November 29, 2022, Class Update: Starting Advent, Continuing the Eucharist

Advent Greetings everyone! Happy New (Liturgical) Year!

The Advent wreath inside Ascension Church, with the first candle lit

In our most recent class, we celebrated and learned more about Advent, the start of this new liturgical year.

At the start of class, everyone created a hand turkey as a way for us to continue giving thanks to God for all His gifts to us, as we are called to live a lifestyle of thanksgiving day after day.

We also spent a little bit of time on St. Mother Katharine Drexel.

And we continued learning about the Eucharist, by looking more closely at the words of the Eucharistic Prayer II, and then I shared a story about a bishop who used some analogies to explain the mystery of the Eucharist.

Thanks to those of you who submitted your donations for our class Christmas Angel project.

If you haven't already, you have until December 6 to submit your minimum donation of $5.  Please remember you can't just ask your parents, or other relatives, for the money.  You may use allowance money or earn the money from helping with chores.  I will match all donations.

For this week, spend 5 minutes with a prayer for a person whose canonization cause is currently underway.

Select the canonization prayer for one of the following individuals.

Please be sure to scroll down on these web pages, where some prayers are located.





After praying the prayer, go to the form in this link to share which prayer you picked, a phrase that stood out to you, and explain why in at least 1 sentence.

You get extra credit if you do more than 1 prayer.

There are additional prayers you can pray for others who are in the process of canonization.  If you select an option not listed here, please include a link to a website where the prayer is located along with your 1 sentence reflection.

Submissions are due by class time on December 6.  Again, you only have to spend 5 minutes on this activity.

Looking ahead, we'll continue Advent themes in class, including Mary as we approach the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

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

God's blessings as we continue in our Advent journey to welcome God into our hearts, Who comes to us in the Eucharist.

We are always connected as One Church:
All my relations,
Paul

P.S. The opening prayer for class was the song "Even So, Come".

We watched this Busted Halo video on Advent in 2 Minutes.

We watched this video of Eucharistic Prayer 2.

Our closing prayer was Psalm 100.

Enhanced Extra Credit Opportunities:

Attend Evening Prayer at Ascension, held each week on Wednesday at 6:30 PM, about 30 minutes long.

Attend or watch the livestream of the December monthly Taize prayer at Ascension at 7:30 on Friday, December 2, about 1 hour.  The video at that link is available for viewing after it happens.

Watch the livestream of Advent Vespers at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., at 3 PM CST on Sunday, December 4, and all Sunday of Advent.

A link to view is here, including a link to a program booklet.  It lasts about 30 minutes.  You may also view archived videos after it happens, like for the First Sunday of Advent--it starts after about 10-15 minutes in the video.



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