My book & a Giftigami box for Ruby

Where do I start?  I signed up to teach religious education during the week instead of on Sundays because I didn't like the idea of subjecting my students to a substitute teacher when I couldn't make it to class.  The 2013-14 school year consisted of about 26 classes, and I knew I was going to be out some weekends for parent duties.  My daughter was a senior in high school, so there would be weekend trips to various colleges for music auditions in her major.

My class was held on Tuesday evenings, and I was expecting a small class of sixth graders.  On the first day I had two students, a seventh and eighth grader.  Sister T expected more to show up later, but I never had more than three students, the third being a sixth grader. I was unable to use the sixth grade textbook from previous years because my seventh grader, Emily, had been a student of mine the previous year. Instead of teaching about the Old Testament, I decided to teach the New Testament.

My sixth grader quit coming after two or three classes, and Sister T said it was because her non-Catholic family members objected to Catholic indoctrination. Around December, my eighth grader missed classes until late March the following year due to after school practice for orchestra, so I had one student: Emily. In late March, Emily switched from Tuesday evening classes to Sunday morning classes due to a conflict with after school sports activities, so Ruby was my only student.

Most of the year I made the drive from home to the church for just one student, but it was well worth the 26 hours I spent to teach them about the life and teachings of Jesus. I applaud their parents/guardians for making religious education a priority for the sake of their children's eternal souls. 

The Beatitudes

     Today I sent in my craft submission to RTJ's Creative Catechist for the Feb/March issue. The liturgical season of Lent is one of the topics for this issue, and I wrote how we can use the beatitudes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount to help us examine our consciences for the changes we need to make as true followers of Christ. Due to word count limitations, I was unable to do more than simply list the beatitudes. Here is an abbreviation of what they mean and how Jesus modeled them for us during his life on earth:

1. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  To be poor in spirit refers to our spiritual weakness before God; we respond to this weakness by focusing our priorities on God and his will for us, not on material possessions or other things of this world such as power and pleasure.
 At the agony in the garden, Jesus demonstrated his reliance on God when he said, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done." (Luke 22:42)
 
2. "Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted."  Despite our sinfulness, we can find comfort and strength in the Lord when we repent and ask for forgiveness.
In Matt 23:37-39, Jesus grieves for the people of Jerusalem, who sin by failing to recognize him as the Messiah: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together... but you were unwilling!"

3. "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land."  To be meek means being humble and 

submitting ourselves to the will of God; this is the opposite of being self-centered, pushy, and controlling of others.

Jesus resisted being tempted in the desert, saying,"The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve." (Matt 4:1-4) 

4. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied."  We respond to injustice by taking care of our neighbors and grow in truth and holiness seeking to carry out God's will.

When Jesus passed by a blind man, he said, "We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day..." Then he smeared clay on the blind man's eyes and restored his vision. (John 9:4-7)

                                                                                                                              

5. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." We are merciful when we forgive others, including our enemies, without holding grudges.
At his crucifixion, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

6. "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God." We are clean of heart when we respect others and ourselves and remain close to God.
Jesus drove out the buyers and sellers in the cleansing of the temple, telling them, "...My house shall be a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves." (Matt. 21:12)

6   7. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." We work for peace by settling conflict, ending violence, and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others.

      At the betrayal of Jesus, one of his disciples cut off the ear of the high priest's servant. Jesus said, "Stop, no more of this!" then he touched the servant's ear and healed him. (Luke 22:40-51)

     

      8. "Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  We stand up for what is right in Jesus Christ, even though it may be unpopular and causes us pain and suffering and possibly death.  

      Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffers and dies for us. (Matt. 27--28)

8

The Kings of the Promised Land

     The lesson for last Sunday's religious education class included a study of the southern kingdom of Judah under the reign of King David's descendants. I told my students that from 922 BC to 721 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel had been ruled by 19 kings before falling to the Assyrians, and from 922 BC to 587 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah had been ruled by 20 kings before the Babylonians gained control.
      One of my students wanted to know why the kingdom of Judah had outlasted the kingdom of Israel by over a hundred years, with only one more king.
        My immediate response was that perhaps one king had ruled for a hundred years. Some people from the Old Testament lived to be hundreds of years old, and it wasn't unheard of to be 800 years old. The textbook listed the names of the kings and the years they ruled. I suggested that the student look over the list.
      After class, I examined the list myself and compared it to the textbook's list of kings from Israel. What I discovered is that five kings from Israel ruled not more than a year, seven more ruled between five and eleven years, six between 15 and 27 years, and King Jeroboam ruled the longest at 40 years. 
         In contrast, several kings of Judah reigned for longer periods of time. Four kings ruled not more than a year, seven kings ruled between two and eleven years, six between 17 and 37 years, and three between 40 and 45. 
         Students ask the most interesting questions... The same student asked about the origin of the Latin language when the lesson turned to a discussion of the four epiphanies of Christ. I stated that "epiphany" is derived from the Latin word, "epiphania", and the first epiphany occurred on Christmas Day, or the Nativity of the Lord. But this is a topic for another day!

