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4. educatinG tHeir cHildren to FaitH
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«Mother lived in the Presence of the Lord and of the Blessed
Virgin; she referred to Him constantly and in any circumstance: of
thanksgiving, praise, supplication and abandonment, and she often
expressed it even out loud and we little ones learned this behavior
to be as a normal thing, but it also affected our life, our vocational
growth» . (Sister Augusta)
25
Her daughter, Sister Teresa Maria, remembers the sense of
security that it gave the children to hear the voices of their parents
who, at dawn, began their day by praying. And so whoever was the
first to hear them would give the alarm to the others, sometimes
repeating a joke: «they’ve turned on the radio, it’s time to get up!» .
26

«It was a source of great encouragement for us children to
see these two parents interrupt the absorbing and pressing work of
the fields or the house for these appointments with the Lord [one of
which was reciting the Angelus], which gave them joy and a sense of
fullness of life. So naturally they taught them how one can and must
27
live the explicit command of the Lord: “pray always”» . (Father
Sebastiano, son)

«After dinner, in the evening, we would all recite the Holy
Rosary together, and before we went to sleep [Mother] would urge EVERYDAY LIFE OF THE BERNARDINI FAMILY
us to review the day and suggest spontaneous prayers, bless us and
wish us a good night» .
28
For Domenica and Sergio, the children were their thoughts,
their joy and their concern. Who could assist them and guard them
when they were at home or out of the house, far away, on the road?
The Lord and Our Lady. They had to protect them and so their hearts
were always in prayer.

ideas For reFlection

• Let us reflect on how we are educating our children to faith.

25 Cf. Marco Bertolani, Il mistero nuziale, op. cit., pp 43-44.
26 Romeo Panciroli, La roccia che disseta il deserto, op. cit., p. 43.
27 Ibidem.
28 Cf. Marco Bertolani, Il mistero nuziale, op. cit., p.58.