I am glad that I am required to post on this blog for a homework assingment. Otherwise I would not have been so persistent in getting back on the blog. It has been over a year, because I still find my journal far more available and, to be honest, definitely easier. However, this is the way the world is going so I must learn to move on.
I had a wonderful RE Congress this year. For years, I attended Congress as a Religious Educator for my parish. I was inspired by the number of other Religious Educators in attendance. I loved the classes, but I realize now I attended the Congress like I would attend a conference for work. I participated in the activities, picked up good information, and felt spiritually refreshed. Last year, for the first time, I attended as a Catholic school principal. I experienced a whole new dimension of the Congress. Not only did I attend with my entire staff, I ran into other principals I had met through the Archdiocese. We shared ideas, attended sessions together, celebrated together and had the fun of running into each other. I felt connected. I felt immersed. This year was even better. The Master Catechesis program has expanded my world further. It was a joy to continuously run into people I knew throughout the weekend. My sense of belonging, purpose, and faith community are so much richer. My deepest desire is that my school, students, staff, and parents experience that same faith and joy in God.
This year I attended workshops on technology and service projects. Both topics are key components of our WCEA self study. After 24 years in public education, it is a blessing to learn about these topics in the context of faith. The CaTECHchesis with TECH Tools by Sr. Caroline Cervey was amazing. She demonstrated how technology supports Blooms taxonomy of critical thinking with free websites and applications. I had never heard about Slideshare, Quia.com, Glogster, stacks, wordle. or Geocaching before. The are so many so many wonderful ways to communicate faith. My favorite idea from the presentation was haveing students send spiritual e-cards. We don't have to lose faith as we work in the technological age
I discovered a program that has been in existence for 6 years. On Friday nights LMU presents the Film Showcase. The showcase presents films and documentaries from the past year that demonstrate Catholic social justice values. The clips were touching and thought provoking. I spent two hours being enthralled by Finding God in the City of Angels, October Baby, Cosmic Origins, Film, Women and Sirit:Catholic Sisters in America, Restless Heart: The Confessions of Saint Augustine, We Shall Survive, Kind, True abd Necessary: Stories From the Blue School House,Raju, The Way, and For Greater Glory.Producers and directors for many of the films were actually in the audience. Some of the films, such as October Bay are not even released yet. I was totally unaware of these films and this showcase. I purchased The Way the very next day. It is reassuring to know that if our culture today learns about values, ethics, morals, and spirituality through movies that there are wonderful movies from which to learn.
My Congress ended with Rev. Ronal Rolheiser presenting Feeling God's Voice through Physical and Mystical Touch in the arena. Despite the large crowd that came to hear him, I felt like Father Rolheiser was talking to me, He used beautiful imagery such as the disciple placing his head on Jesus' chest feeling the heartbeat to demonstrate Jesus' intimate love for us. What touched me most were his words about family members/children who don't attend Mass with us. Our love for them will keep them in touch with God. Finally, he stated that with all the chaos in the world and the many things that we have done wrong we have always remembered the Eucharist and for our God that is enough.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Assigned Reading Provoke Thought
I have enjoyed the assigned readings for the Master Catechist course. I have scribbled more notes than I have done in many years for my education courses. The following are my notes from the readings. Hopefully, I can actually read my writing.
The Birth of the Messiah - Raymond Brown
Christology is the discovery of Christ. We are in a continuous search for his true identity. There is no real knowledge that any or all of the infancy material came from a tradition for which there was a corroborating witness. There are many differences in Matthew's and Luke's gospels of which I was not aware. Makes me embarrassed about my knowledge of scripture.
Matthew has the star, the Magi, Herod's plot against Jesus, the massacre of the innocents, and the flight to Egypt. Jesus' birth is patterned on the birth of Moses. Infancy narratives not an afterthought. Infancy naratives were written to make Jesus' origins intelligible against the background of the fullfillment of the Old Testament expectations. Matthew's gospel was written in the '80's for Greekk speaking Christian Jews.
Matthew is primarily aninstruction and exhortation to a Christian community consisting of both Jews and gentiles enlightening them to their faith.
Matthew is concerned about showing Jesus has always had meaning for both Jews and gentiles. His intent was to instruct his community about the kingdom of heaven. Matthew's organization made this the best gospel to serve as catechetical text.
Contemporary Christology: Getting One's Bearings - Sara Butler
We have to make the faith our own - intrinsic to us - yet ultimately we come back to the church. The foundation is the church. We deal with the world with the strength of that foundation. We may stray from it, but through experience and maturity we ultimately come back to the wisdom of the church. We seem to need to reinvent the wheel even when we have a wonderful vehicle.
