My Husband Drew this picture of John Paul II
I wrote an article last year about my experience with Pope John Paul II. It was entitled “Who Else Wants to See the Pope?” It was an informal essay on my first encounter with Pope John Paul II.
The visit of Pope John Paul II to the Philippines in February 16, 1981 and eventually in January 11-21, 1995 made significant impressions on me as a teenager that I decided to write an article on what prompted me to rent a 15 passenger van and take my children to see Pope Benedict XVI in Washington, DC last year. My husband supported my last minute decision and took a vacation leave from work. I think it is not a coincidence that many people who helped me in the past somehow have some connections with Pope John Paul II. My dear husband loves John Paul II so much.
The teachings, writings and works of Pope John Paul II are manifesting as our family took a 40-day journey to “Consecrate our Family to Jesus through Mary and in union with St. Joseph.” Let me tell you how I came across this book.
A month ago, our family was experiencing a lot of trials. Our public school educated children are now teenagers ready to graduate in two years. My husband and I are shocked to find that they are not the children we had envisioned in our minds. The good side is they are excelling in their studies, consistently in the honor roll. The teenagers in our household are very compliant at home. They do their chores. They are aware and mostly follow the house rules. They do not “cuss or swear”. They participate in daily family prayers. They have no problems going to Church on Sunday. From the outside, there was no single cause of concern. Until one day, my husband and I decided to homeschool the children and remove them from public school. Are we being unreasonable?
It was not a fanatic decision at all. My husband and I went through a period of soul searching, praying and discernment for months. In an article I wrote a few days back entitled “Public School Versus Homeschooling: Which is Better?” , I tried to write an essay on what parents are confronted with right now in our society. It is called “moral decay”. As parents, we cannot control the public school agenda of “same sex marriages”, “homosexuality”, “sex outside marriage” as typical in our society and must be normal.
The majority of teenagers have unsupervised internet access, own computers and laptops, cellphones and all the latest technologies. Thus, “Internet Porn” can easily be retrieved by any curious teenager. Thus, studies have indicated that porn is viewed for the first time by children as young as 7 years old nowadays. If unsupervised, do you honestly expect your child pre-teen to teen to do their homework for 1 hour and view Internet porn for a minute? I think it is the other way around. Some teens can mislead their parents to thinking that the movie entitled “Shakespeare – Hamlet” in their IPHONE or IPOD is actually a porn movie.
Internet Software to censor adult sites like “Net Nanny” can do a great job until your teenager researches on how to block it.
We want to believe our children. We want to trust them. But, how can we fight the reality of times, if we keep our eyes closed? Our children still seem intact. They are smart. They are still obeying you until the “day” when puberty sets in and your teen’s world becomes so confusing. You were once in that age group. I know you will agree with me that you used to think “you know better than your parents”. A teenager is fearless in a fearful world. Times are different nowadays. Teens are battling a “moral war” far more dangerous that we are accustomed too in our generation. The Internet makes everything easier and faster.
Peer pressure justifies the wrongdoing of teens these days. Suddenly, it becomes “ok” for your teens to “masturbate” as sex education teaches it is a normal part of puberty. Eventually, it becomes “ok” to download pirated music and stuff from the Internet. Also, it becomes “ok” to listen to music with foul languages. Teens exclaim “Hey dude, where can you find a “beat or rhythm” that just rocks”. It is very hard to compete with “peer pressure”. It is reality. Most parents are still blind to the influence of their child’s peers.
Today’s teenagers are in conflict. So the best way teens approach this conflict is to respect their parent’s values when they are at home and respect the values of their peers when they are in school. It is leading a double life. And, it is not easily discernible for parents unless you keep a watchful eye and supervise them at all times. Who wants to watch a teenager 24/7? Not me. I prefer toddlers. They love me eternally.
The longer your children stay in public school, the more difficult it will be to have an “influence” on them. You spend 2 to 3 hours of meaningful interactions with them against 8 hours of interaction with their peers. They are not allowed to “pray” in public school. In fact, public school makes sure that we respect the beliefs of the atheist, the Godless people.
Public School is saying “Hey, we, those who do not believe in God, have equal rights to all of you who believe in God. So to be fair to everyone, we should let God out of public school. Public School is for the American Children. America teaches “equal rights”. Our American forefathers did not establish our constitution in the framework of “Godlessness”. In fact, it is the other way around.
So contemplate for just a moment, ” If God is not in Public School, who is there with your children?” Hmmm …
Logically, if God is not there, who is there?
The “Father of Lies”, better known as the fallen angels, led by the enemy. As our children breath, learn, eat, enjoy friendships in a “Godless institution”, Satan feasts at so many souls in its hands. I do not want to elaborate further and articulate in words what is happening in public school. It is self-explanatory. Americans are in big time denial about what is happening in public school. It is indeed very sad.
So where am I going with this post?
Well two important points that I am trying to address here: First point, parents should not be in denial on what is happening in public school. I summarized it quite well in my article “Public School versus Homeschooling”. Second point is what is the role of John Paul II in saving our teenagers. Let me now go to my personal encounter with Pope John Paul II and my insights about him.
For one thing, John Paul II loved the youth. He had so much passion for them. He made sure that in all the countries he visited, there is a special program for the youth.
Thus, once a teenager, there I was amidst a crowd of other teenagers trying to get a glimpse of Pope John Paul II. I saw a certain peace on his face. Tears rolled in my eyes. How can this man just tickle my heart to “tears of joy” when he has not opened his mouth to tell the crowd anything yet. All he did was raised his arms up in the air. When I viewed the scene in television when I got home, Pope John Paul II was exclaiming “Totus Tuus”. It means “totally yours”.
In all his triumphs, John Paul II was dedicating it all to our God.
However, upon further research John Paul II actually borrowed this apostolic motto of ”Totus Tuus” from the “Devotions to Mary” by Saint Louis de Montfort. It was further revealed that Pope John Paul II said “Then I understood that I could not exclude the Lord’s Mother from my life without neglecting the will of God-Trinity”.
It is along these lines that it was revealed to us how Pope John Paul II has been rambling about the same theme as my post today. Yet, his prescription to help our children is not boot camp, counseling or spanking. It is using Mary, the mother of Jesus.
I thought I got this while I was growing up and being a Catholic supposedly with “great, strong faith”. It was only after reading the book “Preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary for Families ” published by the Apostolate for Family Consecration that my husband and I came to an understanding that our children, not only our teens, can be saved from the moral decay in our society by consecrating our families. It is a 40 day journey. We are on our 26th day. But, I cannot express in words, how I came to understand the role of Mary in raising our children in modern times.
If you come this far in reading this blog, take time to view this wonderful video about Family Consecration.
Introducing the Apostolate for Family Consecration from Familyland on Vimeo.
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