Sunday 5 June 2022

Nurturing the Young - J.B. Midgley - CTS Family Matters Series

Nurturing the Young 
Thoughts for Parents and Educators
J.B. Midgley
Catholic Truth Society
ISBN 9781860824555
CTS Booklet D688


A few years ago, I encountered the works of J.B. Midgley and was very impressed with his writing. I worked at tracking all his books down. And it took me a few years. This was one of the last to be read. I now have all the volumes and after this one have 2 others left to read and review. I still have a few to read but it has been well worth tracking down all 28 books by J.B. Midgley. Twenty-six of those books were for the Catholic Truth Society.  And 6 of those were from the CTS Great Saints Series. I have also read many in the CTS Biographies and also Saints of the Isles Series. And have loved most of them. I first read a book by Midgley almost exactly 4 years ago. This volume is a great read but is very different than most of the other volumes by Midgley. 

The description on the back of the book is:

“Motherhood, fatherhood, parenting and educating your children, are the principal themes addressed by this booklet. Turning to the timeless wisdom of the Christian faith and human experience, this little collection of thoughts and sayings is intended to inspire the parents and educators of today. The eternal demands of love, forgiveness, correction, education, family life, happiness, innocence, and patience, face us all, and require one thing only: a willingness to learn – even from our mistakes.”

The chapters in this booklet are:

Marriage
Family
Mothers
Fathers
Parenting
Children
Educating

Across the 7 chapters there is just shy of 200 quotes. There is no preamble, introduction. Either to the book as a whole or to the individual chapters. There is no index of contributors or sources. A list of contributors most contributors have one piece, a few 2, a couple have 11 and 13 from the documents of Vatican II. 

Abraham Lincoln
Anna Maria Bidegain
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Archbishop Donald Coggan
Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Archbishop William Temple
Bernie Wiebe
Billy Graham
Bishop Jeremy Taylor
Bishop John Cosin
C. Myers
C.H. Spurgeon
C.S. Lewis
Cardinal Basil Hume (9)
Carlo Carretta
Charles Dickens
Daniel Webster
David Wilkerson
Don Marquis
Eberhard Arnold
Ecclesiasticus
Edith Schaeffer
Erich Fromm
Fitus Plautus
Fr F. W. Faber (3)
Fr Gerald Vann OP (2)
Fr Staretz Silouan
Francis Bacon
Franklin P. Jones
French Proverb
George Bernard Shaw
George Eliot
H.W. Beecher
Harold Loukes
Henri Amiel
Henry Adams
Henry Drummond (2)
Hilaire Belloc
Hubert van Zeller OSB
J. Heinrich Arnold
J.B. Priestley
J.C. Arnold
J.W. von Goethe
James M. Barrie
Jean Paul Eixhter
Jesus Christ
Jewish Proverb
Joseph Barth
Joseph Rice (2)
Kenneth Clarke
Leo Tolstoy
Leontine Young
Louise Guiney
Macarius of Optino (2)
Maria Bingemar
Mary ]oseph Rossello
Mary Slessor
Mgr Robert Hugh Benson
Michael Green
Olive Wyon
Pablo Cassals
Paul Tournier
Pope Benedict XVI (7)
Pope John Paul II (11)
Pope John XXIII (2)
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Paul VI
R. W. Emerson
Rabbi Brickner
Rainer Maria Rilke
Richard Baxter
Robert Ingersoll
Robert Lynd
Ruth Graham
Samuel
Samuel Johnson
Second Vatican Council (13)
Sheila Cassidy
Sigmund Frnud
St Anthony of Padua
St Athenasius
St Augustine of Hippo
St Benildus
St Charles Borromeo
St Francis de Sales
St Francis Xavier
St Gregory of Nyssa
St Ignatius of Loyola
St Isidore of Seville
St Jerome
St John Baptist de La Salle (11)
St John Bosco (7)
St John Chrysostom (2)
St John of the Cross (2)
St Joseph Calasanza
St Lawrence Giustiniani
St Paul (2)
St Therese of Lisieux
T. S. Eliot
Tbomas Traherne
The Mother of St Symphorian, Martyr
Theodore Hesburgh
Thomas a Kempis (2)
Thomas Merton
Tyron Edwards
Victor Hugo
W.L. Phelps
W.M. Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackerey
Winston Chuchill (2)
Y. Yevtushenko

