Champions of Faith: March 9-16 Class Update

Greetings everyone!

As of March 11, we've reached the midpoint of Lent 2021.  The following Sunday, March 14, is Laetare Sunday, from a Lain term that speaks of joy, for we're halfway through the Lenten journey to Resurrection Sunday.  The priest at Mass wears lighter-colored vestments to mark the occasion.

Recap of Last Class
We spent the vast majority of class time watching the documentary Champions of Faith: Baseball Edition.  We heard from many in the MLB, including Mike Piazza, David Eckstein, Jack McKeon, Mike Sweeney, and others, who shared about what difference faith makes in their lives, both on and off the field.  We thank you for staying a few extra minutes past our usual end time of 8:00 to watch this film.  We hope it was worth your while and that you enjoyed it and gained some new insights about faith from it.

The film is available for free in its entirety on YouTube.

Our opening prayer was 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, which has an athletic metaphor, as did our closing prayer, 1 Timothy 6:11-16.

Activity for this Week
Please continue to spend time this week offering up one prayer intention for each day.

At this link, please submit a reflection. Submissions are due by class time on March 16.

You can share an example of a specific prayer intention, or describe in general terms what it was like doing this prayer activity.

You're welcome to use the same intentions from last week, or offer up a whole new set of intentions.

We also want to offer some in-depth options for prayer this week.

Friday evening, March 12, is Stations of the Cross prayer, about 1 hour long.  To find out about registering, and for more info, please visit this webpage.  More info is forthcoming about a March 26 Stations of the Cross prayer.

Taize prayer from last week Friday, March 5, is archived and available on YouTube, about 1 hour long.

Lenten Vespers at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception occurs every Sunday of Lent live at 3 PM CT.  You can watch it on the basilica's website, where there is also a leaflet so you can follow along.  Or you can watch it on the YouTube channel, live, or archived later.  It lasts about 30 minutes.

Pretzels are a traditional Lenten food.  Customarily, Paul makes homemade pretzels and brings them into class.  If you're interested, you can make pretzels at home:

This recipe comes from a special Lenten bulletin that was given out 9 years ago at Ascension.

Mix 1 package active dry yeast with 1 tablespoon sugar in 1 ½ cups lukewarm (100-110 degree) water. Mixture should bubble.  Stir in 1 teaspoon salt and 4 cups flour.

Place on floured board and knead in 1/2 cup more flour.  Knead about 8 minutes.  Divide into pieces, roll into ropes, and shape into pretzels.  (As you fold the "little arms", pray the Lord's prayer or another Lenten prayer.) Let rise until about double in size.  (Sometimes, I skip that part of the recipe, and they still bake okay.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place pretzels on greased cookie sheet.  Brush with mixture of 1 egg yolk mixed with 2 Tbs. water, and sprinkle with kosher salt—the egg mixture part can be skipped, but it does give the pretzels a nice gleam.  Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown.

When I made the recipe with the given amounts of ingredients, it yielded about a dozen or so pretzels, but it can yield more depending on the size you make them.

If you choose one of these in-depth options, please use the submission link above to share a reflection on what stood out to you in any of these prayer liturgies, or what it was like making pretzels.

Looking Ahead
We're planning for part of class time on March 16 to be spent on a basic introduction to Theology of the Body, which is a collection of teachings by Pope St. John Paul II.

We also have a survey with 4 questions about your experiences with faith, at this link.  It should only take a couple minutes or so to complete.  We'll give the chance to complete it during class, but you're welcome to do it during the week.

Please feel free to contact us with questions, for clarifications, etc.

Praying God's abundant blessings on the second half of the Lenten journey,

We remain connected as One Church: All my relations,
Debbie Lopez and Paul Rubio

Here's a scene at the altar in church.

Keep thinking Spring! Lent is the Church's springtime, and the name of this season comes from the fact that the days "lengthen" at this time of year as we head toward the glorious celebration of Christ's Resurrection, which we celebrate each Sunday, even during Lent.