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:

6:30	Cookies and Hot Chocolate
6:45	Parent/catechist prayer, introductions and instructions
7:00	Meet in small groups, take attendance
7:05	Opening Prayer-
7:10	Introduce tonight’s topic- Eucharist-Erin
7:15	Small group #1 (graphic organizer- Symbols of the Eucharist)
7:25	“Grace in the Real Presence” video and small group discussion
7:45	Explanation on adoration
7:50	Announcements and clear the space (tables, chairs, small group materials)
8/8:10	Adoration/Closing Prayer in the Church

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!