As you probably already know, I am co-authoring (with D. Todd Williamson, Director of the Office for Divine Worship, Archdiocese of Chicago) a series of ten articles for Loyola Press on the new Roman Missal. These articles will provide you with what you need to know to better understand the changes when we implement the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal next year. I ll point you to these articles weekly over the next 2 […]
Sometimes, our head is telling us one thing but our heart and our gut are telling us something else. This past Sunday’s Gospel tells us that St. Joseph was experiencing this inner turmoil. His betrothed, Mary, is pregnant—and he’s not the father. According to Jewish Law, she should be stoned. At the very least, he decides to quietly divorce her; that would be the righteous thing to do. And yet, something within him continues to […]
I had planned to be a “Grinch” last evening and skip taking my class to the Christmas pageant that the first-graders were putting on. I figured that my kids wouldn’t know about the pageant since I hadn’t said anything about it and I would have one more full session before Christmas break to complete the seven Sacraments. I forgot that many of my students have younger siblings! The first girl that came in asked, “Are we […]
Here’s a little tweak on the part of my lesson scheduled for tonight that focuses on the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick and the healing effect of oil. I planned to show the healing effect that baby oil can have on a dried leaf. On my way to the train last week, I picked up a few dead leaves to bring home and allowed them to dry out for a day. Of course they […]
This coming Monday, December 20, 2010, is our last class before the Christmas break. I’m going to use this session to teach the four remaining sacraments: the Sacraments of Healing (Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick) and the Sacraments of Service (Matrimony and Holy Orders). I plan to do 4 simple “demonstrations” to introduce each of the 4 sacraments before we read the text and discuss them. Here’s my plan in detail: Sacraments of Healing and Sacraments of […]
As we prepare to implement the new Roman Missal one year from now, in Advent, 2011, I am co-authoring (with D. Todd Williamson, Director of the Office for Divine Worship, Archdiocese of Chicago) a series of ten articles for Loyola Press on the new Roman Missal. These articles will provide you with what you need to know to better understand the changes when we implement them next year. I’ll point you to these articles weekly over the […]
I received an email yesterday from a co-worker announcing that another co-worker had given birth to a healthy beautiful baby boy. The subject line of the email was “Show me a day when the world wasn’t new.” This really caught my attention. Apparently the quote is attributed to Sr. Barbara Hance (1928-1993) and I think it’s a wonderful Advent thought. In fact, this quote and the email about the newborn baby made me think of my pastor’s […]
Here is the Guided Reflection I wrote for yesterday’s session. It is a meditation on the name Emmanuel – God with us – and invites the children to focus on where in their lives they most need God to be with them. Take a moment to get comfortable. Imagine that whatever you’re sitting on…the floor, a chair, a desk…is the hand of God. You’re in a very safe place. Take a few deep breaths. […]
Last evening’s session went well for the most part but was a mixed bag. Here’s what I’m talking about: Because of frigid wind chills, I expected low attendance. Instead, I had perfect attendance! While it’s great that they all showed up, I was thrown off…but that’s my own fault for having low expectations. Whenever I have low expectations, the adrenalin isn’t flowin’ so I felt like I was just not hitting the nail on the […]
I plan on keeping things very simple for today’s class for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, we are experiencing brutally cold weather with wind chills of -20 so I have a feeling I’ll be missing a few students tonight. Secondly, we need time to process last weeks’ learning stations on the Sacraments of Initiation, so I intend to just gather with them on the floor and talk through each of the sacraments, asking […]
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