Baptism- Jesus and Us: January 11 Class Update

Greetings everyone!

Thank you again for your adjustment to meeting virtually in light of various circumstances.  (And thank you to my fellow middle school catechist Mariana Perepitchka for assisting with the three virtual classes we've had this year.)

During our most recent class, we focused on baptism, which is a kind of follow-up to the Christmas Season.

God revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at the Baptism of Jesus, which is the Feast that ends the Christmas Season.  As people of faith, we join with Christ in Baptism, so that we are filled with God's life-giving presence.  We are named His beloved daughters and sons.  We are anointed by His Spirit, which enables us to participate in Christ's mission of making God known in the world, especially through loving deeds of service.

We're anointed first at baptism, and then again at Confirmation, with blessed and scented olive oil.  (Remember how that connects with my participation in the 2005 Julian School Round of the National Geography Bee?)

During class, we also continued with the video series on the Mass.  If you want to refer to the videos again, links are below my signature.

Please remember to submit your responses to the Gifts of the Spirit home activity by January 21.  If you have any questions about this activity, please feel free to contact me.

After completing the Gifts of the Spirit activity, the next activity is to spend time reflecting on the meaning of baptism.  This second activity is due for our next class on January 25.

Please watch one of these short videos:




Then, submit a reflection of at least one sentence in this Google form.

As a reminder, all 8th graders are excused from attending class on January 18 because of the required meeting for the transition to OPRFHS.

We plan to be back again in the classroom on January 25 from 6:45-8:00.

Then, we'll meet virtually on February 1 from 7-8 PM.

We'll be back in the classroom on February 8 for our regularly scheduled time, and for all the other scheduled classes.

Please feel free to contact me with questions, etc.

We remain connected as One Church: All my relations.

God's blessings,
Paul

P.S. Here's the music video of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" we watched during our opening prayer time in class, performed by the group Casting Crowns.  This video displays the lyrics.

Here is the Baptism of the Lord homily that contains the guided meditation we did in class.  It's specifically between the 6:50-11:15 time frame.

We watched the videos on the readings and the homily in the Mass Series.

the Baptismal font inside Church


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