January 12 Class Update: Baptism and Confirmation

Greetings Students (and Parents)!

In our most recent class, Paul started out sharing a reflection about his visit to the birthplace of Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr.

Above is the home on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, GA, where Pastor King was born on January 15, 1929.  Typically, free tours are offered to the public of the inside. If you haven't had the chance to visit yet, hopefully, you will. Below is the grave of Pastor and Mrs. King, about 2 blocks from his birth home.

Then, Paul shared clips from when he participated in the 2005 Geography Bee School Round as a student at Julian.  The winning question included olive oil, which has been used for centuries as a means of anointing, and is used today in sacraments.

Above is a container of olive oil in Paul's home. Perhaps your family has it at home, too, for cooking or when eating bread.

Below is a photo Paul took of the blessed oils used for sacraments in our Church.

The Confirmation rite uses blessed and scented olive oil as a way of sealing the confirmand in the Holy Spirit.  Oil is also part of anointing in baptism, when the Holy Spirit first comes upon a person, just as it came upon Jesus at His Baptism, which we celebrated recently at the conclusion of the Christmas Season.

During the latter half of class, Father Rex addressed questions that were submitted in the Confirmation e-log.  One major point he emphasized is that God gives us the opportunity to cooperate in the works He has been doing in this world, and that's part of living out Confirmation.

Please note, for this Tuesday, January 19, there is a schedule change.  The calendar states we are meeting, but we are excusing everyone from class based on our understanding that there is a required meeting that same evening for 8th graders who are transitioning to OPRFHS in 2021.

January 19 is the due date for submitting a letter to the parish center to Father Rex requesting to be confirmed.

If you haven't yet received an e-mail with instructions for the letter, please contact the RE office as soon as possible, as the office might be missing something in your Confirmation e-log.

Please also register for a time slot for confession on February 2 on this sign-up page. 

We resume class on January 26. We'll spend some time on Confirmation and confession, too.

The letter to Father Rex requesting Confirmation is due at the Ascension Parish Center on January 19.

During the week leading up to January 26, the activity to do is to spend some time learning a little bit more about the significance of Confirmation.

There are three options:

1. Watch this video by Donald Hying, currently Bishop of Madison, WI, but was serving as Auxiliary Bishop in Milwaukee at the time of the video.  It is a little over 2 minutes long.

2. Watch this video extracted from Bishop Barron's series on the sacraments. It is 1 minute and 40 seconds long.

3. Read this article that Bishop Barron wrote about Confirmation, or watch the video version of it--about 10 minutes long.

Submit a reflection of at least 2 sentences on what you learned from what you watched or read in this Survey Monkey form.  Please also state which option you chose.  This submission is due by class time on January 26.

As an in-depth option, do two or more of the above options and submit a 2-sentence reflection.

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

Enjoy the extended weekend, and may it be an opportunity for you to ponder how to put faith in action in the spirit of Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr.

God's Blessings,

Debbie Lopez

Paul Rubio