“Anointed”

Track A: Monday 12/16/2024, 6:45-8:30 p.m. in Mission Hall at the Parish Center
Track B: Wednesday 12/18/2024 and Thursday 12/19/2024 in 8th Grade Religion class

Timed Icebreaker (2 min.)

List ways you can help people using your hands.

Opening Prayer (5 min.) for Advent

Responsory for Late Advent and Lighting of Wreath

Drop down dew, O heavens: Let the clouds rain down the Just One.
Let the earth be opened: that a Savior may bud forth.
On that day the mountains will stream with sweetness: And the hills will flow with milk and honey.
Come, Lord Jesus! Come soon!

Intro to the Confirming Bishop (20 min)

See slides presented by Ms. Hohner on Monday evening (or Mr. Rosales/Mrs. Medio in Religion during the week).

Writing Letters (60 min)

Each candidate will write their own Letter to the Pastor. A holiday treat will be served as incentive to work hard on your letter.

Letter instructions: Track A * Track B
(only thing different between the 2 tracks is the exact due date for letters taken home to finish outside of class)

Prayer Ritual (5 min)

As we prepare to give and receive gifts this Christmas, let us take a moment now to give thanks for our greatest gift which came to us from God in a most unexpected package.

Option to first look at “Who Is My Neighbor?” box at the top of p. 1340 in Catholic Youth Bible

“He Came” video – formerly available on YouTube from Thrive Media, now embedded in the slides

One night, long ago, he came.
God took on flesh and lived among us.
He came quietly, miraculously, humbly, willingly.
He came to love, to heal, to serve.
He came to redeem, to renew, to save.
He came for everyone.
He came for you.
He came.

Christmas Prayer

Lord, in this holy season of prayer and song and laughter, we praise you for the great wonders you have sent us: for a shining star and the angels’ song, for an infant’s cry in a lowly manger. We praise you for the Word made flesh in a little Child, and we thank you for the Son you sent to us to be our Savior and King. We behold His glory, and we are bathed in His radiant light. Be with us through the contradictions of Christmas – the incomprehensible comprehended, the poetry made hard fact, the helpless Babe who cracks the world apart. We kneel before you as humble shepherds, reluctant innkeepers, world-weary Magi. Help us to rise bigger than we are, with more hope and faith to help heal our world.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Closing & Dismissal (5 min)

HOMEWORK

If not done already:
- catch up on Journal pages vi-xii, 2-4, 22-25, 32-34, 44-47, 55-56 and 64 previously assigned
- finish and send in your Confirmation Name Reflection which was due last week!
Next class session for ALL:
- Tracks A & B: Monday, January 6 from 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Mission Hall at the Parish Center, 4412 N. Western
- Letters being taken home to finish are due the week of January 13!
Merry Christmas! See you in 2025!

Note for later on:

Letter to the Pastor assigned as classwork in mid-December, due soon after come back in January
Service Hours due in early February
Retreat II with Reconciliation on Friday, February 28 for Track A & B (all 2nd Year students)
- 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with dinner upon arrival
- beginning at St. Matthias Gym, 4910 N. Claremont
- ending at St. Matthias Church, 2310 W. Ainslie