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Manuals
CLASSROOM MANUALS:
De La Salle Speaks
of Touching or Winning Hearts
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"Your are engaged in a ministry wherein you have to touch hearts. But you cannot possibly do this without the assistance of the Holy Ghost. Beseech God to confer on you today the same grace as He gave the Apostles, so that after filling you with His Spirit for your own sanctification, He may confer it on you for the salvation of others." (Meditation for Pentecost Sunday No. 43 : 3)
"It is your duty to teach these truths to the children confided to your care. Hence you should strive to be fully penetrated by their reality in order to be able to impress them deeply on their hearts. Render yourself docile to the Holy Ghost for, in a very short time, He can give you a perfect understanding of them." (Meditation No. 44 : 2)
"Do you wish to convert and win over your disciples to God? Become a child like them, not in wisdom, but in malice, as St. Paul says: 'Keep the innocence of children with the thoughts of grown men.' The more you practice self-abasement, the more you will be pleased to be treated as of no consequence, and the more ardently you cherish the persecutions and humiliations which befall you, the more easily you will touch the hearts of those you instruct and the more easily you will induce them to live like true Christians." (No. 79 : 2 St. Francis Xavier)
"Frequently ask Almighty God for the grace to be able (like Saint Ambrose) to touch hearts. It is the grace of your state. Of what use, indeed, would all your instructions be if 'dullness crept over the senses' of those whom you instruct, as St. Paul says of the Jews, and if, after you had often taught them the truths of the Holy Gospel, 'a veil still hung over their hearts.'" (No. 81 : 2)
"Since you are required by your duty of state to instruct children, try to profit by the wise words and gentle manners of (Saint Anselm) towards the young. ...you should esteem it an obligation on your part to win their hearts, because this is one of the best ways of inducing them to live a Christian life... if you fail in this, ...instead of leading souls to God you will drive them from Him." (No. 115 : 2)
"They possess the whole world who hold men's hearts. Those who are of a kind and affable disposition, do, in fact, easily achieve this. They insinuate themselves into the hearts of all those with whom they converse. They win them over, and obtain from them what they desire. In this way, they conquer all and turn them whithersoever they will. Thus it is that those who are born with this happy disposition, or who have acquired it with the help of grace, become the masters of everyone and control them as they please." (No. 65 : 2)
"It was this tenderness and affability shown by St. Francis (de Sales) towards his neighbor that enabled him to convert so many souls to God... This virtue, in fact, won him the hearts of all those who came near him and he used the affection they showed him to lead them to God...
Have you similar sentiments of charity and tenderness towards the poor children whom you have to instruct? Do you avail yourself of the affection the children have for you to attract them to God? If you show the tenderness of a father in withdrawing them from evil, you should also show the tenderness of a mother in gathering them together, and in doing them all the good in your power." (No. 101 : 3)
"Those (who have charge of souls)... should show great tenderness for the souls confided to them, so that anything which might be capable of injuring or wounding these souls will call for their attention. In this manner, the sheep will love their shepherd and be pleased in his company, since they will find therein their repose and their relief."
(No. 33 : 2)
"The mildness and wisdom shown by St. Leo were such that even the most barbarous infidels esteemed and venerated him... Is it thus that by your mildness and wisdom you induce those who are under your care to forsake vice and wickedness, and to become pious? These two means, joined with prayer, have often greater effects upon souls than any other measures we can devise." (No. 114 : 1)
"Strive to manifest as much kindness and love for the children who you instruct as St. Barnabas showed for those whom he sought to convert."
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