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...