Friday, October 23, 2009
On Extra-Curricular Work
In the past year or so, my kids have started some organized activities: soccer, karate, and ballet. These are new endeavors for them, and, since they are pretty young, just following directions can at times be daunting - never mind mastering the new drills and exercises.
What I've found is that if just once during the week I go through the stretches, dance moves, and kicks with them at home that it goes a long ways towards not only their progress, but it also towards their enjoyment. In short, one just can't show up once a week at a class and think they are ever going to achieve much - no matter the arena or how much it costs! Outsourcing has its limits; and to invoke a homeschooling shibboleth, all education is self-education.
Though a life-long DIYer myself, I also recently re-learned this lesson with my Bible study. Recall that last year I read the good book cover-to-cover. One benefit of doing so has been that now Sunday Mass has taken on new, enhanced meaning. For thirtysomething years phrases like *A letter from Paul to the Corinthians* flew through my one ear and out the other. But, after reading the Bible with application, now I have a clue who Paul is, where Corinth was, and why he was writing all those letters! And this is but one example of many I could offer.
I realized that by simply attending mass each week, that I had been guilty of outsourcing as well - and probably the worst kind imaginable! Sure, the Catholic church is partially guilty on this front as they don't really encourage much on the individual front, but I was a complete Moron for thinking that I could just show up once a week, put in no extra-curricular work and somehow turn into a spiritual blackbelt.
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
G.K. Chesterton, "Everlasting Man"
JP II, "Familaris Consortio"
Paul VI, "Humanae Vitae"
Indispensable!
If you like philosophy, JPII's "Splendor of Truth" and "Faith and Reason"
It's just the tip of the iceburg.
And don't quit reading the Bible.
Thanks for the recs.
I haven't *quit*, I just needed a break....and time for digestion.
I'm doing other stuff which I'll describe on a future post.
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