We have a need to find the humaness of Jesus. We want to see ourselves in him. Maybe that helps us see the divine in ourselves - where hop comes from for our redemption.
The church's faith must be the starting point for Christology - A good point made in the article. If we don't have faith then historical actions are just vinyettes with no significance. They become circumstancial.
The continual discussion over Jesus' nature seems a bit inane to me. One either believes or doesn't believe. For those who believe in Jesus as both human and divine there is no need to discuss down to the molecule as to how this is possible. That is the nature of God - all things are possible. For those who do not believe there is no use explaining - nothing is possible. Of course if they took their argument a little farther - how do we exist? We are not possible if you go at a scientific explanation. That need for control of information causes so many to give up on the greatness and glory of God.
Catholic Update: Four Ways to Follow Jesus - Steve Mueller
Confirms that Jesus showed us how to live as well as Matthew's disciples are just like us. We profess to know and want to be liek Jesus, but we continually forget and lose our way. We must be reminded and retaught because we get it wrong.
John calls us to relationship while the other gospels call us to an outward action. John calls us to the inward action of love/relationship.
Catholic Update: The Four faces of Jesus - Virginia Smith
I like Mark's account of Jesus - a guy on the move. Evident that Jesus knew that he didn't have much time.
Matthhew is the teacher. He has a lesson plan with 5 major components.
This article is a repeat of what I have been hearing from my husband for years. Obviously, this validates his education at Loyola Marymount.
The Birth of the Messiah - Raymond Brown
Christology is the discovery of Christ. We are in a continuous search for his true identity. There is no real knowledge that any or all of the infancy material came from a tradition for which there was a corroborating witness. There are many differences in Matthew's and Luke's gospels of which I was not aware. Makes me embarrassed about my knowledge of scripture.
Matthew has the star, the Magi, Herod's plot against Jesus, the massacre of the innocents, and the flight to Egypt. Jesus' birth is patterned on the birth of Moses. Infancy narratives not an afterthought. Infancy naratives were written to make Jesus' origins intelligible against the background of the fullfillment of the Old Testament expectations. Matthew's gospel was written in the '80's for Greekk speaking Christian Jews.
Matthew is primarily aninstruction and exhortation to a Christian community consisting of both Jews and gentiles enlightening them to their faith.
Matthew is concerned about showing Jesus has always had meaning for both Jews and gentiles. His intent was to instruct his community about the kingdom of heaven. Matthew's organization made this the best gospel to serve as catechetical text.
Contemporary Christology: Getting One's Bearings - Sara Butler
We have to make the faith our own - intrinsic to us - yet ultimately we come back to the church. The foundation is the church. We deal with the world with the strength of that foundation. We may stray from it, but through experience and maturity we ultimately come back to the wisdom of the church. We seem to need to reinvent the wheel even when we have a wonderful vehicle.
We have a need to find the humaness of Jesus. We want to see ourselves in him. Maybe that helps us see the divine in ourselves - where hop comes from for our redemption.
The church's faith must be the starting point for Christology - A good point made in the article. If we don't have faith then historical actions are just vinyettes with no significance. They become circumstancial.
The continual discussion over Jesus' nature seems a bit inane to me. One either believes or doesn't believe. For those who believe in Jesus as both human and divine there is no need to discuss down to the molecule as to how this is possible. That is the nature of God - all things are possible. For those who do not believe there is no use explaining - nothing is possible. Of course if they took their argument a little farther - how do we exist? We are not possible if you go at a scientific explanation. That need for control of information causes so many to give up on the greatness and glory of God.
Catholic Update: Four Ways to Follow Jesus - Steve Mueller
Confirms that Jesus showed us how to live as well as Matthew's disciples are just like us. We profess to know and want to be liek Jesus, but we continually forget and lose our way. We must be reminded and retaught because we get it wrong.
John calls us to relationship while the other gospels call us to an outward action. John calls us to the inward action of love/relationship.
Catholic Update: The Four faces of Jesus - Virginia Smith
I like Mark's account of Jesus - a guy on the move. Evident that Jesus knew that he didn't have much time.
Matthhew is the teacher. He has a lesson plan with 5 major components.
This article is a repeat of what I have been hearing from my husband for years. Obviously, this validates his education at Loyola Marymount.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Frustrated
Blogging my readings is extremely frustrating! For the 2nd time I spent 40 minutes typing comments about my readings only to have the entire write-up lost in blogger space. Pen and notebook are so trustworthy. I spend more time figuring out technology instead of reflecting on my readings. It is a good thing that I am reading and reflecting on God's revelation. I am far more patient with the technology "challenges" (polite term) then I normally would be.
