Short day. Short post.
Today the volleyball headed to state to hopefully win the title! If they win today they will play again on Thursday...with that, 4 of my 6 students in my first class went. So, you're dying to know what we did, right? I had those 2 wonderful students take/finish up their assessments. One was absent yesterday and the other was their but still needed time to finish it up. After that, the only natural thing we could possibly do was play UNO! It was filled with much laughter and conversation on just about every teen topic but mainly on music and sports. I received a lovely compliment too! Apparently I remind them of the youth minister over at the Methodist church in town. I must meet this other young, Christian, and energetic woman!
Wasn't sure if anybody would show up in my other class, and not being surprised at all, none of them did. I had the secretary call over to the other school just to double check. With that, I left pretty early, and I have been doing little things around the apartment because it is just TOO chilly outside!
Happy Tuesday and go West Delaware Hawks!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
Day 16.2
Happy Veteran's Day to all past, present, and future members of the armed forces. Today, to tie in with the idea of recognizing soldiers, I thought for prayer we would read from Ephesians 6 on what it means to "put on the armor of God" in other words, how to be a soldier for Christ. I had each class draw and label the things St. Paul mentions- the shield, helmet, breastplate, and sword. He uses imagery to help his audience to understand how we are all called to serve God and eradicate evil in the world.
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| 2nd hour |
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| 3rd hour Super creepy and hilarious. I volunteered the student who was volunteering others to draw...it made for a great laugh for all of us, including the student drawing. |
Then I had them journal. I wrote "Pro Deo et Patria" received a ton of confused looks. "Huh, Ms. Sexton???" Then I explained to them what it means- For God and Country. This is the motto of Loras College
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
13.2
Hump Daaaaaaay! And an early dismissal! Every other Wednesday is a teacher in-service day over at the high school, so that's why I'm done teaching by 11:45 on those days.
So, I just ate lunch and now I'm about to tell you about my day.
The first class got farther than last class, so we reflected on the gospel from this past Sunday (we didn't have time in this class to get to it on Monday)- Luke 19, story about Zacchaeus. Since we've been focusing on the Eucharist, I decided to tell them one of my favorite stories on recognizing the Jesus in the Eucharist-
John Paul II visited the US in 1995. He had a very busy day planned of visiting people, celebrating mass, parading down streets-you know, the things a pope typically does when he visits a foreign country. JPII was scheduled to make a quick stop at the seminary in Baltimore. Well, his plan was to make a visit to the chapel to pray to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Can't really say no to the pope, so security was told to make sure everything was secure. They had highly trained dogs and sent them to the chapel to ensure that nobody was present. These dogs were trained to sniff out people after natural disasters-so, pretty well-trained. Besides, there had already been a couple of assassination attempts on him, so they wanted to make sure everything was secure. The dogs were sent into the chapel and they went up and down the aisles and headed straight towards the tabernacle. They sniffed around and refused to leave that spot until their handlers called them. Well Catholics, we know who they recognized....a living person in the tabernacle...JESUS!
They teens got a kick out of that story!
Then we played the game "Psychiatrist!" All of the players have to sit in a circle. One person is chosen to be the "Psychiatrist." They have to leave the room as the rest of the group prepares the game. The plays decide on the psychological illness they will all have-Everybody thinks they're the person to their right, Everybody thinks they're the actual psychiatrist, or you can even pick a famous person and answer as them. It's pretty fun to watch the "Psychiatrist" get confused but then finally able to finally guess what their "disease" is.
The second class did all of this in addition to me giving a lesson on the Body of Christ and the importance of the mass (since majority of them weren't here yesterday.)
The evening class will also be finishing up the sacrament on the Eucharist. Here's what we're doing:
I am SO SO SO excited to pray with them in adoration. As many of you know, I have a huge devotion to praying to Jesus in adoration, and unlike being at Loras where adoration is offered Mon-Fri from 8-5 or 24/7 at the Power of Prayer Chapel just minutes away from campus, we do not have adoration out here, except from 9-noon on the first Fridays of the month when most people are at school/work. Needless to say, this makes me very happy that we will be having 30 min. of prayer together in front of Jesus in the monstrance.
