How well Fr. Claret expresses the team work of his parents and teachers in the formation of his whole person! Today we would call it “integral formation”.
Indeed Fr. Claret refers to the formation of his understanding, his affectivity and his will, especially in the religious dimension, which had so much importance in his life, and has in the life of each one, as a unifying experience of all the other dimensions.
What crucial importance the family has for the development of the person, especially parents and school, above all in the first years of life! Fr. Claret is aware of that and gives thanks to God for all the good things received from his early childhood.
What an admirable image of the village schoolmaster who remained for several generations transmitting intellectual, moral and social values! Certainly in our urban society, with the mobility that industrialization sometimes implies, some of those formulas do not seem to be any longer sustainable. But unfortunately, in many cases no better formula has appeared to replace or improve truly that integral formation. Moreover, rapid changes of mentality have taken authority from the educators, and even from their own parents.
We must do everything possible to support the family and the school in its crucial mission. This climate brings out the experiences and education which will mark the whole life.
It was so with Fr. Claret and as it has been with each one of us. Am I aware of the good things I received from my parents and teachers?