Second Quarterly Test

Shalom guys!

QT Week is here again! To help you in your studying for our CLE Exam, I have prepared a short review sheet that gives you an overview of our lessons for this quarter to help you see everything as they fit in the big picture of Israel's Covenant-relationship with God as it progresses in history.

May the much hoped for Promised Land of the Semestral Break inspire you as you go through this Desert Experience which you have to undergo. God bless all of you.

Review Notes
H1CLE- Introduction to the Bible and the Old Testament
2nd Quarterly Test

Passover Meals

Shalom everyone!

I just finished today my last of six Passover Seder meals this week. These were truly great and memorable class encounters for me and, I hope, for each and everyone of you as well.

Although prayer services, they were nonetheless fun-filled experiences getting to eat traditional Jewish dishes, trying out things we've never tasted before, all over stories of how God led his people from slavery into freedom, from bondage into fullness of life. As we shared the food, so did we share in the experience of our forefathers in the faith, letting its power, made present by our anamnesis, touch us in the present and unite us with them.

Thanks to everyone for making these Passovers truly meaningful for all of us. Special thanks to the parents who supported our endeavors and helped prepare some of the food.

Dayenu, Adonai, Dayenu!

Sample Prayer Service

Shalom Class!

To further help you with your Prayer Service, I have prepared a sample prayer service for my favorite saint, Saint Therese of Lisieux.


Saint Therese of the Child Jesus
virgin and doctor of the Church
Feast Day: October 1

Brief Biography

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus was born as Marie Therese Francoise Martin to an upper middle-class family in Lisieux, a rural village of France. The youngest child, Therese was raised in piety, surrounded by the love and care of her family. At age fifteen, she was called by God to serve him as a Carmelite nun in a life of prayer and sacrifice. In Carmel, she had to live the simple and disciplined life of a contemplative nun, very far from the comfortable and sheltered environment she was accustomed to in childhood. Yet she offered herself to God, doing the most ordinary things like sweeping floors, folding towels and washing kettles always with great love. She contracted tuberculosis and died at the tender age of 24, still uttering on her deathbed of pain with undiminished faith and devotion, "My God, I love you!"

After her death, many people from all walks of life have been inspired and led by her simple way of sainthood: to do the most ordinary things with great love. She was soon declared a saint, and soon after, despite the simplicity of her teachings, proclaimed a Doctor of the Church, foe she taught and showed people how to be a great saint even if one is able to do only simple things for Jesus. Even if she considered herself very small, Jesus' Little Flower, she is regarded by many as "The Greatest Saint of Modern Times."

Scripture Reading

Psalm 131
LORD, my heart is not proud; nor are my eyes haughty.
I do not busy myself with great matters,
with things too sublime for me.
Rather, I have stilled my soul, hushed it like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my soul within me.

Reflection on the Saint's Virtue

Although she wanted to accomplish great things for God, Saint Therese knew her weakness and chose instead to offer Him the simple, ordinary things she does everyday with great love, like a little child to her Father. She can be our model in following the commandment, "You shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength," for she teaches us that to please God, we do not need to do great things, we only have to do all things with great love, that is, with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength.

Prayer

Loving Father,
you raised your little one,
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus
and made her great, even in her simplicity,
by teaching her to do even the smallest things
with great love for you.

Be with us as we journey through life
and help us imitate the way of Saint Therese.

May we always remain simple as a little child before you,
and learn to do our ordinary duties with joy and faith
through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Very Important Announcements

Shalom Class!

