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St. Joseph Marello - 1892

instill in their soul a teaching that your example does not
practice. Otherwise they would say in the secret of their heart -
and perhaps also openly - O father, O mother, how can you
teach us to love God, to invoke him in prayer, to observe his
holy law, and to be resigned to his holy will, while you
yourselves offend him in so many ways and so seriously? You
urge us to be respectful, obedient, meek, and temperate, while
you only give us examples of scandal, pride, anger,
intemperance and hatred against your neighbor. Of course
children are wrong in following the bad example of their
parents, because the sins of the ones do not excuse those of the
others, but does not the greater guilt belong to those who give
scandal? "For him who scandalizes one of these little ones who
believes in me, it would be better if he were thrown into the
depths of the sea". Therefore your children need to receive from
you a continuous good example; and no less important is your
vigilance so that they may not find a stumbling block in the bad
example of others.
St. Augustine says that if it is good for children to know
good, it is also important that they ignore evil: Pueris non tam
prodest cognitio boni quam ignorantia mali. Weighty words
that should never be forgotten by parents and those who take
their place in the difficult ministry of education. Those who
meditate these words will feel the gravity of the obligation that
is incumbent upon them to be always vigilant on behalf of the
innocent, and to be convinced - before learning it through bitter
experience and with irreparable damage - that a child can get his
first idea of vice by looking at an object or hearing a word that
strikes his imagination, and that object or that word could be the
fatal impulse to awaken a passion that ruins both soul and body.
Therefore, O parents, be always vigilant over yourselves and
over your children; and do not limit your attention to the
enclosure of your family's walls. Your vigilance should follow
your children in all their steps outside the home, because it may

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