II. Preparation of Sense

172. - Sense must be trained to docility.

1. That this may be done wisely, it must be observed that at a certain first age, so long as a child is without judgment, he must be moved more mechanically, so to speak; but soon, as he gradually and imperceptibly becomes capable of ever greater deliberation, he must be formed so that he harmoniously joins his will to the commands and counsels of his parents, until he has grown sufficiently to have learned to govern himself by his own counsel along the same way of prudence, that is, to master his passions.

Moreover, certain passions are usually opportunely present from the beginnings of life, so that their discipline or restraint may prepare a general dominion over the passions.

For most children appear inclined to curiosity, gluttony, and anger. Therefore let them learn the art of ruling these passions both by the example of parents, who themselves seek nothing except what is reasonable and who moderate their own affections, and by their own exercise, according to the counsels of parents and teachers.

Therefore let parents readily comply with the honorable and moderate wishes of their children, but grant nothing to an impatient or angry infant or child, or to one seeking immoderate things; much less should they be foolishly delighted by the crying fits, angers, or desires of one who wails, or, more foolishly, stir up his angers for the sake of laughter.

But let them not omit to adduce reasons of both natural and supernatural honorableness why the passions must be mastered, in presenting which the differences of sex and of particular character are not to be overlooked. Wherefore this dominion of the mind over the senses should be exhibited to a male as a noble indication of manliness and a distinguished victory, but to a daughter rather as grace and adornment.

Moreover, supernatural motives should savor more of the love of God or of Jesus the Savior than of fear.

Care must also diligently be taken that erroneous dictates of conscience not be suggested, by which a beginning is given to an excessively anxious or scrupulous conscience.

2. Furthermore, let a child and adolescent not be ignorant, besides the art of a defensive battle, of the offensive art. Let him be taught to do or suffer unpleasant things. "To know how to withstand pain, is this not will, and will of the highest kind?" ¹ Wherefore, from tender years, let him know how voluntarily to abstain from certain pleasant things, and this for the pious cause of devotion to Christ, to His Mother, or of exercising mercy, so that he himself may thus experience how truly Christ said: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" ².

¹ Payot, L'éducation de la volonté, p. 171.

² As St. Paul testifies, Acts 20:35.

From practices of this kind let him draw the profound and universal persuasion of how much pleasure (le plaisir), by which only one faculty or part of man, and that an inferior one, is satisfied, differs from the happiness of the whole man ³; and in what manner, by a perpetual law, God, who made the senses not for their own sake but for the sake of man, has joined pleasure to a useful operation, and has commanded that it be sought not for itself alone but for an honorable good, immediately or mediately.

³ Hear that illustrious saying from the orator Cicero: "For it is not by cheerfulness, nor wantonness, nor laughter or joking, the companion of levity, but often even the sorrowful are happy through firmness and constancy" (De finibus, 2, 20).

All these things can opportunely be handed down or insinuated, both privately and in common, both deliberately and when an occasion is seized, for example, from school exercises.