Ascension Church Tuesday Grades 7/8 Religious Education

Greetings everyone! In our most recent class, we started the Prayer for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is annually from January 18-25. I then shared some stories from my time at World Youth Day 2019, which was January 22-27 of that year in Panama City, Panama. We then spent some time focusing on prayer, including through the perspective of Mary, based on pages 62-64 in the purple book Christ in the Liturgy. Three types of prayer include vocal prayer, meditation, and contemplation. We looked at two examples of prayers in the Bible: Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10, and the Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55. This image shows Mary in a posture of Mary at the Annunciation.  It is inside the Iglesia de San Francisco de Asís in Panama City, Panama.  All photos in this post, and on this website, are mine, unless otherwise stated. When we pray, we put ourselves in the presence of God, and then we are called from prayer to action. We each are called to do our part in building ...

Greetings everyone! In our most recent class, we started by reflecting on the life and legacy of Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr. And we also reflected on what it means to be a disciple, a follower, of Jesus Christ. Then, we had a very special guest star join us, my uncle, Bernie Rupe.  He is the executive director of Chicago Voyagers , a not-for-profit organization that helps inner-city youth from troubled homes and neighborhoods by taking them on nature outings. My Uncle Bernie shared about what CV does in meeting the needs of the youth they serve.  He also discussed what social justice is. The big takeaway from class is that Christ has brought light into our world and into our lives.  We're called to share that Light with others. For this week, there is nothing to submit for the activity.  Instead, everyone got to take home two items: The first is a slip of paper with the traditional Epiphany household blessing: 20 + C + M + B + 23 Please tape it up somewhere to re...

Greetings everyone! It was great to be back together as we start a new year and the Post-Epiphany Ordinary Time. The Christmas Season of our church calendar officially ended on January 9. During our most recent class this week, we took some time to explore the meaning of the Christams Season and its feasts. Nativity scene at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Austin, TX We looked more closely at the words of the Gloria chant from Mass. Christmas is all about the Good News that God did the mind-boggling act of taking on human flesh and being born as a baby, to accompany us always.  (Remember the baby-guessing game and my teddy bear?) One of my parents likely took this photo of me with my Teddy Bear when I was about 4. My co-worker Dianna photographed me with my Teddy on Bring a Stuffed Friend to Work Day a few years ago at the Orland Park Public Library. He came as Savior of all the World: On Epiphany, which was Sunday, January 8, we recall that Magi came from a faraway land to Israel to...