Home > Author > Sister Magdalen
1 " We know from the lives of the saints and from Holy Scripture that from their mother’s womb, children can sense the presence of God. "
― Sister Magdalen , Reflections on Children in the Orthodox Church Today
2 " Children may sleep with a prayer-rope in their hand or under their pillow—and they may include saying the Jesus prayer (even only a few times) in their prayers. "
3 " When we speak with our children, we should be really listening to them. Sometimes Christian adults have only half an ear for children, unless perhaps they speak about God....Even when we are busy, we have to feel whether a small child’s question is serious enough to make us interrupt what we are doing, because the opportunity to answer that question may not occur again. A child has to reach a certain maturity before serious answers can be postponed. "
4 " If parents’ understanding of marriage is not directed towards their home life, their children suffer directly. "
5 " The criterion of my spiritual health is this: what is the state of relations between me and those with whom I live? No other criterion is higher. Family life is the measuring stick of Christian progress for those who live in the world. "
6 " It depends on the parents of Orthodox children to prove (not by words, but by deeds—by life itself) how being Orthodox can go together with having fun. "
7 " Children need to exercise their freedom of choice while we are there to guide them. We must loosen the reins gradually as our children grow up. We should be prepared for moments when our children’s freedom causes us anguish—this anguish is akin to the compassionate suffering of God, who undertook the ”risk” of creation. Restraint of almost grown-up children is a cheap solution; it is easier, but less effective, than understanding and prayer. If a child has been brought up in the spirit of Christ, it will hardly ever be necessary. "
8 " It is sad when teenagers say, “I’d never dare tell my mother that,” or “My father would be shocked if I even asked. "
9 " The well-known saying of Blessed Augustine: “Love, and do what you will,” really means: “Love God, and do what you will.” This could be a good motto for teenagers and those who are trying to guide them on a Christian path. The love of God is a safeguard, a guarantee of repentance, whatever transgressions we may commit. A child who loves God is safer than a child who is restricted to the point where he rebels against God. A girl asked a Christian adult once how she should dance, and the adult answered, “Dance in a such a way that you enjoy yourself; but enjoy yourself in such a way that when you come home to your room, you can face the icon of the Lord and thank Him—not so that you come home and feel ashamed to look upon His face. "
10 " Our children should feel that they can peacefully say anything: questions, doubts, criticism, points of view. They should feel that we are genuine interested in what they do and think. We should not deprive them of privacy, but all our words and conduct should encourage an open relationship. One cannot overestimate the value of such relationships. "
11 " Our children should feel that they can peacefully say anything: questions, doubts, criticism, points of view. They should feel that we are genuinely interested in what they do and think. We should not deprive them of privacy, but all our words and conduct should encourage an open relationship. One cannot overestimate the value of such relationships. "
12 " One could imagine a parent saying, after prayer and reflection: “Dance, listen, go; but keep love for Christ alive in your heart.” Often the desire to do what their contemporaries are doing is a phase that children must get out of their system, similar to a childhood illness like chickenpox. "
13 " There are many prophecies about a time when there will be apostasy on such a scale, that those who at that time simply preserve their faith will be greater than the ascetics and miracle workers of the past. "
14 " The same spiritual principle applies to all of us: are we not now ashamed of things from our own past which at the time never troubled our conscience? If our children only hear lectures about wearing this and that, and never hear about how we acquire the grace of God, what will inspire them to remain Orthodox? They will look elsewhere if they have a spiritual quest. We must see the hearts of our teenagers and not only the outward appearance, however outrageous we may find it. "
15 " Something which a teenager does cannot be judged in the same way as something a committed adult Christian does—everything depends on the direction someone is taking within his heart. "
16 " Example speaks louder than words. We have seen children coming regularly to our monastery while they were growing up. We know that many kept Christian ideals of purity because they were inspired, simply by the people they saw, to resist the permissive tendency surrounding them in most other environments they frequented. "
17 " We should encourage children not to hear music without being aware of the words they are taking in. "
18 " The question for Christians who are already married and raising children is not: “How can I reduce to a bare minimum my family obligations so as to be ‘free’ to lead a ‘more spiritual’ life?” It is rather: “How should I nurture within my family life my love for God and my neighbor? "
