Let the children

"And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me ; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them."

(Mk 10, 13-16).

“...at the sight of the multitude of children who call to us for help, who beg and plead that we have pity on their plight and pluck them from the eternal death that threatens them, no human interests will hold us back. We will go to them ; we will take them in our arms, and we will tell them : Children, whom Jesus, our Saviour kissed and blessed, come to us, stay with us, and we will be the guardians of your innocence."JMLM

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father. What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost." (Mt 18, 10-14).

PERSONAL DIMENSION

"Dear Children, come quickly and with confidence! I call all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus, who, while on earth, also called you with so much tenderness and goodness." JMLM

"Leave your country, your family, sacrifice everything ; go, and teach these poor children who ask for the bread of instruction, and who are perishing because there is no one to break the bread and distribute it to them" JMLM

"Sublime vocation! It is the vocation of Jesus Christ himself! He left the bosom of the Father only to do that which you will do following his example. Scripture tells us that he spent his time doing good, instructing the poor, healing the lame and the sick. You also are instructing with the right doctrine those who are ignorant of it and who, deprived of your lessons would have ignored it forever. You will do wonders in the spiritual order for these children whose eyes you will open to the divine light, to whom you will make known God and the road that leads to heaven. You will restore spiritual health to these crippled children. You will free these children already mired in vice, much like an infested sepulchre. Who are these children, if not the blind brought back to light, the crippled beginning to walk with straight and firm steps: the resurrected dead?" JMLM

Apostolic dimension

"Oh! Never forget! Your work is wonderful; it is holy, because it aims at making saints, not scholars.

Your ministry is sublime and divine because you do not only aim at giving these children committed to your care, knowledge of worldly things, but at making them true disciples of Jesus Christ and heirs of his Kingdom and glory.

Your school is therefore a temple where you exercise one of the most august functions of the priesthood, that of education. From your pulpit you speak in the name of Jesus Christ ; you are his substitute and so you have nothing in common with the mercenaries for whom a school is nothing more than a workshop for reading, writing and mathematics, and who manufacture education in the same way a carpenter makes a piece of furniture." JMLM

"Then, my Brothers! Your glory, understand it well, is to make Christians of these children who without you would never be ; these children who can only become Christians if you teach them, not by your words but by your examples, to be humble of heart ; these children whom you must resemble in order to possess the Kingdom of heaven" JMLM

"The Brothers will not leave alone the children who are in their care, neither during the day nor at night, neither at table, nor at recreation time, neither at work, nor during prayer."

“O my God, achieve your work: save these children who are so dear to you ! You have redeemed them at the price of your blood; willingly we want to offer even the last drop of ours to save them. Poor children, we will love them all the more the dangers that are threatening them are greater..."We shall count one by one all the sheep that you have placed in our care, and we shall defend them against renewed attacks. O my God, protect them; protect us all! We expect nothing from men ; you alone is our hope ; it will not be disappointed." JMLM