Occasionally I hear a simple, perhaps even obvious, thought expressed so eloquently that it stays with you forever. Today I would like to share one such thought that I recently heard while listening to Father Mike Schmitz’ s podcast “Catechism in a Year”. Paraphrasing, Father Mike told a story that went something like this:

A soldier was going into a particular town to posthumously award the Medal of Honor to a soldier who laid down his life for others. While he was in town the soldier went into the local library and checked out a book that contained stories of other heroes who had given their life for their fellow soldiers. This story takes place in the past when libraries actually had sign out cards that were placed in a pocket in the back of the book. Eventually, if you were to look at the sign out card for that book, you would see one person’s name mentioned over and over. It was the same soldier. Every time he went into the town he went to the library and pulled out that book so he could share stories of people who had given their life for others. He shared those stories to form the conscience of those who were at the ceremonies so that they would understand what is good and right and honorable. The concept is simple. If you want to form the conscience of the next generation so that they understand what justice is, you tell them stories of justice. If you want to teach them what love is, you tell them stories of love. If you want to help them understand courage, you tell them stories of courage. If you want them to understand what it means to be holy, you tell them stories of holiness. That struck me like a sledgehammer. Isn’t that what we are missing today? In this all-about-me world we have gone off course when it comes to forming the conscience of the next generation. We tell them a few stories of love, even fewer stories of justice, fewer still of courage, and almost nothing about holiness. The void is filled by stories of violence, murder, self-gain, and betrayal of your fellow man. Is it really any wonder why society is in decline? Can any of us honestly say that we do not understand why people have lost their sensitivity towards violence, stopped caring about the lives of others and push their own agendas? Isn’t this also a reason why they leave the Church, which of course leads to fewer stories of holiness, which pushes them yet again away from God and the Church and stories of holiness. It becomes a vicious cycle, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Remember: To teach the next generation holiness, you must help form their conscience by telling them stories of holiness.