February 23-March 2 Class Update

Greetings Everyone!

Recap of Last Class

In our most recent class, our opening prayer was an African-American spiritual, "Lift Every Voice and Sing", which is regarded as the Black National Anthem.

We spent much of our class time with our two special guests, Dan and Ann Ruggaber.  They are a retired couple Paul got to know at St. Teresa's church during his college years.

They drew from their life experiences and shared their perspectives on faith.

One major take-away that Ann mentioned is that in Confirmation, we receive a great gift from God, and we are called to give of ourselves by getting involved in the life of church in a way that God calls us to, and be a blessing to others.  Now is a great time to explore what ways you can get involved.

Also during our class, we touched upon an important part of Lent, especially in the readings for Sunday Mass: covenant.  Ever since our good relationship was broken by sin, God has sought to reconcile us.  He did so through a series of covenants, which we hear about in the Sunday Mass readings, culminating in Jesus Christ, Who reconciled us to God by His Death and Resurrection, the Paschal Mystery.  Reconciliation is a big theme in the 2nd reading for Ash Wednesday Mass, 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2, which speaks powerfully about how now is the time to seek after God.  This passage was our closing prayer in class.

As mentioned before, Lent started centuries ago as an intensified period of preparation for those who were planning to be initiated into the Church, and remains so to this day.  For those of us already baptized, it's an opportunity for us to better understand what it means to be in relationship with God and how we can grow in it more deeply.

Activity for this Week

Here are several options for an activity to do during this week.  We hope that this activity will help you continue growing deeper in relationship with God, building upon the foundation laid in baptism and confirmation as we continue in this Lenten season.

Please submit a short reflection of at least 2 sentences at this link.  Submissions are due by class time on March 2.

1. Spend some time reflecting on the idea of covenant in the readings for Sunday Mass.

Here are some options based on the Year B readings, which we're doing this year:

Genesis 9:1-17

Genesis 22:1-18

Exodus 20:1-17

2 Chronicles 35:14-16, and 19-23

Jeremiah 31:31-34

There are other options available for Years A and C.  Please feel free to contact us if you want help looking up those options.

2. Watch one of the videos for Best Lent Ever and write a short reflection on what stood out to you in any of the videos.  All videos, for the current day and past days, are available for viewing at this link.

3. The booklet "Words for the Weary" was distributed to all RE families. Write a short reflection on any of the reflections in the booklet.  If you haven't gotten one, they should still be available to pick-up in Church.

4. In-depth option: Watch Lenten Vespers, about 30 minutes, from the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, offered every Sunday of Lent at 3 PM CT.  You can view it on this webpage, where the video will be available live on Sunday afternoon, and a program is included so you can follow along.

It is also available for viewing live or archived afterward on the Shrine's YouTube channel.

5. In-depth option: Friday, February 26, is a Jewish holiday called Purim, which celebrates how God delivered His Chosen People from destruction through Esther.  Spend some time this week reading the book of Esther and reflect on what stood out to you.  You can read this book in one sitting, but you're also welcome to read the book over multiple days.

Looking Ahead

We're scheduled to have Father Bob join us in class this coming Tuesday, March 2.

And we'll continue exploring Lent and what it means for our lives in faith.

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

We remain connected as one Church:

All my relations,

God's blessings,

Debbie Lopez and Paul Rubio

Above and below are photos Paul took on the morning of Sunday, October 4, at the time of sunrise while traveling by train through the Arizona desert near Petrified Forest National Park.

Remember, even in deserts, places that are dry, there are signs of life.  Even in our penitential desert time of Lent, God is at work, working great wonders.

February 16-23 Class Update: Starting Lent

Greetings everyone!

We hope your journey through Lent 2021 has had a blessed start.

Recap of Last Class

It's customary for us to gather as a community on Fat Tuesday evening to pray while burning the palms outside, and we adapted that liturgy into our class time for our opening prayer.

This was last year's palm burning.

Good job to Colin, Ariana, Mariana, Peter, and Meredith for proclaiming Bible-based passages during our prayer liturgy.

Paul shared a little bit about Pope Francis's trip to Mexico, which was 5 years ago this week. You can read messages from that trip archived here.

