I will continue to summarize the main points of the last four speakers that I had the privilege of hearing at the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) National Homeschool and Parent Conference over the week-end of June 11 and 12, 2010 in Chantilly, Virginia.The next speaker was Fr. Thomas Eutenuer who is the President of Human Life International. He spoke on the topic "The Family as the Antidote to the Kingdom of Darkness". The following thoughts are all his as taken from my notes. He described the Catholic family as being the primary object of demonic attack. The mission of every family is authentic communion. The family is the FUNDAMENTAL unit of society. The Devil attacks 1) The Church, 2) The Family, 3) Marriage and 4) The Unborn Child.
He compared and contrasted the work of the devil and how it is the opposite of the work of the family in six ways. He referenced the gospel of Mark 5:1-20 which is the story of the man possessed by the Devil named Legion who lived among the Tombs.1) The Devil has a fascination with Death./ The Family is a bringer of Life. 2) The Devil has an ability to isolate people./ The Family is a communion of persons. 3) Devils exist in gangs, they have no bodies and they coagulate together. / The Family has Structure and Order which humans need. 4)The Devil has a preoccupation with names . / In the Family we have a common name and individual names. 5) The devil shows Territoriality (a person, a place) / Families should be Rooted - we create a home. 6) Devils know that they are eternally damned.They cannot repent. They despair. They loathe humans because we have the possibility of Salvation. / Humans have eternal Hope.
Fr. Eutenuer quoted John Paul II as saying that the future of humanity passes by way of the family.Families need to be strengthened because brokeness and lack of bonding leads to a spiritual Black Hole that the devil rushes into.A vacuum of "meaning" causes individuals ( and much of our society today) to look for love in all the wrong places including gangs, drugs, covens and cults
I next went to hear Colleen Billing, Professional Organizer and Homeschooling Mother of 5 who works at a Health Club part-time and looked like a million bucks! Her topic was " Keys to Overcoming Stress and Burnout". She said stress will ALWAYS be a part of our lives and discussed how to manage it as Catholics.Briefly she said 1) Make Our Spiritually our Number 1 Priority. A)Be committed to prayer at a specific time each day.That prayer should be whatever bears fruit in our lives.Consider Adoration, if available.
B) Receive the Sacraments as often as possible. Grace is Free! The Eucharist, Confession The Sacrament of Matrimony! 2) Avoid Gossip.Make a commitment to Fasting which helps us to detach from the things of this world.
II.Eat more Nutritious Food. Plan meals and shop with a list.Eat more protein and more fiber.Get the kids into the kitchen to help with the cooking. Substitute processed foods for those that are raw or fresh.She suggested looking at the ingredients of the things that we usually buy and eliminate foods with the following ingredients:corn syrup,sugar,enriched ( which means stripped of anything healthy and artificial added), trans fats and saturated fats. She suggested starting with small changes and continuing to make more changes.
III. Exercise.This makes us feel happier and less Tense. We should be sweating 60 minutes a week. She said that 90% of people who work out do so before 9 am. She certainly looked like she practiced what she preached!
The next talk was given by a woman named Belinda Mooney who talked on the "Benefits and Challenges of Homeschooling in High School". She suggested resisting putting them in school until it is very clear that that is God's Will. She said the following " Love pours itself out. It is a long haul. There are knives in the heart along the way. The enemy is trying to discourage us. Beg Jesus to help us to be free of fear. Homeschooling is about the Trust you build in the family. Give kids the confidence to know that whatever they might have missed at home they can learn. The strength of our families is critical now. God is saving souls in the Domestic Church.The primary relationship in our lives is God, then the the marital relationship. We should be praying more for our spouses than for our children.The more that we put into our families now, the more that will come back to us later. We should always THINK WELLl of our husbands. High School is only 4 years- why pray intercessory prayers later when we are standing with them in the gate right now?"
The last talk of the conference was Mr. Dale Ahlquist again who is President of the Chesterton Society. His topic was " How to Think". He quoted Chesterton from his book Orthodoxy and the Everlasting Man. Chesterton said that an "open mind" is a mark of foolishness like an open mouth. Thinking sometimes leads to conclusions. Thinking sometimes leads to Dogma. All teaching must be dogmatic. The brain was made for conclusions byt the modern world hates Dogma. Thinking is the hardest work in the world and the most repugnant to our nature because we are LAZY! It is hard to put our thoughts into language because language continues to fall. Young people are really losing it "like. you know, um, whatever". There are no words because there are no thoughts.If you think wrong, you go wrong.Thinking is to create. Doubting is to destroy.
He went on to say that Chesterton would never argue or debate with someone until they could get back to something that they both agreed on - a First Principle or proof. There has to be something far enough back to start from such as " Existence is better than non-existence" or " The world exists and has meaning". He said that only the Catholic Church defends Free Will and Personal Responsibility.The speaker , Mr. Ahlquist stated that if one wants to learn to think - read Chesterton, who he believes to be the clearest thinker of the 20th Century.
This brings me to the end of this synopsis of the conference speakers that I heard. What a wealth of inspiration and philosophy this was.Tremendous food for thought is what I drove away with. I have been able to make some "small changes" in my spiritual and personal life that are helping me. I salute the Seton organization for organizing and underwriting this impressive gathering of top-notch speakers who were well prepared to share at a deep level with those who were able to attend. All talks were recorded also, but I don't buy the tapes or CD's because I never have time to listen to them. It has been great to refresh my own memory by consulting my notes and I appreciate those who took the time to read these long posts!
