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
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