into the kingdom of heaven." Again Our
Lord says: "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid
them not; for of such is the kingdom of God."

Q. What practical conclusion may drawn from these words of Our Lord?

A. Commenting on these words of the Gospel, St. John Chrysostom says:
"If children are driven from Christ, who will deserve to go near Him?
Now it is evident that we get near Jesus Christ mainly by the practice
of the counsels. Children, therefore, should not be kept from Christ
by hindering them from practising these counsels."

Q. What is the doctrine of St. Thomas with regard to religious
vocations in the young?

A. On this matter St. Thomas says: "This teaching is clearly the
outcome of what occurs every day among men. For do we not see children
put early to those avocations, arts, or trades which they are to
follow in after life? Candidates for the sanctuary begin in youth to
acquire the knowledge which will help them later; those destined for a
military career are trained to arms from their early years; and the
future tradesman is apprenticed when only a boy. Why, then, should a
rule so well observed in other spheres be neglected in the case of a
religious life? I say even more: when a state of life is attended with
many difficulties, the greater is the need to habituate one's self
from youth to overcome them. Hence we read in Jeremias: 'It is good
for a man when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.'"

Q. Are children obliged to obey their parents in the choice of a state
of life?

A. St. Liguori says: "It is certain that in the choice of a state of
life children are not bound to obey their parents; thus St. Thomas and
the other Doctors teach unanimously." Both parents and children should
remember the reply of the apostles to the unjust rulers who had
forbidden them to preach Christ crucified: "We ought to obey God
rather than men."

_Example._

When St. Bernard and his brothers were bidding a final adieu to their
home and their father, they saw their youngest brother at play with
other children in the castle yard. The oldest brother embraced him,
saying: "My little brother Nivard, do you see this castle and these
lands? Well, all these will be yours--yours alone." "What!" replied
the child with more than a child's thoughtfulness, "are you going to
take heaven for yourselves and leave earth for me? The division is
unequal." From that moment little Nivard could not be restraine