November 17 Class Update: Jesus Christ

Christ the King Sunday Greetings 8th grade class (and parents)!

First of all, those of you who sing or play a musical instrument may be interested to know that November 22 is the Feast of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music.  Perhaps you'll want to play a joyful tune to celebrate.

As the "Circle of Life" moves us toward the end of the liturgical year, we celebrate on this Sunday the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.  Christ died and rose again, and now rightly has earned His Kingship over all.

As Paul discussed this important feast in our class this past Tuesday, we had the opportunity to hear Father Rex share about Jesus Christ.  He described how Jesus Christ is an important figure in humanity.  Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah of the Jewish people.  During His adult life, Jesus preached the Kingdom of God, and ministered to meet people's needs, and chose 12 apostles to be part of His mission.  The Jewish religious authorities felt threatened, and so decided to crucify Him.  This crucifixion happened the day after the night when, at supper with His disciples, He offered His Body and Blood.  Then Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven.

The important question for us to consider is what Jesus means to each of us, and why we are still talking about Him 2000 years after His time on earth.  Ultimately, Jesus Christ makes an impact on each of us when we enter into a personal relationship with Him.  Father Rex used the example of John Newton, whose life was changed by faith in Christ, so that he ended his work as a captain of a slave ship, and then became a pastor in London, during which time He wrote the famous hymn "Amazing Grace."

We are off from class this Tuesday evening, November 24.

We resume class on December 1.

During this time, there are again several options for spiritual activities to do.  Please pick at least one of these activities to do.

Here is the link to the submission form.

Your submission is due by class time on December 1.  Please be sure to indicate which option you chose along with your brief reflection of 1-2 sentences.  

And if your parents were contacted about missing submissions from previous weeks, please complete them as soon as possible.  You can let us know if you're not sure which ones you're missing.

Please note: In consultation with Ms. Lawrence, any of these activities count as Faith Boosters.  Please note, even if you have completed all the required number of faith boosters, you must still complete at least one of these options. A minimum of 5 Faith Boosters are due by December 15.  A minimum of 10 service hours are also due by then.

1. Write down one thing you're thankful for each day, big or small. Towards the end of these two weeks, write a reflection on one thing you wrote over the course of the two weeks and what it felt like to give thanks each day.  You can also include everything you wrote.

2. Write a thank-you note to someone who has done something for you: a teacher, a friend, an employee at a store or business you patronized in-person or online, someone who delivered something to your home, or even your baptismal godparents.  Write a reflection on what it meant to you to write a note of thanks and why you chose that person, and what kind of response you got.

3. Read President Washington's and Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day proclamations, and reflect on what was similar and what was different about each, and what phrase stood out to you in each.

4. Read about the places associated with the Thanksgiving celebration of September 8, 1565, Mission Nombre de Dios and the St. Augustine Cathedral Parish in St. Augustine, Florida, and write about what you learned.  

5. If you attend Mass on Thanksgiving Day at 9 AM at Ascension, write a 1-2 sentence reflection on what stood out to you.

6. Listen to one of Bishop Barron's homilies from a previous year's Christ the King Sunday, and write a short reflection about what stood out to you in any of those homilies.

7. In-depth option: Watch the November Taize prayer service, posted on the Ascension YouTube channel. Write a reflection about what stood out to you.  (You may also watch the September Taize prayer service. Both of these prayer services are just under 30 minutes long.)

8. We will start a new liturgical year on November 29, with the First Sunday of Advent.

Here are several daily Advent reflection resources to help you enter into the spirit of this season.  Please click on the links to sign up for any of these programs.  Once you sign up, each day of Advent, you get a short reflection.

Relevant Radio "Advent Inspirations"

Dynamic Catholic "Best Advent Ever"

Real Life Catholic "Unshakeable Joy" Advent program.

Miracles Abound Advent booklet, which was mailed to all RE families

For your activity submission, write a 1-2 sentence reflection on any 1 day of these Advent daily reflections.

9. In-depth option: Watch the Advent Vespers Prayer Service at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for Sunday, November 29.  The livestream starts at 2:50 PM CT, with the prayer service beginning at 3 PM CT and lasting until about 3:30 PM.  You may also view an archived video of it later. Vespers prayer services will happen on this YouTube channel every Sunday of Advent at the same time.  If you want to have a worship program booklet to look at to refer to the lyrics of what is sung, please contact Paul, who has a copy.

We will talk more about Advent during our class time on December 1.

