Spiritual Preparation—Turning and Becoming a Child

By Jennifer Gregory Miller ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 13, 2024 | In The Liturgical Year

September closes the books on summer, and for many of us the school year has already been progressing for a few weeks.

I have been quiet here, but only because I’ve been busy elsewhere. I finished my Montessori training and now am officially an AMI Primary (ages 3-6) Diploma holder. For the Montessori world, this is a gold standard diploma. It was thirteen months of hard but gratifying work. My previous formation has been through Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, but now I have added Montessori education to round out the whole view of the child.

Another area that has kept me busy is that I have changed jobs and am working in a different Montessori school. I’m now the Elementary CGS catechist (for ages 6-12) at Siena Academy in Great Falls, Virginia. I’m also using my new diploma in different ways supporting the younger children, ages 3-6. I’m enjoying working with the staff and the children; it feels like a good fit. And it just so happens to be the parish school of Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, another author at Catholic Culture!

I could sum up this past year’s work as entering deeply into this Scripture passage:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18: 1-4).

In order for me to “turn and become like children”, I have been pondering and studying the question “Who is this chid?” The whole process has been such a gift! I’m excited to share more insights and connections as related to living the Liturgical Year in the family.

One thing that struck me through this training process was that Dr. Montessori called for spiritual preparation of the adult. She insisted that before one can truly work with a child, the adult needs to take care of his/her house first.

Besides the preparation of the environment and the material, and the successive presentation of the material, the inner, spiritual preparation of the teacher is essential (Creative Development in the Child II, 109).

And that process, spiritual preparation, is ongoing. It never ends. I have four other quotes to share, but there are many more places where she insisted on this transformation or spiritual preparation:

We insist on the fact that a teacher must prepare himself interiorly by systematically studying himself so that he can tear out his most deeply rooted defects, those in fact which impede his relations with children. In order to discover these subconscious failings, we have need of a special kind of instruction. We must see ourselves as another sees us.

This is equivalent to saying that a teacher must be initiated. He must begin by studying his own defects, his own evil tendencies, rather than by being excessively preoccupied with a “child’s tendencies,” with the manner of “correcting a child’s mistakes,” or even with “the effects of original sin.” First remove the beam from your own eye and then you will see clearly how to remove the speck from the eye of a child (The Secret of Childhood, 149).

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The Montessori Guide must acquire a moral alertness which has not hitherto been demanded by any other system, and this is revealed in their tranquility, patience, charity, and humility. Not words, but virtues, are their main qualification (The Discovery of the Child, p. 151).

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An ordinary teacher cannot be transformed into a Montessori teacher, but must be created anew, having rid herself of pedagogical prejudices. The first step is self-preparation of the imagination, for the Montessori teacher has to visualise a child who is not yet there, materially speaking, and must have faith in the child who will reveal himself through work. (Education for a New World, p. 67).

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The real preparation for education is the study of one’s self. The training of the teacher who is to help life is something far more than the learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is a preparation of the spirit (The Absorbent Mind, p. 132)

Working with children, we need to ensure as much as possible that the adult provides a positive and healthy attitude and approach with the child. This requires some spiritual or inner preparation working on virtues or inner qualities. Dr. Montessori pointed out in particular openness, humility, patience, love and respect, but of course, we always have room for growth in other areas, also.

It just struck me how different this training was from any other job. How many jobs require you to work on your patience and humility?

Of course, we can recognize that in our vocations we have this duty to prepare and work on our interior selves. I know it is a work that continues for me daily as a wife and mother. And perhaps that was Dr. Montessori’s vision—working with children isn’t just a job or career, but she elevated it to a vocation that requires continual transformation of the adult. And working on this spiritual preparation makes one more open “to turn and become like” a child.