We discussed how the Catholic church has its own unique calendar. It has seasons for Lent, Advent, Easter, Christmas, the Triduum, and ordinary time. We played four corners as well.We talked about the power of the rosary. How there are several mysteries follower by the Hail Mary, Our Father, Glory Be and Hail Holy Queen. It is also one of the most powerful prayers in our faith.Sorry for the late post. Jacob grew up with his brother Essau. He got the death bead blessing by tricking his father Isaac. he took Essau's cloak. Essau traveled to kill him. Jacob wrestled an angel for God's blessing. His name was changed to Israel and would be blessed with many children. He had 12 sons (12 tribes of Israel). The brothers shoved Joseph (the youngest of the 12) into a put and tried to come up with what to do with him. They did this because Joseph had a vision of the brothers bowing down to him. He was sold into slavery. He traveled to Egypt and was falsely accused of adultery against the Pharaoh's wife. he was imprisoned. The Pharaoh has weird dreams and has Joseph interpret them. Joseph says that he will have 7 great seasons followed by 7 bad seasons. He hired him and he was part of his council. Joseph's brothers traveled for food and Joseph recognized them. He forgave them for God sent him for a bigger purpose to save his people.There will be no lesson, but come to class. We will be in the Parish
We discussed this past Sunday, the journey of Abraham. How he was called by God, and he followed his every command. God promised three things: Abraham's children would get the land of Canaan, his family would be blessed and so would the rest of the world be. He and Sarah traveled afar for it was God's will. They gave up and Abraham had a kid with their maid, Hagar. The child was named Ishmael. God was not pleased. Sarah finally had their first kid, Isaac. Later on, Abraham was told by God to offer up a Holocaust of his son, Isaac. He was about to do it and an angel stopped him. Because of this God promised him as many children as the stars. With all of this, we learned to trust God no matter what. He comes before all things.
We touched on Adam and Eve who turned away from God. They were banished from the garden and had kids, Cain and Abel. Both Cain and Abel gave up the best crop (Abel- Sheep and Cain- the crops). God favored Abel's offering over Cain's and Cain became jealous. He killed Abel in his jealousness. He was banished to live an outcast. That was the second sin (the fruit that was eaten was the first) Ten Commandments #5 Thou Shall Not Kill. Adam and Eve eventually had a third son, Seth. Seth had many kids which led up to Noah. God instructed Noah to make an Ark, so that when God flooded the earth, Noah, his family and the animals he saved would be safe. God flooded the earth because of too much sin in the world. After 40 day and 40 nights of rain, Noah, his family and all the animals he saved got out and the world started again. God promised (made a Covenant) us that he would never flood the earth again. The people were full of pride and wanted to be as tall as God. They made the Tower of Babel, and God was upset again. He couldn't flood the earth again so he decided to make everyone speak in different languages. They eventually gave up on the tower and left. We discussed how emotions of jealousy, envy, and pride leads to sin. We must stay close to God like Noah.
We Talked about Creation and how He created everything with a purpose, and how he did not everything from Home Depot or any store. He is the one and only God, the creator and our father figure. He is everywhere, He knows all. He created the water: seas, lakes, oceans, He created land, the sea creatures, the land animals, the sun and moon, He created man and woman and rested. Which we celebrate on every Sunday, to give him thanks for what he has done for us all. Adam and Eve were our role models, but they fell short by eating of the forbidden fruit. Jesus and Mary later become the new Adam and Eve (we will cover that later). They both got kicked out of Eden and continued onward with their lives... To be Continued Next Sunday: Cain and Able, Noah and the tower of Babel During the battle Samuel secretly followed God’s lead to a place where the new king would be found and anointed in secret. God took Samuel to Jesse’s house to find the new king. Jesse has all most of his sons line up for Samuel and God tells Samuel that, though these men are good, they are not the one and that Jesse has one more son. Jesse calls his youngest son, David, from shepherding for Samuel and he is indeed the one God wants. David is anointed as the next king and left with his family until the time he is called.
