September 28 Class Update: Church Tour

Greetings!

In our class this week, we started by praying Psalm 148, which describes the wonder of God's Creation.  To set the scene, we gathered at the St. Francis Shrine on the north side of Church, since St. Francis of Assisi is known for how he incorporated nature into his spirituality.

Then, we had our field trip, touring the Church.  We looked at some of the stained glass windows, the baptismal font, the cabinet with the sacred oils, the high altar, the St. Joseph altar, the Virgin Mary's altar, the sacristy, and the organ loft.  It was a great time, and I'm so pleased by the many wonderful questions you students asked about what you noticed inside the Church.  (This video on the Ascension YouTube channel looks at some of the architectural and artistic features of our Church and their significance.)

Toward the end of class, I also did a show-and-tell with the incense.  Psalm 141:2 says, "Let my prayer be incense before you."  This Psalm is part of the Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours.

As part of our closing prayer, everyone wrote a prayer intention on a slip of paper.

For this week, the activity for you students to do is to pray that prayer intention once per day. It need only take a moment each day to do so.  (You all got a green folder in class this week, which you can use to carry papers from class, especially those that are part of the activities to do during the week.)

There are also some extra credit opportunities for this week.  All of the following activities are optional, and take more time than the assigned activity.  They are great ways to go in-depth in faith.

Taize Prayer is this Friday evening at 7:30, both in Church and live on the Ascension YouTube channel.  Your daughter/son can attend in person, watch the live stream, or watch the archived video later. It lasts between 45 minutes and 1 hour.  I plan to attend in person, so if you plan to go, please feel free to let me know and we can greet each other afterward.

This Saturday morning, October 2, at 10 AM is the Blessing of Pets, in celebration of the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, which is on October 4.  Father Bob plans to be there to bless the pets.

This weekend, the Knights of Columbus Ascension Council is hosting a collection of diapers and wipes.  You can do this as a service activity by going to the store with your parents to buy donations, and bring them to Church on Saturday evening or Sunday morning.  Please note, this drive is only for diapers and wipes. You can drop off donations before or after any of the Masses even if you aren't attending that specific Mass time.

Please note that while the RE class schedule doesn't list October 5 as a meeting date, the 8th grade class only will meet on October 5 virtually via Zoom.  We'll meet from 7-8 PM that evening, and we encourage your daughter/son to get ready to enter the class session between 6:45 and 6:55.  During this class session, we'll spend time with Scripture and experiencing other forms of prayer.  I will send out information to access the session to the parents via e-mail in the coming days.  This class on October 5 makes up for the class we didn't have on September 14.  It's the only time between now and Advent/Christmas Break when I plan for us to meet virtually for class.  I appreciate your willingness to participate virtually for October 5.  We'll be back in our usual classroom together on October 12.

As usual, please feel free to contact me with questions, etc.

We remain connected as One Church: All my relations.

God's blessings,

Paul

Inside Ascension Church during the Christmas Season earlier this year