Tragedy at Sandy Hook

The tragic loss of lives at Sandy Hook happened on my 27^th wedding anniversary, and its impact will last a lifetime, most certainly for victims’ families.  The immediate response by the media and the White House is gun control.  Other issues raised are mental health and violence in entertainment and the media.  If Americans are serious about preventing future mass shootings, they’ll do more to support the family, the basic building block of society.  Look no further than the Holy Family as an example for us to follow:  Joseph never cohabitated with Mary prior to marriage nor asked her to have an abortion when she became pregnant.  The child Jesus grew up with a mom and dad, and his parents were active in their faith.

As for the response by the media and the White House concerning a ban on assault weapons, weaponry doesn’t kill; it’s the person pulling the trigger that does.  If that person is mentally ill, all the more reason to provide sufficient care for the mentally ill population and to provide support for their families. 

Some people will deny the connection between violence in entertainment and the media and actual violence.  For these people, I’d like to recall a story my husband told his religious education students a few years ago to help them discern the truth about the existence of God:  Imagine yourself in a room with God and Satan.  One of them wants you to believe that both of them exist; the other wants you to believe that neither does.  Okay, now one of them wants you to believe that there’s no relationship between desensitizing people to violence and their willingness to commit it. The other one wants you to direct your thoughts toward “all that deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous, or worthy of praise.” (Phil. 4:8) Who’s who?

For practicing Catholics, prevention of another mass shooting boils down to taking important measures to protect and foster respect for the sanctity of life and to practice our faith as set forth by the Magisterium of the Church.  If you’re feeling pulled away from practicing your faith and following the teachings of the Church, who’s to blame?

Book Signing Schedule

Here's a list of authors signing copies of their books at the Catholic Writers' Conference Live!

Thursday, August 30, 201211:00am - 12:00pm Deanna Klingel: Bread Upon the Water
12:00 - 1:00pm Ann Margaret Lewis: Murder in the Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes
1:00 - 2:00pm Karen Kelly Boyce: Sisters of the Last Straw, According to Thy Word, Into the Way of Peace, A Bend in the Road, and Down Right Good
2:00 - 3:00pm Margaret Realy: A Garden of Visible Prayer
I was a reviewer for Karen Kelly Boyce's Down Right Good and approved it for the Catholic Writers' Guild Seal of Approval!

www.estherlocascio.com

 

The Catholic Writers Conference Live!

This conference started yesterday and continues through tomorrow. Here's a list of today's events:

Thursday August 30, 2012
9:30-12:00pm Publisher Pitch Sessions: Servant Books, FAITH
Catholic, Christus Publishing/Tuscany Press, Ignatius Press,
Ave Maria Press, pre-registration required (Rooms M-2-4)

9:30am-10:15am Blogging 101: Sarah Reinhard (Room M-1)

10:30-11:15am Everything You Wanted to Know About Catholic
Marketing and Publicity but Were Afraid to Ask: Teresa Tomeo and Gail Coniglio (Room M-1)

11:30-12:15pm Ask What You Were Afraid to Ask—a Follow-up
Q & A Panel: Teresa Tomeo, Gail Coniglio, Michael Russell, Marcy Klatt, Marissa Hornbuckle and Dan Burke (Room M-1)

2:00-2:45pm Fiction and the New Evangelization: Ellen Gable Hrkach
(Room M-1)

3:00-3:45pm Enabling Catholic Authors to Self-Publish, Without Risks, Using Digital Technology: Christopher M. Petro (Room M-1)

4:00-6:00pm Trade Show Free Time

I'm a member of the Catholic Writers Guild but couldn't fit the conference into my schedule this year. Maybe next year!

Zucchini and the Easter Woodchuck

Palm Sunday fell on April Fool's Day this year, and I couldn't resist playing a trick on my students, but what?  I'd planned a small party to celebrate Easter just before the end of class, so Chuck suggested I tell them I'd brought whole zucchinis to pass out for a snack.  Or, how about telling them about the Easter Woodchuck?  

The Easter Woodchuck reminded me of Christmas around the world, and how Santa rides a surfboard to Australia in bathing shorts and sunglasses, and how it's the Three Wise Men who deliver gifts to kids in Mexico (Ebram learns about this in Ebram's Story: The Haunting).  Impressed with Chuck's ideas, I decided to use both.

At the beginning of class, I told the students I had something to show them and pulled out a zucchini.  I asked if they knew what it was but met with blank stares.  I walked down the aisle so they could have a closer look, and--surprise!  They thought it was a cucumber. 

"The zucchini is very special to some kids in South America," I said after informing them that it was not a cucumber. "They're not familiar with the Easter Bunny; they have an Easter Woodchuck.  On the night before Easter, they leave zucchini for the Easter Woodchuck so that he'll stop by their house and leave candy and small gifts on Easter Sunday."  

At this point it was hard to keep a straight face.  "The Easter Woodchuck eats as much of the zucchini as he can and gives away the rest to orphans and poor children." 

This is NOT a cucumber!

The students were very quiet and I thought they might actually believe this tale. "April Fools!"  I said to deafening silence .  "Look, I wrote April 1st on the whiteboard; it's Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, and April Fool's Day!"  Finally, a cracked smile or two.  Had I let them down?  I guess I'll never know.