February 11, 2025, Class Update: Our Mission and the Eucharist

Greetings everyone!

We started our class with the concluding prayer of the Litany of the Sacred Heart.

Then we pondered what our mission is in light of the recent Sunday Mass readings on February 9, especially Isaiah 6 and Luke 5.

Both Isaiah and St. Peter become aware of their unworthiness when they enter into God's presence.  Yet He cleanses them and sends them forth in a mission.

We are sent forth in our mission when we partake of the Eucharist at Mass.

We watched three Eucharistic Encounter videos from Relevant Radio.

Do You Know How Much That Will Cost? It's about money.

What's the Number One Reason for not Attending Mass? It's about time.

Expressway Churches

At the end of class, our closing prayer was the concluding prayer of the Holy Family Litany.  The month of February is devoted to the Holy Family, since the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord was on February 2.

During class, everyone had the opportunity to write a thank you note to someone, and the activity this week is to give it to that person.  There is no submission required.

Looking ahead, there will be further opportunity for us to explore the Eucharist and our mission.

As an important part of Confirmation preparation, everyone will have the opportunity to participate in the sacrament of Reconciliation with Father Rex at our next class on February 25.  Please be sure you arrive on time at 6:45 so there's sufficient time in class for everyone to go for reconciliation.

Please feel free to contact me with questions, feedback, etc.

We're not just lucky, we're blessed because God is present with us always and everywhere.

We remain connected as One Church by faith in Christ, Who continues to offer to us the gift of Himself in the Eucharist:

All my relations.

God's blessings,

Paul

In the heart of downtown Forth Worth, TX, is St. Patrick Cathedral

February 4, 2025, Class Update: God is Alive, Move Night

Greetings everyone!

We spent this class watching the documentary God is Alive, produced by the Diocese of Springfield, IL.

It is available to watch on YouTube for free at this link.

The documentary shares 5 stories of how God has worked in the lives of people in central Illinois.

At the end of class, I repeated the Taize-style Nunc Dimittis prayer I shared on January 21.  Here's a video of the song.  This prayer is linked to the Night Prayer/Compline of the Liturgy of the Hours.  I personally pray this song as I go to bed each night after turning off the light.  Please feel free to use it, too, at bedtime.

Looking ahead, our plan is to spend time in class focusing on the Eucharist and our mission as people of faith.

The Scripture reflection activity is due on February 11.

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

We're not just lucky, we're blessed.

We are alive in God.

We remain connected as One Church by faith in Christ, bound together by the Holy Spirit:

All my relations.

God's blessings,

Paul

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, IL

January 21, 2025, Class Update: Christ and the Sacramental Life

Greetings everyone!

Coming right after the national holiday for Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr., our opening prayer for this class was "Lift Every Voice and Sing".

As everyone enjoyed treats, I played the English dance version of the 2019 World Youth Day song, "Here I Am, the Servant of the Lord", which is based on Mary's Fiat.

Continuing in the spirit of Christmas, we did a show and tell:  Everyone did a great job showcasing something they have connected with a special memory.

These items show something visibly and display beyond themselves that is unseen.

We then focused on the Prologue of the Gospel according to St. John, which is John 1:1-18:  God is unseen, and revealed His fullness in Jesus Christ, referred to in the passage as the Word of God Made Flesh.

The sacraments are visible signs that reveal an invisible reality, as we looked in our book.  It's much like Jesus is a sacrament revealing visibly the unseen God to us.

We continue to experience God's presence powerfully in the Eucharist.

I showed about a minute of Colonel Mike Hopkins's talk at the final day of the National Eucharistic Congress.  This link is of a video of the entire talk, which is about 12 minutes.

We can rejoice that God is with us, and gives us reason to hope and live with purpose each day, which Matt Maher sings about in the song "Alive and Breathing".  I showed this video of his live performance of the song on the final evening of the NEC, which starts at the 3:31:00 mark and lasts about 5 minutes.  The other link goes to a video with lyrics.

At the very end of class, I mentioned the upcoming Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2, coming 40 days after Christmas.  It celebrates when Jesus was presented to the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem.  It is also known as Candlemas, and it's customary to bring candles to church for a blessing.

I gave everyone a small tea candle as they departed class, which were all blessed by Father Rex.  I asked everyone to light it at some point during the next week or so.  You can wait until February 2 to light it, or you can do it sooner.  Because it is blessed, please treat it with care:  Please wait to put it in the trash until after it's been lit and the wick has burned down.  If you place it in a candle holder or a fireproof dish while your family has dinner, it will stay lit for at least 20-30 minutes.

