February 14, 2023, Class Update: God's Love for Us in Life

Greetings everyone!

In our class this week, in the spirit of St. Valentine's Day, for our opening prayer, we prayed the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  There are so many different aspects and images of the Sacred Heart in this litany.

Then, we heard from our guest speaker--or as I would say, our special guest star--Scott Buhrmaster.  His frailly lives on the North Side of Chicago on the block where my grandparents used to live.  Scott told about his journey from growing up in the Lutheran Church to initiation in the Roman Catholic Church, and my Grandfather Jose was his sponsor.  One take-away from his presentation is that going to Mass regularly keeps us grounded in what matters most in life.

In the latter part of class, everyone had the chance to write a note to someone in thanksgiving for the love and care those people have shown.

The activity for this week is to give that note to those people if you haven't already done so.  There is no submission due.

Our class is going to participate in the collection of supplies for Companions Journeying Together so that inmates can write Mothers' Day notes to their moms.  You can contribute supplies like a pack of blank cards, or a minimum of $1.  Please note that, similar to our class Christmas Angel gift, you can't ask your parents directly for the money.  You can use allowance money or earn the money from doing extra chores.

This money is due next month on March 14.

Next week, on February 21, we're gathering as a Religious Education community in the Pine Room for a Mardi Gras celebration with lots of festivities before we start Lent on Ash Wednesday, February 22.

The festivities begin at 6 PM, although can still come at the usual class start time of 6:45.  At 7 PM, we're going to have a prayer service during which we'll burn the palms to be used on Ash Wednesday.  We'll be done at 7:30.

We're back in our class as usual on February 28.  During that class, we're scheduled to have two guest speakers join us, and we're also planning to think more about Lent.

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

We remain connected as One Church by faith in the God Who showed us the full measure of His love for us in Christ:

All my relations.

God's blessings on your week,
Paul

P.S. At the end of class, our closing prayer was the song, "Take, o Take me as I am".

Always remember how much God loves you, and that He pours forth His love for all of us through the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. I bring this candle regularly to class as a reminder of God's deep love for us. I bought it from a vendor outside the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Tijuana, México.

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