October 19, 2021 Update: God is Gift and We are Gift

Greetings everyone!

The primary focus of our most recent class was on Theology of the Body, the teachings of Pope St. John Paul II's on the body and how we all created for a purpose.

The big idea is that the body is sacramental, a visible sign of the invisible reality of God.  We are created to reflect God, Who is love.  God is love means that He gives Himself as total gift, which we experience in the Eucharist, when we recall Christ's sacrifice for us.  We are created to be a gift as we make God's presence known to others.

You are all getting an extension for last week's activity.

Please visit Carlo Acutis's website on Eucharistic miracles.  Take a couple of minutes to read a story about one of these miracles, and then write a minimum of 1 sentence sharing about what you learned.  Bring that sheet with you to class this Tuesday.

Looking ahead, the plan is to watch a documentary in class this coming Tuesday, Champions of Faith: Baseball Edition.  It is an excellent film, and my students in years past have enjoyed it greatly.

Further along into November and beyond, we'll spend more time on the Mass and the Eucharist.

As a reminder, there are still plenty of spots available to assist with the coat drive at Church this weekend.  

Here's the sign-up form.

The time slots are around the Mass times.  You can help before Mass, then attend Mass, and then assist after Mass ends.  And if you're unavailable for a full time slot, but can help with part of the time, please let me know, and I can make arrangements for you to help for part of a shift.

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

We remain connected as One Church, partying hard with Jesus Christ!

All my relations.

God's blessings,

Paul

Here are some links to resources from class:

Our opening prayer was the song "We Are One Body".

Here's a link to the video on which was based my Theology of the Body presentation in class.  It's about 50 minutes long, and watching it is optional.

Here's St. Teresa of Avila's meditation.  Here's a sung version, which we didn't watch in class, but you can view if you're interested.

We watched this interview with US Olympic gymnast Grace McCallum.

Remember, each of you is a gift.  Go forth to be a gift of God's presence to others.