We're off class on January 28.

When we return on February 4, I plan to show the documentary God is Alive, produced by the Diocese of Springfield.

The paragraph on your saint is due that day.  It is in addition to the form your parents must submit with your saint's name by January 31.

The Scripture reflection activity is due February 11.

On Friday evening, January 31, there is an open gym night at St. Edmund's School for all 7th and 8th graders from 7:00-8:30.

Please feel free to contact me with questions, etc.

We're not just lucky, we're blessed because we are in the Light of Christ, connected as One Church:

All my relations.

Let us rejoice in Christ our Light!

God's blessings,

Paul

On the Indiana War Memorial is an altar for Benediction at the end of the Eucharistic Procession in downtown Indianapolis.

Colonel Mike Hopkins remarked that he was more nervous about speaking before 50-60000 people in Lucas Oil Stadium on the final day of the NEC than launching into space.

January 14, 2025, Class Update: Christmas and Baptism

Greetings everyone!

The Good News that God came to us born as a baby has a great impact on our lives.

It is truly reason for joy.

Our opening prayer was this music video of "Joy to the World", a beloved Christmas carol that was originally written as a song anticipating the 2nd coming of Christ and is based on Psalm 98.

This video was filmed in Jerusalem and is trilingual, in English, Hebrew, and Arabic.

We also watched a music video of the song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" performed by Casting Crowns.  The song was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the midst of a trying time in his life and in the USA in the 1860s.

We also watched this music video of "Joy to the World" by the One Voice Children's Choir based in Utah.

On our liturgical calendar, the Christmas Season concludes with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  Just as God revealed Himself in Christ's birth and in the Epiphany when the Magi came, so God revealed Himself when Jesus was baptized.

All four Gospels tell this story near the beginning and describe how the Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus and anointed Him and a voice from Heaven spoke, declaring Jesus as God's "Beloved Son". We, too, become God's beloved in baptism and are anointed with the Holy Spirit in the form of specially blessed olive oil that serves as the Sacred Chrism.  (Olive oil was also part of the winning question at the 2005 National Geographic Bee School Final Round at Julian.)

At the National Eucharistic Congress, Katie Prejean McGrady shared a great story about Canon 877, which requires that each baptism at a parish be recorded, and she used it to illustrate how important baptism is in our lives.  (This link goes to a video of the NEC session that begins at the moment when she tells the story, and it lasts for about 4-5 minutes.)

We concluded class with the final prayer of the Holy Name Litany, since January is the month dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus.

As Confirmation gets closer, if you have not already selected a saint for Confirmation, now is the time to do so.  This saint will serve as a heavenly role model and support for you, students, as you live out your Confirmation.

To give you, students, the opportunity to express who this saint is and what s/he means for you, we ask you to write a paragraph to share some biographical information about who the saint is, and even what the saint is the patron of, and why you picked that saint and how that saint will be a role model for you in living as a Confirmed Catholic.

We ask this paragraph be submitted by class time on February 4.  A printed copy is preferred for submission, but electronic submissions are okay, too.

Please note that the parents must submit a form that includes the saint name of their daughter/son by January 31.  This paragraph is to be written by the students and is in addition to the form.

The websites of Catholic Online or Franciscan Media are two resources to help you pick a saint if you haven't already done so.

I originally assigned an activity to complete a Scripture reflection by January 21.  To give you the chance to focus on the saint paragraph, the due date for the Scripture reflection is now February 11, if you have not already completed it.

Looking ahead, our plan is to continue exploring the message of Christmas, that God is with us. We'll do a show and tell in class on January 21.  Please bring in an item that is associated with a memory you have.

This coming Sunday, January 19, is Hospitality Sunday, with food and drink served after both morning Masses at Ascension.  I will be giving a presentation of about 10-15 minutes on my experiences at teh National Eucharistic Congress last summer.  Your families are welcome to attend, and I will make sure that it counts as a faith booster for Confirmation.  I will open the floor for Q&A after my presentation.

If you're out of town this weekend, Masstimes.org is a great resource to find a place to attend Mass.

As usual, please feel free to contact me with questions, feedback, etc.

We're not just lucky, we're blessed.

We remain connected as One Church through faith in God, Who has come to us in the Incarnation at Christmas and continues to abide with us:

All my relations.

God's blessings,

Paul

The baptismal font in Ascension is adorned with Christmas decorations: God manifested Himself at Christ's Baptism, and at ours, too.

