Advent Calendar

I know this is a little late, but I found this ADVENT CALENDER on beliefnet. It's interactive and has some fun info, too!

50th Anniversary for Fr. Louis and Fr. Steven

Both Fr. Louis Solcia and Fr. Steven Grancini were ordained 50 years ago in Buffalo, NY, and celebrated their 50th Anniversary on Sunday. Arnold and I will know each other for 10 years next year...and I thought that was a lot!!!

Arnold, me, and Fr. Louis.
Me and Fr. Steven.
The Vatican, San Diego; Fr. Louis, Bishop Brom, Fr. Steven, and a couple of other Papas.

Merry Christmas!!!

My class did very well on the review quiz game on our last class before the year end. Also, I was able to pass out a lot of door prizes...note to self: my class likes snacks. I'll keep that in mind for the next quiz game in April.

I thought I'd share this article on Christmas in Britain...click HERE for the article.

Everyone, have a wonderful Christmas and God bless your New Year!!!

Feast Day of the Miraculous Medal

One of my students asked if I wished I had a bigger class (my class is only 5 students), and I told her that actually, I was glad that it was a small class...because it's the first one I'm teaching and I'm able to bring things for them. Last night, I was able to bring them Miraculous Medal packets, which included a Miraculous Medal prayer card, a paper explaining the Miraculous Medal story, and a sterling silver Miraculous Medal. I wouldn't be able to do that for a big class (well, not sterling silver, anyway). Just in time for the Feast Day, which is actually today, November 27.

Here's the story of the Miraculous Medal.

Bishop Martin from Nigeria

Fellow parishioners are in line to receive a blessing from Bishop Martin.



(I know, I'm wearing a Cherry Pop Tart t-shirt to church. I dress a little more casually for Saturday morning Mass than I do for Sunday. I say, as long as I'm covered up, I'm excused. Plus my name is Cherry...double excused.)

Saturday, Bishop Martin from Nigeria visited our church and served Mass and it was beeeyueteeful!!! We are so blessed in our church to have so many terrific guests. And as a Catholic, it is great to hear someone from the other side of the world celebrate Mass here. It reinforces my profound respect for the priesthood. The fact that the same Mass is celebrated throughout the world...and this celebration has been passed down for over 2000 years...humbles me greatly.

Us Catholics are constantly bombarded with the negative press of the scandals that have occurred in our Church. Not only that, people try to use that to justify changing the Church by altering the priesthood. For someone who can be hotheaded like me, my first reaction is to say "hey hey hey hey HEY! Leave my Church alone, will ya???" But I know that's not very charitable of me. I can be a hawk...I think that comes with being a mother. I want to protect my loved ones. And I love Jesus and His Church. And I know that some priests have not been faithful to their vows. But as Jesus says, "whoever is without sin, cast the first stone." Those who aren't faithful to their vows do not take away from the validity of the institution. That's like saying they should take away schools because teachers hit on teenagers. Or marriage because people cheat. Yes, those who have fallen should be punished and those they have affected should be healed...blah blah blah. But like the millions of teachers who do good work, and the millions of marriages that do well, there are still millions of priests who are faithful to their vows, who are strong men, and who do amazing work in their communities around the world. No one should be allowed to change them or take them away.

So, please help me pray...for our priests and for those who try to attack them.

"And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it." Jesus in Matthew 16:18

"Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it." Jesus in Matthew 19:12

"To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do. . . . I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. . . . he who marries his betrothed does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better" St. Paul in 1 Cor. 7:8, 32-35, 38

Holy Family Festival - 10/27/2007

Since my parents live 30 minutes away, I decided to attend the 1st Annual Holy Family Festival. Below are some pictures and video.















Tim Staples, one of our speakers at Catholic Answers, does an excellent job at explaining why our Blessed Mother is a key to understanding the Trinity and ourselves.