Thank God for the holidays... by using it properly and wisely especially in view of the fact that the Second Quarter is quickly coming to a close with hoards of requirements to prepare and pass and tons of class material to review and study. The coming week will be especially hectic for CLE class with several things to submit:

1. Creative Synthesis (Part 3 - My Saint's Desert Experience) due on Monday

ALL DUE on Friday:
2. Creative Synthesis (Part 4 - My Saint's Promised Land)
3. Creative Synthesis (Prayer Service)
4. Passover Meal Group Paper
5. High1CLE - Second Reflection Paper (My Own Desert Experience)

The Passover Meal Group Paper must include
1. Title: the name of the food assigned to your group.
2. The recipe thatyou used for the food.
3. The significance/ symbolism of the food in the Passover meal.
4. The prayers that are said while sharing the food. (You can find the prayers in the material I posted earlier in this blogsite)
5. The names of your group members

Here are the rubrics for your Second Reflection Paper:

H1 CLE - Second Reflection Paper

Topic:
My Desert Experience: Finding God in a Dry and Difficult Moment of Life

Procedure:
1. Identify a period or moment in your own life where you encountered God’s silent presence. Remember and describe that part of your life by identifying the feelings and thoughts that your had. How did I react to the apparent absence of God? Was I angry, doubtful, complaining or still trusting? How did God speak to me during that difficult moment in my life? What was he trying to tell me?
2. Compare your experience to the desert experience of Israel. How was my desert experience similar to or different from that of Israel? (Remember to use Scripture and apply the lessons in your comparison)
3. Ask, "How did God lead me and form me in the desert?" Looking back at it from the present, ask, “How did that experience change me for better or worse?” What contributed to the change? Where do I see the hand of God at work here?

Scoring Rubrics:
Proper Understanding of Desert Experience 10pts.
Application to one’s life 10pts.
Comparison with the Biblical example (Israel’s desert experience) 10pts.
Depth and completeness of insights and reflection 10pts.
Organization and Coherence of Ideas 5pts.
Proper Format 5pts.

TOTAL SCORE (10% of Quarterly Grade)

God bless us all.

Passover Recipes

Shalom Class!

I am already very excited for our Passover meal! I am looking forward to a truly meaningful and memorable Prayer Service will all my classes for this quarter. Here are some recipes that you may want to follow. You are to submit the recipe with the significance of your assigned food and the prayers for eating it together with the names of your group members next week.

Matzoh (Unleavened Bread)

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup wholewheat flour (or just another cup of all-purpose flour)
spring water (or plain, clean water)

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix two flours together and add water until you have a soft, kneadable dough. Knead about five minutes. Let dough rest a couple of minutes.

Break off egg-sized portions of dough. Stretch as thinly as you can before rolling into thin, oval slabs that are as thin as possible. Prick each slab with a fork or pastry docker. Place on baking sheet and as soon as sheet is filled with matzohs, place in oven, and bake until crisp and buckled, about 3 minutes. Cool and eat.

(You should prepare three big matzohs for three rounds of eating, so just multiply the ingredients to achieve that amount. Each matzoh should be enough to be shared by the whole class, which should be around the size of a 14"-16" pizza.)

Maror (Bitter herbs dip)

Ingredients
traditionally, horseradish or romain lettuce is used
other bitter herbs like ampalaya leaves may be substituted.

Directions
Finely grate the herbs together to form a bitter dip for the matzoh. You may want to use a food processor but do not overdo so the maror will not become watery.

Kharoset (Sweet apple dip)

Ingredients
5 large apples
2 1/2 cup walnuts or another nut, chopped fine
5 tablespoonw grape juice, fresh squeezed is best
5 teaspoons honey
2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Directions
Peel, core and grate the apple. Mix apple with the remainder of ingredients in a storage container with a lid mixing well. (You may also want to use a food processor but do not overdo because the dip may become watery. Place in the refridgerator for several hours, the apples should be turning brown.

Other reminders:
1. Those assigned to bring traditional Passover dishes, except the matzoh must divide the food into four containers to facilitate sharing. (So we will not have to get from just one dish.)
2. Those assigned to bring grape juice should bring enough for everyone in class to drink a small amount for three rounds. They should also bring paper cups.
3. Those assigned to bring roast beef should also bring toothpicks for everyone.

"We were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt, but God took us out from there, with a mighty hand and outstretched arm..."