Enough of venting. I truly love the article A between-the-lines look at Jesus! For years I have been hearing about Raymond Brown from husband. He took a course from him at Loyola Marymount years ago. Now I get it. He articulates feelings that I have had concerning Jesus and the Gospels. He states that "Jesus does not set up clear religious structures." That is man's doing. It is amazing how we get caught up in the details that "we" created! We must focus on Jesus' example of putting God first in our life.
The Gospel is all about intimacy. Brown provides clear cut examples of God's call for intimate relationship with us. I have always loved how the father runs out and embraces his "Prodigal Son" before the son has the chance to say "I'm sorry." What a beautiful example of intimate relationship. We must have a relationship to apologize and we must have a relationship to be forgiven.
I am challenged by Brown's statement that God "never had an idea." Difficult concept for me. I discussed this with my husband. God's intellect and will are one. Weren't humans - the world and idea? I am struggling with this one.
What I am not struggling with is Jesus' humanity. Evidently there is a struggle among others with Jesus' humanity while being the son of God. We need Jesus' struggle in the garden of Gethsemane. It is God's communication of faith. "To wrestle with death is the ultimate act of faith" Without fear or doubt there is no freedom to follow God's plan. We become the image of God when we make the struggle and rise above human nature to submit to God's will. Otherwise we would just blindly follow without critical thought. We would be God's playthings. There would be no relationship.
The big "a ha" from the article came from Mark's perspective of Jesus's death. Jesus had no human sujpport. The Twelve fell asleep, Pilate refused to help, and people mocked him. Jesus demonstrated the ultimate need to rely on God
Enough of venting. I truly love the article A between-the-lines look at Jesus! For years I have been hearing about Raymond Brown from husband. He took a course from him at Loyola Marymount years ago. Now I get it. He articulates feelings that I have had concerning Jesus and the Gospels. He states that "Jesus does not set up clear religious structures." That is man's doing. It is amazing how we get caught up in the details that "we" created! We must focus on Jesus' example of putting God first in our life.
The Gospel is all about intimacy. Brown provides clear cut examples of God's call for intimate relationship with us. I have always loved how the father runs out and embraces his "Prodigal Son" before the son has the chance to say "I'm sorry." What a beautiful example of intimate relationship. We must have a relationship to apologize and we must have a relationship to be forgiven.
I am challenged by Brown's statement that God "never had an idea." Difficult concept for me. I discussed this with my husband. God's intellect and will are one. Weren't humans - the world and idea? I am struggling with this one.
What I am not struggling with is Jesus' humanity. Evidently there is a struggle among others with Jesus' humanity while being the son of God. We need Jesus' struggle in the garden of Gethsemane. It is God's communication of faith. "To wrestle with death is the ultimate act of faith" Without fear or doubt there is no freedom to follow God's plan. We become the image of God when we make the struggle and rise above human nature to submit to God's will. Otherwise we would just blindly follow without critical thought. We would be God's playthings. There would be no relationship.
The big "a ha" from the article came from Mark's perspective of Jesus's death. Jesus had no human sujpport. The Twelve fell asleep, Pilate refused to help, and people mocked him. Jesus demonstrated the ultimate need to rely on God
Monday, October 18, 2010
Human Nature
I was very intrigued by Father Jack Brennan's statement that we have a tendancy not to appreciate our own and others' humanity. Maybe so, but, it is Christ's humanity and our humanity that emphasizes our greatness - our potential for being with Christ. If we did not have fear, disappointment, anger or mistrust then our actions would be automatic with no real struggle and no free will. Our faith is made more holy by our struggle to believe. Our divinity comes from how we deal with our mortality - our human nature. We struggle to rise above our human nature to have compassion, to love the unlovable, to face dangers with fear throbbing in our throat. Jesus went through all these emotions and showed us how to live, how to love, how to die and ultimately to have faith in our love and in God's love. How can we not embrace our humanity?
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Just Starting
I never thought that by going for my Master Catechist certification that I would be advancing my knowlege in technology. This is my first "Blog." Rather exciting. Who knew - Jesus is nudging me out my box into the blogger world. Definitely looking forward to what else I will learn in this two year journey!
I just had to add to this last post. Figuring out this blog thing has almost been more of a learning experience than the class itself. It has taken a month for me to figure out how to get back on to this blog. My daughter laughs at my late night calls venting my frustration over passwords, URL's, and links. I miss my old fashioned notebook and pen. However, I am on now and hopefully it won't be another month between posts.
I just had to add to this last post. Figuring out this blog thing has almost been more of a learning experience than the class itself. It has taken a month for me to figure out how to get back on to this blog. My daughter laughs at my late night calls venting my frustration over passwords, URL's, and links. I miss my old fashioned notebook and pen. However, I am on now and hopefully it won't be another month between posts.
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