October 17, 2023, Class Update: Becoming Part of the Church

Greetings everyone!

During our most recent class, we focused on the three initiation sacraments, Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation.  While in the early church, those who joined received all three at once, many Roman Catholics today receive them staggered over the course of several years in their young lives.

I was glad to share the celebration of the 18th anniversary of my Confirmation with you in class, and it seems that you enjoyed the carrot/strawberry bread.

For our opening prayer, I played the 2008 World Youth Day theme song, "Receive the Power".

In our class book, we reflected on the meaning of our baptismal promises and then we all dipped our fingers into a small jar of Holy Water to bless ourselves.  A similar reflection is available from Creighton University at this link.

Confirmation includes an anointing by oil to seal us in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  And it includes the laying on of hands, an ancient gesture that calls upon the Holy Spirit, as we see in Acts 8:17 and 19:1-6.

The Eucharist draws us into the life of Christ, and provides continued sustenance and nourishment throughout our lives.

As part of the Eucharistic Revival that is currently happening in the USA, sponsored by the US bishops, Relevant Radio is releasing a Eucharistic Encounter video each week with Father Rocky, the executive director, sharing a short story.

We watched the first video and the third video in the series.  You can visit the Relevant Radio website for new Eucharistic Encounter videos each week.

Ultimately, the initiation sacraments are meant to start us in a new way of life that draws us close to God and inspires us to live out our faith to bless others.

In keeping with the celebration of my Confirmation anniversary, for our closing prayer, I proclaimed the 2nd reading from my Confirmation Mass, which is the 2nd reading for the weekend of October 21-22, and it is 1 Thessalonians 1:1-15.

There is no activity to do at home during this week.

Looking ahead, the tentative plan is to watch a faith-based documentary in our next class, "Enduring Faith", about Roman Catholicism and the Native American peoples.  It is an excellent film produced by the Knights of Columbus.

It will take most of class time to view it, so please be sure you arrive on time at 6:45 so that we can watch it all within our allotted class time.

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

We remain connected as One Church, a people who live for God by virtue of Baptism:
All my relations.

God's blessings,
Paul

Here's the Sacred Chrism oil at Ascension Church, which is used in the initiation sacraments.

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