January 7, 2025, Class Update: Celebrating Christmas

Merry Christmas/Happy Epiphany!

On the current liturgical calendar we use, the Christmas Season is from December 25-January 12.

We had plenty to celebrate for Christmas Season during our first class in 2025.

Nativity Scene inside Ascension Church

For our opening prayer, we listened to the song of the angels, "Glory to God in the Highest" from Luke 2:13-14 as it is sung in the famous oratorio, The Messiah.

When Christ was born, God gave us the greatest gift of all in His Son.  So we spent time reflecting on gifts we gave, both items and good deeds.

The amazing and glorious reality of Christmas is that the vast, infinite God came to us as a human person, born of Mary.  He wanted to be close to us, and not be too frightening to approach, like when He came to Mount Sinai to present Himself before His people.  So He came as a baby, closely identifying Himself with us, inviting us to draw close to Him.  He fulfilled the prophecy of Emmanuel, the Hebrew name meaning "God with us".  That is truly Good News.

To elaborate on the big idea of Christmas, I shared a commentary from a Bible he got as a gift when I was in middle school.  I sent it via email to the parents if you want to see it again.

Then, to illustrate, we did a baby/child photo guessing game, ending with me.  My childhood Teddy Bear also made a special guest appearance.

Here I am, about aged 3 or 4, with my Teddy Bear in the park by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis while on a trip with my family.

Again, God wanted to come to us in a form so that we would desire to approach Him, just as people delight in babies and stuffed animals.  My Teddy Bear accompanied me everywhere as a child, just like God accompanies us, and we recognize His presence now in the Holy Spirit.

For the second half of class, Paul's friend Will Haenni joined us as a special guest star.  He is a TV meteorologist with WWMT-TV based in Kalamazoo, MI.  He shared about his work and what faith has meant to him throughout his life.

Our closing prayer was the Holy Name of Jesus prayer of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

On Christmas, we celebrate the Word Made Flesh.  The at-home activity is to spend time with Scripture.  Here's the link to the form with instructions.  It is due on January 21.

Everyone also got blessed chalk that is to be used for an Epiphany house blessing.  Customarily, it's done on January 6, but go ahead and do the blessing if you haven't done so already.

Looking ahead, we'll continue to explore what it means for God to be among us, a major theme of the Christmas Season, and its impact on us as arises in the liturgy of the Feast of the Lord's Baptism, which is January 12 this year.

Please feel free to contact me with questions, feedback, etc.

We remain connected as One Church by faith in God, Who came to us in the Flesh and abides with us forever:

All my relations.

We're not just lucky, we're blessed because God is with us.

Let us rejoice!

God's blessings,

Merry Christmas,

Paul

Nativity scene in the Ellipse Park, just south of, and within view of, the White House in Washington, D.C.

In Baptism, we celebrate that God is with us in Jesus Christ, Who was baptized as He sought to identify Himself with us.

December 17, 2024, Class Update: Getting Close to Christmas

Greetings everyone!

After a wonderful presentation on La Señora de Guadalupe on December 10, we were back in class with great anticipation of the celebration of Christ's Birth.

In the week before the Solemnity of the Lord's Nativity on Christmas Day, the Church observes the days with greater focus and anticipation of Jesus Christ's birth, beginning on December 17 with O Antiphons.

In the spirit of looking ahead to Christmas Day, our opening prayer was the song "Be Born in Me" performed by Francesca Batistelli.  The lyrics speak to how we are called, as people of faith, to let God be born in us so we make Him known in the world.

Then we looked at the O Antiphons, which serve as the basis for the Advent hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel".  This webpage has videos for each of the 7 O Antiphons, similar to how we read about them in our class book.  Also in the book are stories about heralds who announced the coming of Jesus Christ.

During the time period from December 17-24, the Gospel readings are the stories preceding Jesus's birth in Matthew 1 and Luke 1.

We watched video clips from the movie The Nativity Story, one of my favorite movies, with two scenes from those readings, the Annunciation of Gabriel to the Blessed Mother Mary and Mary's visit to St. Elizabeth.  The visit story illustrates how we can experience joy just by anticipating the arrival of God into our lives, which is a major theme of the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday.

December 17 is Pope Francis's birthday, and we celebrated in class.  He was present at World Youth Day 2019 in Panama, and the theme of that event was based on Mary's fiat, "Let it Be Done to Me according to Your Word".  We saw the international version of the theme song, with the refrain, "Here I am, the servant of the Lord. Speak Your Word in me and let Your Will be done".  (I actually visited some of the places shown in the video.)

