September 19, 2023, Class Update: Sts. Peter and Paul

Greetings everyone!

In our most recent class, we joined with the 7th grade class, and learned about two foundational figures of the Church, Saints Peter and Paul.

In Ascension Church, this window shows Christ handing His authority to St. Peter, as shown by the keys.

To the left of me is a statue of St. Paul in the Cathedral of St. Paul in Minnesota.

At the start of class, everyone got an index card and wrote out a prayer intention and one thing for which they're grateful.

I asked everyone to take that card home, keep it in a visible spot, and pray for that intention throughout the week.

As a backdrop to our class learning, for our opening prayer, I played the English version of the 2023 World Youth Day song, "Feel the Rush in the Air".


WYD is an annual faith-focused youth/young adult event, with an international gathering in a different city that happens about every 3 years.  The 2023 event was in Lisbon, Portugal.  It was started by Pope St. John Paul II in the 1980s and customarily, the Pope attends.

Then we looked at three different Bible passages telling us something about Saints Peter and Paul.

Christ gave St. Peter the authority to teach what He had taught the apostles, and the apostles' successors are the Pope and the bishops, who continue to uphold Chris's teachings.  Christ handed on this authority as described in Matthew 16:13-19.

This Gospel message spread throughout the world with the power of the Holy Spirit, who descended upon the disciples as described in Acts 2:1-11.  In the majority of the remainder of Acts 2, St. Peter gave a speech and described how the Gospel message of Christ's saving death and Resurrection is on display in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 

In Ascension Church, this window depicts the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Acts 9:1-22 tells the story of how Saul encountered the Risen Christ and his life was radically changed from persecuting the Church to proclaiming its Gospel message.

We ended class with St. Augustine's Holy Spirit prayer.

Our plan for our upcoming class is to learn more about what it means to uphold the faith.

We remain connected as One Church by faith in God Who loves us, through Christ, Who died and rose again for us:
All my relations.

God's blessings,
Paul

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