the chastisements of an i'm
patient teacher. The good, peaceable
nature will not lack the iron hand of
discipline. He will clothe it with the
velvet glove of patience. He will
never lack the aid of that mildest of
beings, of whom nevertheless the
disciples exclaimed: Who is this that
both the wind and the sea obey
Him.
There is a pious custom in our
churches of lighting candle before
an altar and leaving it there to burn
away it's substance in our stead; it's
light is typical of our ardent love, con-
tinuing our worship after we ourselves
have gone away. So the Christian
teacher lights the triple candle of
faith, hope and love in immortal
souls, there to burn for Gods sake
never to be quenched; its light typi-
fies his devoted labors, and noble
self-sacrifice, and continues his work