Fr. Harry Neely, OSA, former Latinist at St. Augustine’s High School in San Diego, now resident at the Villanova Prep School in Ojai, California. My co-worker, Samer, wanted me to pass him a message.















Missing Time, a quartet of high school kids (Daniel Bagdazian, Liam Collins, Katie Harvey, Samantha Harvey) perform celtic music.

The Blessing of Saint Benedict Joseph Labre

Saturday, while I was waiting for pizza, I found this prayer in one of my prayer books. I decided to bring this to our Faith Formation class, for more practice on our basic prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, etc.). Now re-reading it, seems it might come in handy…in my book, it actually says that this prayer is also good for protection from fires, but below (from online source) it says it is good for protection from thunder, lightning and earthquakes. In any case, it also reads like a shortened creed…straight to the point.

I pray for your safety and look forward to our next class...

The Blessing of Saint Benedict Joseph Labre (1748-1783)

************

In June 1771, early in his career as a pilgrim recluse, Saint Benedict Joseph visited Fabriano, Italy, to venerate the relics of Saint Romuald, the founder of the Camaldolese monks. Being treated with kindness by a local family, and desiring to thank his benefactors, he wrote out in Latin this set of aspirations, drawn from, or inspired by Holy Scripture, the Creeds, the Papal Laudes, and his own piety, exhorting his hosts to pray in these words for protection against thunder, lightening and earthquake. Just a few years later, during his lifetime, a devastating earthquake did strike Fabriano, but the home of this family and the houses immediately around it stood firm and unharmed. Subsequently, copies of this "blessing" were printed and distributed at Fabriano.

Jesus Christus Rex gloriae venit in pace.
Deus homo factus est.
Verbum caro factum est.
Christus de Maria Virgine natus est.
Christus per medium illorum ibat in pace.
Christus crucifixus est.
Christus mortuus est.
Christus sepultus est.
Christus resurrexit.
Christus ascendit in coelum.
Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.
Christus ab omni fulgure nos defendat.
Jesus nobiscum est.
Pater noster - Ave Maria - Gloria Patri

+

Jesus Christ, the King of glory, came in peace.
God was made man.
The Word was made flesh.
Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.
Christ passed through the midst of them in peace.
Christ was crucified.
Christ died.
Christ was buried.
Christ is risen.
Christ ascended into heaven.
Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands.
From every lightening bolt may Christ defend us.
Jesus is with us.
Our Father - Hail Mary - Glory be

************

Saint Benedict Joseph, pray for us.

See official website HERE.

More on the videos we watched

Thanks to the students for letting me experiment with my laptop as the DVD player. I'll be borrowing the Faith Formation monitor and DVD player from now on.

Here is a little more information on St. Rita:

From American Catholic.com

From New Advent.net

And here is a little more about the 1977 mini-series Jesus of Nazareth.

Aha! I knew it!!! Robert Powell is a Shakespearean-trained actor. And he kinda looks like Greg Brady, now (do you guys know who Greg Brady is?)
********************************************************************************
Why is Shakespeare worth doing?

Young people obviously baulk at Shakespeare, and quite rightly too, it's bloody difficult. But most of the really interesting things in life are difficult. The harder something is to do, the more interesting it is to succeed in doing it, and the more exciting it is when you do succeed in doing it.

I think that Shakespeare is one of the most supremely glorious challenges for any young actor. It's so rewarding to go through the tunnel of discovery and come out of the other side and share your enlightenment with people who are listening to you.

It's real. Shakespeare is real, it is couched in a language that's not familiar to us, but that doesn't mean that you can't deliver it in exactly the same way that you'd deliver a speech from Coronation Street. You can do it in the same accent as Coronation Street, for goodness sake. Shakespeare is well worth the effort.

Get the full story HERE.

****************************************************************

Be prepared to do some movement for next class.....

Padre Pio's Feast Day at the Immaculata Church, USD, 9/23/07

Parents Beware: Church Under Attack

John 15:20-21, Jesus said “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you….And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.”

