Religious vocations often share the fate of the seed that fell by the wayside and the seed that fell among thorns: "And the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in, choke the word, and it is made fruitless." Q. Does Our Lord manifest any special preference for the young? A. Yes; He makes the conduct of children the standard for all who would be saved: "Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Again Our Lord says: "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God." Q. What practical conclusion may drawn from these words of Our Lord? A. Commenting on these words of the Gospel, St. John Chrysostom says: "If children are driven from Christ, who will deserve to go near Him? Now it is evident that we get near Jesus Christ mainly by the practice of the counsels. Children, therefore, should not be kept from Christ by hindering them from practising these counsels." Q. What is the doctrine of St. Thomas with regard to religious vocations in the young? A. On this matter St. Thomas says: "This teaching is clearly the outcome of what occurs every day among men. For do we not see children put early to those avocations, arts, or trades which they are to follow in after life? Candidates for the sanctuary begin in youth to acquire the knowledge which will help them later; those destined for a military career are trained to arms from their early years; and the future tradesman is apprenticed when only a boy. Why, then, should a rule so well observed in other spheres be neglected in the case of a religious life? I say even more: when a state of life is attended with many difficulties, the greater is the need to habituate one's self from youth to overcome them. Hence we read in Jeremias: 'It is good for a man when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.'" Q. Are children obliged to obey their parents in the choice of a state of life? A. St. Liguori says: "It is certain that in the choice of a state of life children are not bound to obey their parents; thus St. Thomas and the other Doctors teach unanimously." Both parents and children should remember the reply of the apostles to the unjust rulers who had forbidden them to preach Christ crucified: "We ought to obey God rather than men." _Example._