Ascension Church Tuesday Grades 7/8 Religious Education

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...

Greetings everyone! During our most recent class , we watched the documentary Champions of Faith: Baseball Edition , which I have shown regularly to my RE classes over the past few years.  It tells stories of MLB players and other staff on what faith means in their sports careers and in their lives in general. Here are some clips from the movie if you want to see them again, or if your parents want to see them: Mike Sweeney Rich Donnelly The Opening Scene and the Eucharist The activity for this week is to take a couple minutes or so to view a video news report on Pope Francis's recent trip to Africa. Please select one of the following videos to watch: This video is about a meeting with Pope Francis, young people, and catechists, in Kinshasa. This video is about Pope Francis's meeting with the bishops of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This video news report is about a meeting Pope Francis had with leaders in South Sudan. This video news report is about a group of pilg...

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...

Greetings everyone! The fully lit Advent wreath inside Ascension Church In our most recent class, nearing the celebration of Christ's Birth on Christmas Day, we took a closer look at Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the Messiah, which are specifically listed below my signature. Just as we wait for so many things throughout our livers, so the people of Israel waited for a long time for the coming of the Messiah, the Anointed One Who is our Savior. We are off from class on December 27 and January 3. During our break, as the Church, we will celebrate the Christmas Season, extending from Christmas Day, December 25, 2022, until January 9, 2023.  There are several feasts during this season, including Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord, each of which is a celebration of how God revealed Himself to us through Christ.   We resume class on January 10, and the plan is to take a closer look at the revelations celebrated in those feasts. At the end of class this week, ev...

Advent Greetings Everyone! When we met this past Tuesday, we spent a little bit of time in class focusing on topics of Advent and Christmas, including special feasts that happen in December, like the joyful meaning of Gaudete Sunday (the Third Sunday of Advent), the Feast of La Virgen de Guadalupe, and the Feast of St. Lucy/Lucia. Then we went to the annual Religious Education Pageant. We meet once more, on December 20, before we go on break. The weekly activity is listening to an Advent Inspiration from Relevant Radio. These are 1-minute soundbites with a variety of topics about Advent and Christmas Seasons. Go to this link and play any of the soundbites. Then, in the form at this link , submit a reflection of at least 1 sentence about what stood out to you. This activity is due by class time on December 20. If you listen to all the soundbites, you can get extra credit.  If you choose this option, note that in your submission and then, in your reflection, share which one you like...