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

We pray you and your families have a blessed week with all its celebrations, as we conclude this liturgical year with Christ the King Sunday, and then enter into the season of Advent.  Let us rejoice that He is our King, and He has called us to be part of advancing His Kingdom on Earth through works of righteousness, justice, and mercy.  He is the King Who has come and is coming again.  May we open our hearts to welcome Him even now.

We pray your families have a blessed Thanksgiving.  It is a fitting holiday for us as Roman Catholics, because the Eucharist comes from a Greek term that means "thanksgiving", so we celebrate this holiday every time we gather for Mass.  May we on this occasion, and each day, give thanks for how God blesses us, even with the gift of His presence with us, which we can always count on.  And let us give thanks for the many ways, even in the difficult circumstances of our world, that God shows His goodness to us each day.  We are certainly thankful for the opportunity to be part of Religious Education class with you.

Enjoy your time off, and we look forward to seeing you on December 1.

Christ is the King, let us rejoice!

Thanks be to God!

Debbie Lopez

Paul Rubio

P.S. If you would like to refer to it again, we read Psalm 100 at the beginning of class this past Tuesday, which speaks about Thanksgiving to God.

Above is an image of Christ the King that appears on the outside of Ascension Church at the East Avenue doors.  Below is an image of Christ the King that is visible inside the church in the rose window by the organ.

Above is an icon image of Christ the King that we have at Ascension Church.

May this hand turkey be a symbol that represents the many blessings for which we offer thanks, on Thanksgiving Day, and each day of our lives, just as we do at the Eucharist each time we gather for Mass.

Class Update: the Eucharist and Remembrance

Greetings everyone,

In our most recent class, for our opening prayer time, we had the chance to reflect on those we know who have passed away, remembering that "We believe all the ties of friendship and affection which knit us together as one in this life do not unravel with death."

Paul then shared about his Grandpa Martin, who was a World War II veteran, and also spoke about Veterans' Day and Election Day.

The inscription on the grave of Paul's grandfather is inspired by 2 Timothy 4:6-8, in the New International Version of the Bible.

We hope that if you know a veteran who is still living that you will take the chance to contact that person and thank her/him for serving in the US armed forces.

Subsequently, Paul shared more about the story of faith in his life.

We then turned our focus toward the Mass and the Eucharist, when we remember the sacrifice Jesus Christ offered for us, just as we have many ways in our own lives and in society that we remember important people and events of the past.  When we gather at Mass, we re-present the sacrifice, reliving it.

Here again is the video for the Eucharist Prayer II we watched, and here is a link for the complete text.

While we didn't watch this video in class, it shows the text as someone chants the prayer.

This week's activity has options that offer an opportunity to ponder the meaning of the Eucharist, which is at the heart of the Mass.  One of the in-depth options is to view the Ordination Mass for the three new bishops of the Archdiocese of Chicago.  It will be streamed live at 2 PM on Friday, November 13, on the Archdiocesan YouTube channel.  If you choose to watch it, you can also it view the archived video at a later time.  It will likely be 2 hours long.  Again, you can pick an option that takes much less time, as we generally expect you to spend 10 minutes or so with the weekly activities.

Here is the link with instructions for the activity options and to submit your reflection on the activity you choose: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R6H6QJ5

Please be sure to state which option you chose when you submit your reflection.

Looking ahead, our class time on November 17 will be a special Confirmation preparation session, with the topic of Jesus Christ, led by Father Rex.

Also, more information is forthcoming about some service opportunities that are available during the next few weeks to get gifts to people in need.

One opportunity that is taking place over the next week is Operation Shoebox: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

If you, students, provide the money for buying the gifts that you give, using allowance money or doing extra chores, it counts for your service hours.

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

God's blessings on your week,

Debbie Lopez

Paul Rubio

P.S. In class, Paul mentioned Brecklynn Brown, who wrote a winning essay in a contest to write a question for the recent vice presidential debate hosted in Utah.  Here is a link for the text of her essay, and here is a link to view the final 4.5 minutes of the debate, with her question and the responses from the two candidates.  I hope that, like Brecklynn, you, students, seek out ways to be involved as a citizen now, even before you are eligible to vote.

And here's the link to the video to listen to Kate Smith's original 1938 performance of "God Bless America".  The song was originally written in 1918 by Irving Berlin, and this performance on November 10, 1938, was the first time it was performed on the radio, in the year that November 11 became an annual holiday to commemorate the Armistice that ended World War I.  In the 1950's, it became a holiday to honor all those living veterans who have served in the US military.

