2021-22 Grade 8 Ascension Religious Education

Easter/Pascha Greetings Everyone! It was such a great celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on Resurrection/Easter Sunday.  It's so great that it flows forth into the 50-Day Easter Season. So keep up the celebration! The Paschal Candle burns brightly in our church to declare the victory over death through Christ's Resurrection. Recap of Last Class At the beginning of class, we had a guest speaker, Elle, one of my former RE students, who is now a junior at OPRFHS.  She talked about her experience in SPRED, which is religious education class for special needs students.  Thank you, Elle, for joining us. I also showed a video I recorded with Paige, who shared about her medical service trip at Culture of Life Ministries in Harlingen, TX, last month. We also spent time in class on the deeper meaning of the 50-Day Easter Season.  We celebrate that Christ is alive, having risen victoriously from death, and among us in a close way, giving us hope and transforming u...

Greetings everyone! It was great to be back in class after what I hope was a restful, enjoyable Spring Break, even if the Chicagoland weather wasn't always springlike. Recap of Last Class For the first part of class, Father Rex joined us to share about his journey to the priesthood, first in the Redemptorist Order, and then joining the Archdiocese of Chicago.  He talked about discernment as a process of recognizing what we're called to do in life, and prayer helps us become aware of what God is saying deep within us. Then, we took time to explore symbols of the Triduum, the three days that are at the heart of the liturgical year, with liturgies that are focused on remembering the central events of our faith, Death and Resurrection of Christ, the Paschal Mystery.  Some of these symbols include matzoh, like Jewish people eat at the Passover meal, which Jesus used at the Last Supper when he instituted a new covenant.  Other symbols included grape juice, the Cross, and the gr...

Greetings everyone! March 22, 2022, is Laetare Sunday, which means we're more than halfway through Lent 2022. Recap of Last Class Upon arriving, and before we started, everyone read about the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, and also 4 ways to form conscience. In our most recent class, our guest speaker was Bob Pence, one of my fellow pilgrims to World Youth Day 2019.  He was in a catechism class while serving in the military in Germany many decades ago.  Later in life, he became reinvigorated in faith as he facilitated RCIA for those preparing to enter the Church. One aspect of catechism class that stood out to him was the Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross. We then talked about our pets, childhood stuffed animals, and favorite animals to prime us to hear from Bishop Barron, who explains the meaning of suffering with a story from his childhood when he took his dog to the vet.  We watched a portion of a longer homily , starting around the 8:08 mark until about...

Lenten Greetings Everyone! First of all, God's blessings to the 5 students in our class who were confirmed on March 12.  It was a blessing to be in attendance at the Mass. Recap of Last Class The readings at Mass during Lent describe what it means to be in a relationship with God, as catechesis for those preparing for initiation into the Chruch, and for those of us already baptized, it strengthens our faith. In our most recent class, I started by sharing that on the first Sunday, we hear the story of Jesus's 40 Days in the desert. On the 2nd Sunday of Lent, the Gospel passage is the story of the Transfiguration, which happens on a high mountain, traditionally considered Mount Tabor. Lent calls us to an intense penitential focus, but the practices we do have a goal of helping us encounter God's glory in a powerful way on Resurrections Sunday.  The Transfiguration gives a glimpse of the glory to come. We took a few minutes to recite the Lord's prayer line by line to grow ...

Lenten Greetings Everyone! Recap of Last Class First of all, thanks for your contributions to the Mothers' Day Collection for inmates. We last met on Fat Tuesday, and we spent time looking ahead to Lent, which began the next day on Ash Wednesday. Our opening prayer had a series of Scripture-based passages that speak about ashes, based on the customary palm burning prayer liturgy used in years past. Mr. Smyth visited to discuss this year's Lenten project, which, in collaboration with St. Giles, is raising funds to support Housing Forward House-to-Home kits.  Everyone got paperwork to take home with details.  We encourage you to contribute using money from allowance, chores, or whatever extras you're giving up for Lent. We then did a snowball toss to think about Lent.  The Season of Lent has its origins in a lengthy , intensified preparation period that took place 40 days before the celebration of the Resurrection for those preparing for baptism.  For all of us who are...

Greetings everyone! Recap of our Last Class At the start of class, everyone had the chance to think about their Lenten plans using a planning sheet I gave everyone.  As a reminder, you won't need to turn anything in for your Lenten plans, but please use that sheet as a guide to help you get Lent started on the right note. February 22 is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, which commemorates when Christ acclaimed Simon Peter for his profession of faith and gave him a special leadership role in the Church as the first Pope, handing him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the teaching authority of the Popes and the Bishops. We looked at that day's Gospel reading in Matthew 16:13-19. This scene is depicted in a window in our church: As Christ asked His disciples Who He is, so He asks each of us, and we are called to let our profession of faith translate into actions for God's glory as we proclaim the Good News. We also watched two more videos in the series on the Mass,...