I highlighted several of the quotes my first time reading this book. And a few I shared immediately with friends of family. The book begins with this quote prior to the first chapter:

“You always have joy in the evening if you spend the day fruitfully.”
     -Thomas a Kempis

The other quotes I highlighted were:

“Successful marriage is always a triangle: a man, a woman, and God.”
      C. Myers

“Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love, therefore, is its own reward.”
     Thomas Merton

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.”
     Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“The sum that two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt that can only be discharged through all eternity.
     J.W. von Goethe

“Success in marriage is more than finding the right person. It is a matter of being the right person.”
     Rabbi Brickner

“Christian marriage is a sacrament of salvation and the pathway to holiness for all members of the family. Let your homes be centres of prayer, where families are at ease in the presence of God, where others are invited to share hospitality, prayer and the praise of God.”
     Pope John Paul II

“The task of handing on the faith to children is first the responsability of the parents to whom God has entrusted their children. The ways in which God speaks to us of His love - as a Father to His children - is in the language of family relationships. It is not for nothing that the family is called "the domestic Church.” It is the first school of life and love.” 
     Cardinal Basil Hume

“It is the purest sign that we love someone if we choose to spend time idly in their presence when we could be doing something more constructive.”
     Sheila Cassidy

“It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real fat her.”      Blessed Pope John XXIII

“The supreme happiness of life is the conviction of being loved for yourself, or more correctly, of being loved in spite of yourself.”
     Victor Hugo

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”
     Theodore Hesburgh

“Train your child in the way in which you know you should have gone yourself.”
     C.H. Spurgeon

“The language of faith is learned in homes where this faith grows and is strengthened through prayer and Christian practice.”
     Pope Benedict XVI

I have read a few other volumes in the CTS Family Matters Series and as mentioned almost all the books from J.B. Midgley. Both are worth reading. This is an excellent volume for teachers, principals, parents and grandparents. You can randomly flip the book open to read a few quotes. Or read from beginning to end. There is a great deal of motivating and inspirational quotes in this volume. A great read, another one that was worth tracking down. I have already shared a copy with a friend who is a school principal. And have shared about a half dozen specific quotes with friends and family. It is another excellent resource from the Catholic Truth Society.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.

Books by J.B. Midgley:

Advent & Christmastide with the Saints
Antonio Rosmini
Benedict - Patron of Europe
Bernard of Clairvaux – CTS Great Saints
Charles Borromeo  - CTS Great Saints
Companion to St. Joseph
Companion to the Feasts of Mary
Companion to Saint Peter
Companion to Saint Paul
Companion to the Angels
Companion to the Feasts of Our Lord
Companion to the Passion of Our Lord
Dominic - CTS Great Saints
George: Patron of England - CTS Great Saints
Dewi Sant: St David Patron of Wales
Francis de Sales – CTS Great Saints
John Baptist de La Salle – CTS Great Saints
John Vianney – CTS Great Saints
Lent with the Saints
Nurturing the Young
Robert Bellarmine
Saint John the Baptist 
Stations of the Cross and Resurrection with the Saints
The Eucharist with the Saints
The Four Evangelists
Thomas Becket – CTS Saints of the Isles
Vincent de Paul – CTS Great Saints
Witchcraft, Sorcery and Magic


Contributed to:
First Fridays and First Saturdays The Devotions Explained 
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Books in the CTS Family Matters Series:
Facing Difficulties in the Christian Family Life - Peter Kahn
Passing on Faith to Your Children - Peter Kahn
Prayer in the Family – John Viatori & Beth Viatori
Sex Education A Parent’s Guide – John Timpson
The Family’s Mission to Love – Rod Isaacs & Peter Kahn
The Role of a Christian Father - Keith Chappell
The Role of Christian Grandparents – Keith Chappell
The Role of a Christian Mother – Anna Melchior
Work and the Christian Family – Peter Kahn













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