March 01, 2015 — Jesus, Our Friend

This week's class is on "Jesus — our friend" The referenced catechism sections are 787 - 796, titled; "The Church is communion with Jesus" which is easier for me to wrap my head around. I thought "the Church as the Bride of Christ" might help me find a video — but, sadly, youtube continues (as I've said before) to be a cesspool of anti-Catholic bigotry and stultifying ignorance. It seems the bigots use what little intellect they have to game the SEO for videos. Well, Holy Papa — it's Pope Francis to the rescue, again: Pope Francis explains why the Church is the Body of Christ before a truly lower-case "c" catholic assembly.

Anyhow, I'll be focusing on how this connects to all of us, our relationships with each other, and how we're called to serve each other as Christ serves us.

Jesus Heals

This has been my hardest week, emotionally and spiritually, as it relates to classroom prep, so please excuse my sparse notes. I do consider the subject matter, and my difficulties, a providential occurrence.

I found this interesting Archdiocese of Milwaukee video on healing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYyST8yRb00

February 8th; 2015: Jesus Teaches

This week focuses on the teachings of Jesus, especially through His use of parables. We'll also focus on three parables, "Parable of the Weeds," "Parable of the unforgiving servant," and "Parable of the talents." I'm skeptical regarding the opening popcorn routine and lyric-writing exercises. However, I know the kids enjoy such interactive challenges — and I like how the salty popcorn is the perfect setup for the discussion. The kids are eager to be center-stage; "Can I volunteer?!" is a frequent question at the beginning of class. Granted, singing in front of class will be as front and center as it gets.

I'll have plain popcorn as the class comes in and then replace it with richly flavored popcorn. The material suggests the kids won't like plain — we'll see. Salt alone doesn't stick to popcorn so I'll have buttered and salted. For the song, the material suggests Creed's "Higher." I have never heard of the song — not that that means anything. However, the song is 15 years old, older than the students. My son has never heard it. I wanted to download more contemporary music, but — well, there's no way to stream at class. I have these songs for inspiration: "No Greater Love" by Fr. Rob Galea and an instrumental version of "I Will Choose Christ" by Tom Booth.

Finally, I found a very relevant homily by Pope Francis on the matter, found here. A great way to end the class. I still love using reveal.js for my class.