Here is the Mount Soledad Veterans' Memorial in San Diego, CA, which Paul visited last month.

Class Update: Sacred Tradition

All Saints' Day Greetings Everyone!

First, we want to acknowledge and thank all those of you who helped with the coat drive, as our parish continued the effort to provide for those in need with winter on the way.

In our most recent class, we started off with this prayer the US bishops wrote for before an election.

We also watched about a minute of this song, "Love the Lord", based on the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which Jesus talks about when He states what the two greatest commandments are in Matthew 22:34-40.

Then we posed the question, What makes us unique as Roman Catholics?

Everyone gave great responses, which all spoke in some way to our Sacred Tradition, which we learned about in a short video.  Christ established a Church, and then handed responsibility for safeguarding it to the Apostles, which includes passing on the teachings of Christ, and they handed on that authority to their successors, the Pope and the Bishops.

Father Kevin Ripley then joined us.  He had been assisting at Ascension while he was in seminary, which included taking the role of a small group table leader for the in-person Confirmation meetings.  Now he's a priest at St. Raphael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church in Oshkosh, WI.  He shared about how he discerned his calling to the priesthood, his ordination, and what he's been doing so far.  He also encouraged everyone to be intentional in how they can discern what God is calling them to, especially through spending time in prayer.

At the conclusion of our time, he offered a blessing, which is based on an ancient priestly blessing written in Numbers 6:22-27.

Please note, we are off from class on Tuesday, November 3.

For these two weeks, the options for the activity are an opportunity to think about the great traditions of the Roman Catholic Church related to All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.

The submission form is at this link.  Reflections are due by class time on November 10.

There are several options available:

One option is to pray the prayer for the canonization cause of a proposed saint.

Three examples are Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk, Blessed Carlo Acutis, Venerable Father Augustus Tolton, and Blessed Father Michael McGivney.

The above examples are not an exhaustive list, so you can choose another individual whose canonization cause is currently active.  If you choose someone else, please include a link to the website for that canonization cause when you submit your reflection.

After offering up the prayer, reflect in 1-2 sentences on a line that stood out to you from the prayer.  You're also welcome to look around at the websites for the canonization causes to learn more about each of these proposed saints.

Two other options are to read all four readings for either All Saints' Day or All Souls' Day and then write a 1-2 sentence reflection.  (Please note, that there are multiple options given for All Souls' Day, so you may see more than 4 readings provided.)

In addition to using a print resource, the readings can be found on this website.  Please be sure you're on the November calendar, and then click on November 1 for All Saints' Day or November 2 for All Souls' Day.

Another option is to spend time reflecting on someone you know who has passed away, whether recently, or before you were born.  It can be someone in your family, or a family friend.  Assemble a memorial with items or symbols representing something about that person. Write a 1-2 sentence reflection on what items or symbols you used.

New this time are 3 in-depth options.  Generally, the expectation is to spend about 10 minutes doing whatever activity you choose.  The in-depth options will take much longer, and are not required, but are a great opportunity to experience more of our Tradition.  One option is to watch the Beatification Mass for Father McGivney, which just happened on October 31.  It is just under 2 hours long.  The second option is to watch Father Kevin Ripley's ordination Mass, which is just over 2 hours long.

After watching either Mass, write a 1-2 sentence reflection on what stood out to you.

A third in-depth option is to watch a documentary about Father McGivney and write a 1-2 sentence reflection on what you learned about him.  It is about 27 minutes long.

Also, while you are only required to do one option, you can also pick more than one.  You can include the reflections you write for each additional option you choose in the same form when you submit.

We look forward to seeing everyone back in class on November 10.

We are planning to spend time focusing on the text of the Eucharist prayer.

We encourage you to print out the document attached to the e-mail sent to your parents.  Please also bring to class something to write with and the notebook you received at the start of the year.

As usual, please let us know if there are any questions about the activity or anything else.

On this All Saints' Day, may all the holy men and women of God pray for us, so that, like them, we faithfully answer the call to holiness and live our lives as the saints God desires us to be.

God's blessings,

Debbie Lopez

Paul Rubio

This artwork, entitled "Universal Call to Holiness" is in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. It speaks to a new understanding that arose from the Vatican II Council, that each of us as part of the baptized faithful are called to by God to live as saints.  An explanation of the artwork appears below.