October 25, 2022 Class Update: Scripture, and Sports, too

Greetings everyone!

In our last class, we explored Scripture, the subject of chapter 3 in the green book Christ Reveals God's Mystery:  The Bible is a canon, or collection, of books.  The author of each book was inspired by the Holy Spirit.  And the Holy Spirit guided the church leaders centuries ago in compiling the collection of books that we have as our Bible today.

We also watched a couple of videos that speak about faith and sports, with gymnast Grace McCallum and Cubs chaplain Father Burke Masters.  If you want to watch them again, the links are below my signature.

I hope you also enjoyed the treats I brought in celebration of my Grandma's birthday.

For the weekly activity, please take time to reflect on Scripture.

Visit this link with the Scripture readings calendar on the USCCB website and pick any Scripture passage for any day of the week.  (Please note the psalms are written in a responsorial form, so it's a different format than the other readings.)

After reading one of the Scripture passages, please go to this link and submit a short reflection of 1-2 sentences describing what stood out to you in that passage.

This activity is due by class time on November 15.

As an optional extra credit activity, you can read two or more passages.  If you do so, please note that in your submission.

I have included some other enhanced extra credit opportunities below my signature, which are optional.

We have no class on November 1.  That day is All Saints' Day, a Holy Day of Obligation, which gives us the opportunity to attend Mass to celebrate the Holy Men and Women who strive nobly by faith in their lives, and are examples for us as we answer God's call to holiness in our lives.

Mass is at 7 PM at St. Edmund's Church.

We're back in class on November 8, and I plan to be absent while fulfilling my duties as an election judge.  I have already arranged for a couple at our parish to substitute for class.  The tentative plan is to talk about God's divine activity.

I plan to be back on November 15, with a tentative plan to focus on the Eucharist, and remembrance, a theme of the month of November.

Also, as a reminder, the Confirmation Enrollment Mass for 8th graders preparing for that sacrament will be on November 13 at 11 AM at St. Edmund's.

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

Remember, we are connected as One Church:
All my relations.

Remember you are loved by God, Who calls you to love, as He reveals in His Holy Word.

God's blessings,
Paul

I got this Bible as a gift when I completed Religious Education at Ascension 17 years ago.

P.S. The opening prayer for class was this video for "Great is Thy Faithfulness", a wonderful hymn and one of my grandma's favorite hymns.

We watched this video with an interview with US Olympic gymnast Grace McCallum.

We watched this video in which Father Burke Masters shares a little about his story, including how he became the Cubs team chaplain.

For our activity of exploring Scripture, we looked at 2 Timothy 3:14-17.

Our closing prayer was 1 Thessalonian 1:1-5, the 2nd reading at my Confirmation Mass 17 years ago this month.

Extra Credit Opportunities:

View the entirety of the November monthly Taize prayer liturgy, about 1 hour.  (If you attended, please note that in the form at the link below.)

View this longer video (about 20 minutes), in which Father Burke Masters shares his story more in-depth.

If you do one of these optional activities, please make a submission in this form.

This commemorative hat is from the First Night Game played at Wrigley Field, on 8-8-88, which my mom, dad, and older brother all attended.

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