Jesus sure knew what he was talking about. And it still happens today...our Church, our beliefs, our faith and Christian traditions are constantly attacked in the mainstream media, so please be aware. Here are just a few examples below...

The new movie, The Golden Compass.

CBS show, Cold Case.
Warning: Article has some graphic descriptions.

Even in our government!

And around the world (Christian bookstore in Gaza).

It is very challenging to raise children right when it seems the whole world is preying on them. May God help us in our task to teach and protect our kids so that they can know the truth and be free from harm and evil.

Our Church Tour

During last night's class, we had the opportunity to check out our church. Other than the fact that we were in darkness (we didn't know that the lights to the nave or main part of the church were hidden), the students asked great questions. We were able to check out our shrines and our Blessed Sacrament Chapel, so all was not lost. Ms. Michelle says that we will be able to finish our tour at a later date. That will be cool:-)

Next week, we will be having our annual evacuation drill. And a little scene work, too....

Hail Mary

Hail Mary
Full of grace
The Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou among women
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus
Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray for us sinners
Now and at the hour of our death.

References: Luke 1:28, Luke 1:42, Council of Ephesus, Why Do Catholics Do That, Kevin Orlin Johnson, PhD.

This prayer is a devotional prayer to Mary. "Hail Mary....thy womb, Jesus" is taken from the Bible, with the names of Mary and Jesus added to emphasize who is being addressed. In the year 431, the Council of Ephesus (Ephesus was the town where Mary resided after the Resurrection) confirmed that Mary was indeed the Mother of God, as some heretics at the time were trying to say that Mary was not, but rather, the mother of a human Jesus. Our faith tells us that Jesus was true man and true God. When the news of the council reached the Ephesians, they celebrated by taking to the streets shouting "Holy Mary! Mother of God! Pray for us sinners!"

In a devotional prayer, we ask for saints to pray for us...just as we would ask each other for prayer. Our faith tells us that the saints are especially close to God, so we ask for their help, or their intercession. In this case, we are asking the Queen of All Saints to pray for us...the Mother of God, Mary.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.

Reference: Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:1-4
We call this the Lord's prayer because Jesus himself taught this to his disciples when one of them asked Him how they should pray to God.

On Fasting

One of the students had a question on fasting, and what a co-ink-a-dink! My boss', Jimmy Akin's, blog today contained yet another thorough explanation of it. Please read it HERE.

Basically, there are two days where the Catholic Church requires fasting...Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Still, you are able to eat one complete meal and two smaller portions of food while abstaining from meat throughout the day. Definitely a doable offering to the Lord.

First Class Class

Yes, my class is awesome. First of all, they all showed up...yay! Thank you, parents!!! And secondly, after a some introductions, everyone mustered enough energy to participate in the "getting to know you" games. I understand that it's late on a Monday night and it's tough to sit in yet another class after school...so I commend everyone for their cooperation.

Special thanks to Pedrito for thinking of the extra games needed at the end of class. God has surely blessed us.

Assignment: Please remember to bring something from your Baptism; picture, candle, certificate, anything! And the date of your Baptism would be great, too.

Prayer for your computer

Loving God and Father, source of all good and knowledge, we praise you for your loving kindness shown to us through your Son Jesus Christ who became flesh and dwelt among us and through your Holy Spirit poured forth into our hearts. Grant that this computer may be used in service to you and all truth. May it be an instrument that serves to lift up and not tear down. May pornography, hatred or any other such evil never appear on this screen. May I and all who use this computer do so with purity of heart and free from all evil. May my work on this computer serve to glorify your name and build up your kingdom. Lead us through this life to share in the perfect love and joy you share with Jesus Christ your Son our Lord and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Online Catholic Dictionary

In preparation for my class, I found this very useful Catholic Reference site. It works like an online Catholic dictionary, with two ways to search; alphabetically or via the search box.

Welcome!

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I thought I'd take up some webspace to share things with my class and their parents. I'm looking forward to another great year in Christ!