April Class Update

Greetings everyone!

We rejoice that Christ, Who was once dead, rose again to New Life and is alive forever.

He lives in us who believe in Him by faith.

At the start of our time together, I played this song, "Alive", which looks at the Resurrection from the perspective of St. Mary Magdalene.

Then we did an activity of creating collages with the words of the Exultet, a hymn chanted at the start of the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass that recounts God's work of salvation throughout the centuries, culminating in the Resurrection of Christ.

Here's a link to the text, which is on the right side of the webpage.

Here's a link to a video of the Exultet, which is about 10-11 minutes long.

Toward the end of class, I played this song, "Glory Bound".  Colossians 3, from which is taken a passage for the 2nd reading at Easter Sunday Mass, says that we look to Heaven now, and this song sings about how we're glory bound.

Christ has ascended in glory, the event for which Ascension Church is named.  After ascending, He sent the gift of the Holy Spirit to all of us, that we may be brought alive as His Church.

Bishop Barron shares a remarkable story about Cardinal George's reflection on the place of the Church in this world at the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

We are part of something great because Christ is alive in us as One Church, connected by the Holy Spirit:

All my relations.

God's blessings,

Paul

March Class Update

Greetings everyone!

When humans sinned and broke our relationship with God, He looked at us, and saw that we were worth fixing.  And so He sent to us a Savior, Jesus Christ, to restore us from the sin that broke us by bestowing on us His grace and mercy.

It's like the line in the movie Cars. "We are town worth fixing."

Christ looks at us and says we are worth fixing.

And that is why the Paschal Triduum is such an important part of the liturgical calendar, when we commemorate the Institution of the Eucharist, the Crucifixion of Christ, and the Resurrection.

In class, I explained the elements of Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, namely the bread and the wine.  Several years ago, I created this video that illustrates what I did in class.

The students also had the chance to venerate the Cross, like we do on God's Friday of Holy Week.

This music video is based on the cherished Christian hymn "Amazing Grace", performed by Chris Tomlin and incorporating scenes from the 2007 movie Amazing Grace about Williams Wilberforce's campaign to end the British slave trade.

Also in class, I showed this video about John Fitzgerald, who was friends with George Washington. This video is part of a series of videos that Catholics for Catholics has released to celebrate accomplished Catholics in US history as we near the 250th Anniversary of US independence.  You can see more on their YouTube channel.

Let us praise our God for the wondrous Love He has shown us in Christ our Savior.

We remain connected as One Church, professing faith in God the Father Who sent the Son as our Savior:

All my relations.

God's blessings,

Paul