Passover Meal

Shalom Class!

We shall be holding our Prayer Service during our first encounters next week, which will be one of the highlights not only of the quarter but also of the entire course. We will be experiencing a Passover celebration with all the beautiful ceremonies, inspiring texts and richly symbolic food of this important Jewish festival.

Each class will be divided into groups and will take care of preparing the various foods and other preparations for the celebration. The cooperation and contribution of each member will be important to make this event successful and meaningful for each of us. I shall discuss the particulars with you during class time. Meanwhile, here is a copy of the Passover Ritual (Haggadah) in booklet form.

Dayenu, Adonai, Dayenu
A Passover Haggadah

Exodus and Passover Notes

The Exodus at the Core of Israel’s Faith

Exodus 14:1-18

Exodus, God’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage, is the core of Israel’s faith, worship, and life. This affirmed the reality that the Hebrews were the Chosen People of God. They experienced God as liberator and savior. God’s glory and power was revealed most powerfully in this event when he saved the people from Pharaoh’s oppressive hand.

God provides special protection for the people throughout their flight from Egypt, especially in the glorious crossing “dry shod” of the Red Sea, and as they march through the wilderness and in the triumphant journey toward the Promised Land. The crossing of the Red Sea, however, was the climactic moment. In this, the people saw the extraordinary saving act that God did on their behalf. They were assured of God’s constant and faithful concern for Israel in the future. They saw their whole life as an Exodus—a march towards greater faith and freedom in Yahweh.

a. Pillar of Cloud by Day and Pillar of Fire by Night – God showed them his constant guiding presence, walking before them as their true leader, as a pillar of cloud shielding them from the heat of day and as a pillar of fire protecting them in the cold and darkness of night.

b. Crossing of the Red Sea – God showed his mighty power, not only in creating a highway right in the middle of the raging sea but also in allowing the Israelites to cross it “dry shod’ and unscathed. Moreover, his mighty hand is seen to defeat the enemies of Israel: Pharaoh and his formidable army of chariots and charioteers by a single stroke of his mighty right arm.

b. Manna, Quails and Water – God showed his providence for the Israelites despite their continual grumbling and complaining, graciously providing all of their needs and patiently attending to their cries.

God’s continuing presence is seen in his constant communication with his servant Moses who acts as the mediator between the people and God. God is continually attentive to the needs of the people and always responsive to their needs.

The Characteristics and Dynamics of Authentic Religious Experience

Experience of God – Authentic Religious experience always begins with a Theophany, God who reveals himself, an experience that can inspire awe by becoming aware of God’s greatness as well as fear by becoming aware of our unworthiness and littleness in comparison to the greatness of God. The experience can be as grand and overwhelming as the experience of the Israelites in the Crossing of the Red Sea. It can also be as subtle and simple such as a profound movement during prayer.

Being Transformed by the Experience - One characteristic of religious experience is its ability to organize our life around it so that it becomes the defining center of our lives and personal history. Do our values and priorities change because of the religious experience or do we remain the same? We cannot say we have been in touch with God and remain in our dark and sinful lives.

Experience Issues into Action - The final test of the authenticity of a religious experience is whether it issues into the right course of action. Did the experience make us more holy and more loving towards our neighbor?

Using this criteria, we see that the experience of the Israelites was complete on God’s part who made his saving presence felt beyond all doubt but limited on the part of the Israelites who still did not learn to trust and believe in him fully.

The experience in the desert will be a prolonged experience of purifying their faith, teaching them to really trust and believe in God, not only when he makes his presence clearly felt but also when he seems absent.

Anamnesis and Religious Experience

Anamnesis is to remember. Its opposite is amnesia. Remembering is important in our daily life, and especially in our spiritual life. We always need to go back to our experiences of God, especially in times of darkness and doubt, to find our faith anew and replenish our strength.

Memory is the Source of Identity – Remembering brings us back to who we are. Just as we need to remember our names, our parents, where we live and other details since we were little children, we also need to remember that we came from God and how God has constantly shown his love for us through the years.