Advent is a time that calls us to be more aware of God's presence, especially as He comes to us in the Eucharist.  We watched this short video from Relevant Radio's Eucharistic Encounters series, about a mysterious metal sound.

Our closing prayer was the concluding prayer of the Angelus.

Everyone wrote down that prayer on an index card, and I asked you to display it somewhere during these weeks we're on break.

When we return on January 7, we'll still be in the Christmas Season, and we'll explore its meaning.

At this holy time of year, I pray that you will be gladdened by the presence of Christ deep within you, Who fulfills the promise of Emmanuel, for God is truly with us.

We remain connected as One Church in Jesus Christ, Who was born for us:

All my relations.

And remember that you're not just lucky, you're blessed.

Like the song says, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

God's blessings,

Paul

Advent Wreath at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., with all its candles lit for the 4th Sunday of Advent

December 3, 2024, Class Update: Advent and God's Presence Among Us

Advent Greetings!

Advent has a threefold purpose of preparation: the celebration of Christ's first coming on the Feast of the Nativity on Christmas Day, His second coming at the end of time, and for us to welcome Him into our lives and hearts now.

The Advent wreath inside Ascension Church

Our opening prayer was the song "Even So, Come", which is about Christ's Second Coming with the ancient Near Eastern imagery of the bride waiting for her groom, just as we the church, the Bride of Christ, await the coming of our groom, Christ.

Then everyone had the chance to continue the spirit of Thanksgiving Day by creating a hand turkey and writing what they're thankful for.

On December 3, 1818, Illinois became the 21st state.  We had plenty of treats to celebrate Illinois's birthday.

In the spirit of Illinois history, we watched a WGN News report video on Holy Name Cathedral's 175th Anniversary, which was last month on November 18, also Cardinal Cupich's 10th anniversary of installation as Archbishop of Chicago.

A fellow Massgoer photographed me inside Holy Name Cathedral following the Mass held to launch its 175th Anniversary Year.

A special banner is on display near Holy Name Cathedral.

For a great capsule summary of Advent, we watched this Busted Halo video that summarizes Advent in 2 minutes.

One way we can be more aware of God's presence among us now is through the Eucharist.

We watched this mini-movie of about 7 minutes long, "The Veil Removed", which gives a more cosmic view of what happens at Mass.

To conclude class, as a preview of December 10, our closing prayer was the song "Las Apariciones de Guadalupana", sung in Spanish with English subtitles.  It tells the story of how the Blessed Mother as La Señora de Guadalupe appeared to San Juan Diego.

Here is an image of La Virgen de Guadalupe on display at Mass held at St. Cornelius Parish on the North Side of Chicago, where Paul was baptized.

December has two important Marian feasts, La Señora de Guadalupe on December 12. The other is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the Patronal Feast Day of the United States.  Normally it is celebrated on December 8, which is a Sunday this year, so the Solemnity is moved to December 9.

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception--please see photo below--is a church dedicated to the patroness saint of the United States, Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception.

As an activity due by class time on December 10, please visit this link and follow the instructions to look at the virtual tour page of the Basilica.  Again, spending 5 minutes on this activity is sufficient. If you want to spend more time, that will be extra credit, and you can write in your submission if you look at more than one chapel space.

A big thank you to the class for contributing money to our class gift for the parish giving program.  The students raised $75 and I rounded it up to $100.

Also, thank you again for signing the note for Cardinal Cupich.  I personally handed it to him after a special Mass at Holy Name Cathedral for its 175th anniversary and he was delighted to receive it.

As a reminder, we are meeting at St. Edmund's during our usual class time on December 10 for a presentation on La Virgen de Guadalupe, with the high school teens and a special musical performer.

Please feel free, as usual, to contact me with any questions, feedback, etc.

We remain connected as One Church, the Bride of Christ, preparing ourselves to be ready to welcome the Groom, Christ, our Savior.

All my relations.

We're not lucky, we're blessed.

God's blessings as Advent continues,

Paul

P.S. I referred briefly to the 1789 and 1863 Presidential Thanksgiving proclamations. The language speaks about giving thanks to God as the source of all good gifts and calling upon Him for mercy, which is what we do at Mass.

God bless the USA!

Here is my family's 2024 Thanksgiving Day, which, this year, was also the anniversary of the day I moved with my family from the North Side of Chicago to Oak Park.