Please pray with us, wherever you are, from 8-8:30pm tonight!
See you in the Eucharist!
So, I just ate lunch and now I'm about to tell you about my day.
The first class got farther than last class, so we reflected on the gospel from this past Sunday (we didn't have time in this class to get to it on Monday)- Luke 19, story about Zacchaeus. Since we've been focusing on the Eucharist, I decided to tell them one of my favorite stories on recognizing the Jesus in the Eucharist-
John Paul II visited the US in 1995. He had a very busy day planned of visiting people, celebrating mass, parading down streets-you know, the things a pope typically does when he visits a foreign country. JPII was scheduled to make a quick stop at the seminary in Baltimore. Well, his plan was to make a visit to the chapel to pray to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Can't really say no to the pope, so security was told to make sure everything was secure. They had highly trained dogs and sent them to the chapel to ensure that nobody was present. These dogs were trained to sniff out people after natural disasters-so, pretty well-trained. Besides, there had already been a couple of assassination attempts on him, so they wanted to make sure everything was secure. The dogs were sent into the chapel and they went up and down the aisles and headed straight towards the tabernacle. They sniffed around and refused to leave that spot until their handlers called them. Well Catholics, we know who they recognized....a living person in the tabernacle...JESUS!
They teens got a kick out of that story!
Then we played the game "Psychiatrist!" All of the players have to sit in a circle. One person is chosen to be the "Psychiatrist." They have to leave the room as the rest of the group prepares the game. The plays decide on the psychological illness they will all have-Everybody thinks they're the person to their right, Everybody thinks they're the actual psychiatrist, or you can even pick a famous person and answer as them. It's pretty fun to watch the "Psychiatrist" get confused but then finally able to finally guess what their "disease" is.
The second class did all of this in addition to me giving a lesson on the Body of Christ and the importance of the mass (since majority of them weren't here yesterday.)
The evening class will also be finishing up the sacrament on the Eucharist. Here's what we're doing:
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6:30
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Cookies and
Hot Chocolate
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6:45
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Parent/catechist
prayer, introductions and instructions
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7:00
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Meet in
small groups, take attendance
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7:05
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Opening
Prayer-
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7:10
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Introduce
tonight’s topic- Eucharist-Erin
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7:15
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Small group
#1 (graphic organizer- Symbols of the Eucharist)
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7:25
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“Grace in
the Real Presence” video and small group discussion
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7:45
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Explanation
on adoration
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7:50
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Announcements and clear the space (tables, chairs,
small group materials)
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8/8:10
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Adoration/Closing
Prayer in the Church
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I am SO SO SO excited to pray with them in adoration. As many of you know, I have a huge devotion to praying to Jesus in adoration, and unlike being at Loras where adoration is offered Mon-Fri from 8-5 or 24/7 at the Power of Prayer Chapel just minutes away from campus, we do not have adoration out here, except from 9-noon on the first Fridays of the month when most people are at school/work. Needless to say, this makes me very happy that we will be having 30 min. of prayer together in front of Jesus in the monstrance.
Please pray with us, wherever you are, from 8-8:30pm tonight!
See you in the Eucharist!
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
12.2
Saint stories, NDE story of a priest, and lesson on the importance of the Eucharist/Mass-
So, I can honestly say my class this morning was absolutely perfect. I had no idea the readings at mass were going to be on the body of Christ and the parable of the feast which directly alludes to the importance of accepting Jesus' invitation to take part in the heavenly feast-communion at mass. It's an amazing gift.
Then, expecting to do the same lesson, only 2 boys showed up...so, we chatted and then watched a homily of Fr. Mike Schmitz. He's awesome! Check this out if you have 20 minutes! Then we discussed it and I gave them the rest of the period free. I wanted to save my lesson for tomorrow when most of them will be back.