Memory is the Source of Maturity – We can go through life learning nothing. But if we go through our experiences reflectively and try out best to remember and carry with us the lessons and wisdom we have learned from the past, our memory of history becomes the source of our maturity. Otherwise, we will only keep repeating our mistakes.

Memory is the Source of Relationship – Relationships are built on memories of shared moments and experiences, both happy and sad. When we accumulate these memories and whenever we recall them our bonds become tighter and our love becomes stronger.

For the Jews, they always return to the Passover experience when God showed to them the greatness of his saving love. For us Christians, we proclaim in every Eucharist that "Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again" when God revealed the depth of his love by giving us his only Son who laid down his life for our salvation so we may also join him in his Passover from death into newness of life.

Liturgical Prayer: Anamnesis, Epiclesis, Petition

In composing the official prayers of the Church, we follow a certain prayer format:
anamnesis-(epiclesis)-petition.

Anamnesis- recalling God’s acts
Epiclesis- invoking God’s presence and power
Petition- asking for specific favors or blessings

Sometimes there is only epiclesis, or only petition. But always, there is anamnesis. For example:
(anamnesis)
Father, source of strength and comfort for your people.
(epiclesis)
Watch over us always
(petition)
and keep us under the shadow of your wingsfor we put all our trust in you.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Even just the word “Father” constitutes an anamnesis for whenever we call God Father, we also invoke the memories of how he has always been a Father to us as community of believers and as individuals in our own lives as his children.

We remind God of the wonders he has done for us in the past and ask him to do the same for us again. We refresh the memory of our relationship, which assures us that the prayers that we make will be granted according to what will be best for us.

By remembering God's saving acts in history in our prayer and is our life, we are thus reminded of our identity as God's children and chosen people. Thus we grow in maturity by remembering how God has always cared for and guided us in the past despite our many faults and failings. Thus we grow to love our Father who has always loved us.

On the Scapular Promise, October Medals and Sacramentals in General

Yesterday, during Mentoring Time, one of the students asked me question out-of-the-blue which made me think. He was asking about the Scapular promise. "Cher, is it true that if I die wearing the brown Scapular, I will not go to hell?" Another student quickly added, "What if I commit suicide while wearing the brown Scapular, will I go to heaven?"

The Scapular promise is said to have been given by Our Lady to Saint Simon Stock as a pledge of her maternal love and protection saying: "Whosoever dies wearing this Brown Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire." While I have always believed in that promise, I think it should not be taken too literally, especially in the sense of the second question.

Killing oneself in despair is definitely contrary to what Our Blessed Mother would want any of us to do. I ask, "What if somebody tries to steal from a bank and wears a brown Scapular just in case he gets shot by the police and dies?" Obviously enough, using the Scapular in that sense is ridiculous! It is almost as if the Scapular is a magic badge that will protect us from the never-dying flames of hell almost as certainly as the Survivor "immunity necklace" would surely save you from being voted out of camp!

This morning, the traditional October medals were blessed and distributed and we teachers and the students are now wearing them, but why? Are they supposed to have the same kind of effect the Brown Scapular is said to have? Must we wear them as passports to heaven?

Brown Scapulars and October Medals are passports to heaven but only if we use them properly, that is, with true love and devotion to Our Blessed Mother. True love and devotion does not end however in wearing these religious objects but must always translate into faithful imitation of Our Lady's virtues and struggle to wear them worthily with purity of heart and holiness of life.

These articles are not magic amulets but sacramentals-channels and instruments through which God draws near to us and through which we draw near to God. Without our real drawing close to God, these sacramentals will not serve their real purpose, will not be effective.

May our wearing of these articles of faith help us to become really close to Our Mother and to her Son Jesus Christ by our imitation of her following him closely and loving him faithfully. Thanks to the two students whose questions helped remind us again of the real value of these objects of our love and devotion.