We also spent some time focusing on Lent, which is a journey to the Paschal Triduum when we celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ.  On the way, there is so much for us to experience as seek to grow more deeply in relationship with God Who has saved us in Christ, in Whose death and resurrection we participate in our own baptism.  Ultimately, the process, the journey, is as important as the destination, the end goal.

In thinking more about Who God is, and our relationship with Him, we took up the matter of suffering once more.  Back in September, Bishop Barron discussed talked about it in a homily.  We watched part of it, starting just after the 8:00 mark, in which he seeks to make sense of suffering with a story from his childhood, when he took his dog Tiger to the vet for shots.

While God doesn't take away suffering, He enters into our suffering, as Christ humbled Himself and came to Earth to share in our sufferings.  It's similar to a story from George Washington's life:  We watched a scene from the Liberty Kid's episode "The Man Who Wouldn't be King", in which George Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and returned to private life, rather than seize power for himself, an act that amazed even King George III.  (This show was Paul's favorite when he was in middle school and debuted on Labor Day 2002, the day before he started 6th grade at Julian.  The entire episode is available to watch for free, with ads, at the above link.)

This resignation scene happened on December 23, 1783, at a meeting of the Continental Congress at the Maryland State House in Annapolis.  Paul visited there during a family vacation back in the summer of 2011. Below are photos showing the room where it happened, which is the Old Maryland State Senate Chamber.  An addition was built to the capitol building for increased capacity, and this room is now preserved for historical purposes.

General Washington walked away from power as he sought not his own interests, but the greater good of the United States and its people.  In a similar way, Christ humbled Himself in obedience to the Father, Whose will was to save us, as St. Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-11.

At the end of class, our closing prayer was from 2 Corinthians 5:14-19.  Lent is an opportunity for us to conform more closely to Christ, because He has made us into a "new creation".

Activity for this week

We have so many wonderful prayer traditions as Roman Catholics.  Please take some time this week to explore these prayers.

You can view examples on the EWTN website.

The Our Catholic Prayers website provides numerous examples of traditional prayers, too.

There are also examples on the website Preces Latinae. Please note that the text of these prayers are in Latin and English on this website.

Please spend time with one of these prayers, and then submit a short reflection on what stood out to you in that prayer and why you picked it.

You're also welcome to spend time with a prayer that isn't in one of the above links, even something you did as a faith booster for Confirmation preparation.

Some prayers, like the rosary or Divine Mercy Chaplet, are longer and more involved, but there are examples in the above listed websites that are much shorter, too.

You may submit your reflection in this Google form.

Responses are due by class time this Tuesday, February 23.

Looking Ahead

We're scheduled to have two guest speakers in class this coming Tuesday, a retired couple Paul knows from college.  There are sure to have much to share from their life experiences in church work and social justice work.

And since Lent is a time for us to understand more deeply what it means to be in relationship with God, we'll explore that more in class, too.

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

We remain connected as One Church, bound together in the Holy Spirit,

All my relations,

God's blessings,

Debbie Lopez

Paul Rubio

February 9-16 Class Update: Preparing for Lent, and Our Mission

Greetings everyone!

It was truly a blessing to be part of Confirmation last weekend, and, even in the midst of pandemic, to see God mightily at work as you professed your faith and were sealed in the Holy Spirit.

Recap of Last Class

In our class this past Tuesday, our opening prayer was the song "Receive the Power", which was the official song for 2008 World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia.  Its lyrics speak about the power of the Holy Spirit that leads us to worship God and sends us to live as a light in the world.

Then, we had a special guest star, who is a TV star of sorts:  We heard from Paul's friend Will Haenni, who studied meteorology at Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana and is currently a broadcast meteorologist for WWMT-CBS 3 TV in Kalamazoo, MI.  He talked about how much of a positive impact being part of a church community has had on him throughout his life, especially during college and post-college years.  He encouraged everyone to start each day with 10 minutes of prayer, taking time to volunteer in service, and show a positive attitude and kindness in every situation.

Paul then shared the story about Belong Designs, a Colorado-based apparel company his cousin Mark co-founded.  Their slogan is "When you follow your passion, you find where you belong."  This slogan is part of their mission, which has driven their product from its start back in 2013.

In some respects, this slogan speaks to the life of faith:  God desires for us to be filled with passion for Him as we use the gifts and talents He's given us, and truly find that we belong to Him as a daughter or son of God and as part of the community of faith in the Church.

