Fr. Barré was profoundly aware that every person is created in the image of God and that Jesus identifies with every human being. He was deeply moved by people’s ignorance of their creator and the miserable state in which poor people around him were forced to live. His solution was to instruct and educate.
Each one of us is called in an uniquely different way to bring about this image of God. ‘Different kinds of trees produce different kinds of fruit. We must not look for cherries on a plum tree. Each one of us must bear the kind of fruit that grace has given us and which attracts us’.
He gave the same advice to educators: ‘Have the gift of discernment with regard to the children and those they instruct so as to enable each one to develop according to their unique giftedness’
To be involved in the growth of the human person is, according to Nicolas Barré, the most beautiful of vocations: ‘ Let your heart expand with a holy joy as you contemplate your happiness and the excellence of your vocation’.
The words of Fr. Barré continue to inspire many today.
‘Abandon yourselves to the guidance of the Spirit who gives grace to the humble and puts words on their lips. Ask the Spirit to speak to the hearts of the children’. (R.C. 3,4)