Saint Clement of Alexandria (150- c.215)
theologian
Pedagogue, I, 53-56 ; SC 70
"It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost"
Scripture calls all of us “children” and, when we begin to follow Christ, we receive the name of “little children” (Mt 18:3; Jn 21:5)... So who is our instructor and tutor, the tutor that we have when we are small? He is called Jesus. He calls himself “shepherd” by name, referring to himself as “the good shepherd” (Jn 10:11). He makes a comparison between shepherds guiding their sheep and himself, the tutor who guides small children, the shepherd full of concern for the lambs which, in their simplicity, he compares with the sheep. “They will all be one flock,” he says, “because there will be one shepherd” (Jn 10:16). Therefore our tutor is, of course, the Word of God because he leads us to salvation. As he clearly declared through the mouth of the prophet Hosea: “I am your teacher” (5:2 LXX).
As for his instruction, that is the religious formation by which he teaches us how to serve God, forming us in the knowledge of the truth and leading us straight to heaven... Pilots guide their ships with the intention of bringing their passengers safely to harbor; in the same way our tutor, in the care he bears towards us, points God's children towards the way of life leading to salvation... Thus he who leads us is our holy God, Jesus, God's Word, all humanity's guide. God himself leads us in his love for us... The Holy Spirit said of him during the Exodus: “He found him in the wilderness, a wasteland of howling desert. He shielded him and cared for him, guarding him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle incites its nestlings forth by hovering over its brood, so he spread his wings to receive him and bore him up on his pinions. The Lord alone was his leader” (Dt 32:10-12).
Daily Marriage Tip for August 14, 2018:
“Not everyone is going to be a friend, but no one needs to be an enemy.” (Susan Vogt) How do you, your spouse, and your children deal with people you don’t like? Avoid them? Pray for them? Try to understand them? Gossip about them? Confront them? Fight? Talk about it.