God has granted all of us in the church community the mission to live our faith and be a blessing by making Him known in the world.

The passage of 2 Timothy 1:6-14, which was our closing prayer, speaks richly about the call of God to guard the gift of faith He gives us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We're going to spend the next few weeks learning more about how to live out our mission as baptized and confirmed people of faith.

Also during class, we touched briefly upon Lent, which starts on Ash Wednesday, February 17, in the coming week.

Many centuries ago, people preparing for initiation into the church went through a long preparation process, which culminated in an intensified 40-day period right before their baptism at the celebration of the Resurrection at Easter.  We now observe this 40-day period as Lent.

Still to this day, those in the process of joining the church intensify their preparation during Lent.

For those of us already baptized, it's an opportunity for us to spend time growing more deeply in our relationship with God, so that we can be ready on Resurrection Sunday to proclaim our faith through the renewal of our baptismal promises, just like happened at Confirmation liturgies.  Ultimately, the Death and Resurrection of Christ means something for us as we grow closer in relationship with Him, conforming ourselves more and more to be like Him.

Activity for this Week

Please take some time this week to think about a plan for how you'll observe Lent, through pray, fasting, and almsgiving.

Here is a sheet, in JPEG form, that you can use to sketch plans:

It was also sent to all your parents via e-mail in JPEG and PDF formats.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of suggestions for how to spend time growing closer to God during Lent:

Dynamic Catholic has the Best Lent Ever program.  You can subscribe via e-mail and get a short video, usually under 5 minutes long, sent to you Monday-Saturday.

Relevant Radio offers Father Rocky's 40 Lenten Lessons on the Mass, which includes a short e-mail sent you to Monday-Saturday with an explanation of some part of the Mass.  There is also an optional to listen to an audio version, and a short video version, too, which is new this year.

You can spend a little bit of time each day reading and reflecting on Scripture, including the Sunday Scriptures.  You can find the readings for each day of the week on the USCCB Bible website.  There is also an option for getting the readings sent to you via e-mail daily.

You can also think back upon some of the faith boosters you did in preparation for Confirmation and pick one that you liked to continue doing during Lent.

There isn't anything you have to submit, but please take time to think about what you'll do during Lent and how you'll make the most of it for God.

Looking Ahead

We'll spend some time on Lent and its practices at our next class on February 16.

**Please note that the original schedule doesn't include a class on that day, but we ARE meeting that evening at our usual time from 7-8 PM, to make up for being off on January 19, which was a scheduled date.**

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

We remain connected together as one Church, bound together in the Holy Spirit: All my relations.

God's blessings,

Debbie Lopez

Paul Rubio

The candles on the altar during Confirmation liturgies representing the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Light a Candle: Candlemas Day

Merry Candlemas Day!

Candlemas is the 40th day after Christmas, and was traditionally the end of the Christmas Season.  (It’s also the midpoint of the winter season, which would connect with the legend of Groundhog Day.)  It is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.  Luke 2:22-40 recounts how the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph brought the Baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord.  There, a godly man named Simeon praised God when He saw Jesus, the Messiah, with these words:

“Now, Master, You may let Your servant go in peace, according to Your word,

for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You prepared in sight of all the peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for Your people Israel.

 

Luke 2:29-32 NABRE

These words are regularly prayed by priests and religious brothers and sisters in the Nighttime Compline Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours.  It’s a great prayer to offer right before you go to bed as you give thanks to God for another day and the ways you encountered His Presence and seek His blessing for a peaceful night of sleep.

February 2 is traditionally a day when candles are blessed at Church, hence the name Candlemas.  As a gift, you are getting a small tea light candle, which received a special priestly blessing.  Please take it home and light it, in a candle holder or something similar, like when you have dinner with your family, and be reminded of Christ, the Light of the World, and the Light you have received from Christ in baptism.

Because it is blessed, you must be sure the wick is burned down completely before it goes in the garbage.  It should stay lit for a total of 30-40 minutes of burn time.

Also, there is a window in Ascension Church that depicts the scene of Christ's Presentation in the Temple. It is above the side entrance doors near the sacristy, around the corner from the Virgin Mary's altar, and at the far end of the parking lot, close to the Ascension School building.

We look forward to the upcoming celebration of Confirmation this coming weekend.

God's blessings,

Debbie Lopez

Paul Rubio