The work of carefully encouraging and supporting vocations finds a radiant source of inspiration in those places in the Gospel where Jesus calls his disciples to follow him and trains them with love and care. We should pay close attention to the way that Jesus called his closest associates to proclaim the Kingdom of God (cf. Lk 10:9). In the first place, it is clear that the first thing he did was to pray for them: before calling them, Jesus spent the night alone in prayer, listening to the will of the Father (cf. Lk 6:12) in a spirit of interior detachment from mundane concerns. It is Jesus’ intimate conversation with the Father which results in the calling of his disciples. Vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life are first and foremost the fruit of constant contact with the living God and insistent prayer lifted up to the “Lord of the harvest,” whether in parish communities, in Christian families or in groups specifically devoted to prayer for vocations.

Covington, LA. April 2, 2011 (Sat.). Roman Catholic Home School Association of Louisiana, “Catholic Home Schooling: A Way of Life”, St. Peter’s Catholic Church, (St. Mary’s Hall), 125 E. 19th Avenue, Covington, LA. After 8:30 AM Mass – 5 PM. Info: Beth at 985-796-1274 or 504-220-4626, or beth@montelepre.com or rchalinfo@rchal.org or www.rchal.org

With Ash Wednesday fast approaching, many home schooling families are revisiting their annual question: “What should we give up for Lent?” While there are many worthwhile answers to the question, there may be no better candidate than television.

A basketball coach had a meeting with a player who was not performing well and asked him, “What is the problem with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?” The player replied, “Coach, I don’t know and I don’t care.”

These articles will cite famous advice, wise proverbs, and prudent counsel as they appear in the classics of literature, in the words of famous characters from the good and great books of Western civilization, and in the published letters of noble men and women. Some articles will examine the world’s bad or worst advice, for example, Polonius’s words of wisdom to his son Laertes in Hamlet, as falsehoods that mislead. Because true wisdom, in Augustine’s words, is “ever ancient” and “ever new,” this treasury of the world’s knowledge, “the collected reason of ages” deposited in “the general bank and capital of nations, and of ages,” to quote from Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, will hopefully speak to many modern minds and hearts.

Every other day, it seems some new gadget hits the market promising to solve every problem that ever existed. While we all know the hype usually far exceeds reality, some of the new technologies may hold promise for home schooling families. Over the past year, Seton has explored a few of these new technologies that may be of interest to you and your family.

I am so busy with the younger children, I am trying to have the older children follow the directions in the lesson plans.

We need to be careful about the children reading the lesson plans and doing their lessons without daily oversight by parents. Certainly most high school students should be given more responsibility, but younger children need close direction and supervision. Even high school students need fairly close oversight. Sometimes high school students will report that everything is progressing just fine, but parents find out later that all is not as it should be.

When we think about the feasts of March, we remember primarily about the feast of the Annunciation on March 25. From the Gospel of St. Luke, we read:

A freedom which is hostile or indifferent to God becomes self-negating and does not guarantee full respect for others. A will which believes itself radically incapable of seeking truth and goodness has no objective reasons or motives for acting save those imposed by its fleeting and contingent interests; it does not have an “identity” to safeguard and build up through truly free and conscious decisions. As a result, it cannot demand respect from other “wills”, which are themselves detached from their own deepest being and thus capable of imposing other “reasons” or, for that matter, no “reason” at all.

Memphis, TN. March 18-19, 2011 (Fri./Sat.). 12th Annual Homeschool Conference and Curriculum Fair, St. Louis Catholic Church, 203 South White Station Rd., Memphis. Fri.: 2:00pm – 10:00pm; Sat.: 8:45am – 3:30pm. Info: Kelley, 901-552-3579 or kgstuppy@hotmail.com or www.blessedsacramenthomeschool.org