I'm not really in the blogging mood. Prayers for my students and their teacher : ) Thank you!
So, I can honestly say my class this morning was absolutely perfect. I had no idea the readings at mass were going to be on the body of Christ and the parable of the feast which directly alludes to the importance of accepting Jesus' invitation to take part in the heavenly feast-communion at mass. It's an amazing gift.
Then, expecting to do the same lesson, only 2 boys showed up...so, we chatted and then watched a homily of Fr. Mike Schmitz. He's awesome! Check this out if you have 20 minutes! Then we discussed it and I gave them the rest of the period free. I wanted to save my lesson for tomorrow when most of them will be back.
I'm not really in the blogging mood. Prayers for my students and their teacher : ) Thank you!
Monday, November 4, 2013
Day 11.2
Happy Monday and Feast of St. Charles Borromeo!
I didn't have time to blog about Friday's class over the weekend. Basically we finished up Baptism and to celebrate All Saints Day, I put together a game of "Saint Jeopardy!" Knowing my students have a very basic understanding of the saints, I made the questions very basic...at least I thought they would be...I only went with questions that I thought they could answer and on popular saints- Patrick, Michael the Archangel, Mary the Mother of God, St. Jude, St. Anthony, St. Valentine, etc. It was brutal. I had to give a lot of clues just to get a score on the board.
So, that gave me an idea. Every day I will take a few minutes to tell a story of a saint- "Saint of the Day!" They will be confirmed in May and for all I know, this could be their last formal time of receiving any kind of teaching on the Catholic faith. So, they will be learning about a lot of saints over the next 6 weeks! It's so important that they know who these heroes are and how much they want us to strive for sainthood too!
Today's focus was on the Eucharist aka the source and summit of our faith!!! We focused on what the sacrament is, the symbols, and the importance of it. Tomorrow we will focus on the mass and continue why the Eucharist is SO important!
Then we reflected on yesterday's Gospel reading- how Zacchaeus wanted to see Christ but not seen by Christ, how He had a change of heart when He experienced Christ's love and mercy, how we too can have an experience like that when we received the Eucharist, any of the sacraments!
Last, saint story on St. Charles Borromeo.
We never really know what's going on in the minds and hearts of the people we are surrounded by or in my case, the students I am teaching. Please continue to pray for my past, present, and future students, and one for me!
St. Paul, pray for us!
Holy Spirit, inspire us!
I didn't have time to blog about Friday's class over the weekend. Basically we finished up Baptism and to celebrate All Saints Day, I put together a game of "Saint Jeopardy!" Knowing my students have a very basic understanding of the saints, I made the questions very basic...at least I thought they would be...I only went with questions that I thought they could answer and on popular saints- Patrick, Michael the Archangel, Mary the Mother of God, St. Jude, St. Anthony, St. Valentine, etc. It was brutal. I had to give a lot of clues just to get a score on the board.
So, that gave me an idea. Every day I will take a few minutes to tell a story of a saint- "Saint of the Day!" They will be confirmed in May and for all I know, this could be their last formal time of receiving any kind of teaching on the Catholic faith. So, they will be learning about a lot of saints over the next 6 weeks! It's so important that they know who these heroes are and how much they want us to strive for sainthood too!
Today's focus was on the Eucharist aka the source and summit of our faith!!! We focused on what the sacrament is, the symbols, and the importance of it. Tomorrow we will focus on the mass and continue why the Eucharist is SO important!
Then we reflected on yesterday's Gospel reading- how Zacchaeus wanted to see Christ but not seen by Christ, how He had a change of heart when He experienced Christ's love and mercy, how we too can have an experience like that when we received the Eucharist, any of the sacraments!
Last, saint story on St. Charles Borromeo.
We never really know what's going on in the minds and hearts of the people we are surrounded by or in my case, the students I am teaching. Please continue to pray for my past, present, and future students, and one for me!
St. Paul, pray for us!
Holy Spirit, inspire us!
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