Later on David is found by the king’s men to be a fantastic harpist and he is recommended to play for King Saul when Saul can not sleep. David becomes friends with Saul because of this. Then the infamous battle of David and Goliath. David’s victory has him become a military man and his constant success has him soar through the ranks. David becomes best friends with Saul’s son, Jonathon, and later marries Saul’s daughter. Saul on the other hand becomes jealous of David’s popularity and alternates between love and hate for David; he even tries killing David more than once. To keep peace David ends up running away, which unfortunately leads to Saul chasing David cross country numerous times. Each time Saul catches up with David, David convinces Saul to leave him be in peace. During a battle between the Philistines (Goliath’s people) and the Israelites, Saul and Jonathon are both killed, leaving David to become the king as God had promised. David starts pushing back the Philistines immediately and wins countless battles for his people. David also brings back the Ark of the Covenant since it was captured so long ago (he becomes so joyous he follows the Ark dancing), marries several women and has just as many children. There is quiet a bit of drama surrounding a few of his sons and their actions however I want the class to focus on Solomon becoming king after David. Bathsheba, who is Solomon’s mother, and David start out in not the best of circumstances. Bathsheba had been married to a soldier named Uriah when she and David first get together, which results in a pregnancy. David of course panics but schemes to have Uriah come home early so that Uriah may be with Bathsheba and that it will look like his child. Uriah instead wants to go back to war almost immediately. David then does the unthinkable… he plans to have Uriah killed in battle. After Uriah’s death David marries Bathsheba. Needless to say this was not very pleasing to God. In fact God sends a prophet to explain to David how wrong this is and that both David and Bathsheba will be punished. Bathsheba’s child dies right after birth and David accepts this punishment. Bathsheba does conceive again though and this child is Solomon. Towards the end of David’s life David anoints Solomon as king. Solomon is a wise king at first and rules justly but starts to take a slippery slope at the end and has many gods worshiped in the temples instead of God. After Solomon's death the kingdom falls into a sort of civil unrest and is separated into two kingdoms- Israel and Judah. At this time Elijah is called by God to become a prophet to the kingdom.Elijah is mostly known for two amazing stories but had quite a few miracles associated with him after being called by God to be a prophet. The first well known event is when Elijah confronts Jezebel’s (a powerful queen of Israel) priests for the god Baal/ Jezebel worshiped Baal and had any prophet of God killed. Elijah presented himself as a prophet of God and asked for a competition between himself (with the backing of God) versus the priests of Baal. This was to prove who was really a powerful God. The priests of Baal and Elijah had the same set up. Both had a pile of wood to make a burnt offering and an ox but no fire. Elijah let the priests pick an ox out of the two and prepare their offering and then pray to Baal that he might light the offering. In the afternoon there was still no fire. Elijah then got to work on his offering. Elijah made an altar out of the wood given him and placed his ox on top of it, then he dug a moat around the wood. After the moat was finished Elijah had people poor buckets of water on to the wood 3 times until the water flowed from the altar and filled the moat. Elijah then prayed a simple prayer, asking that God may light the altar so that all may know He is God and that there are no others. Immediately the altar caught fire and grew so big that it started to lick the water in the moat. Immediately the Jewish people repented and turned their backs to Baal and his priests. The next story many remember do to the paintings usually shown when Elijah is mentioned. That is Elijah being carried into heaven in a fiery chariot. This is when God calls Elijah to heaven. Elisha had been Elijah’s apprentice until then and had received Elijah’s blessing. As Elisha witnesses Elijah being called into heaven he spots Elijah’s scarf fall to the ground Elisha picks it up and is granted a double blessing. Elisha takes over where Elijah left off and becomes God’s prophet. We also started our work on ATCs. Each kid is to make 2 for the year. More to follow on that. We had a Faith Film this week about knowing yourself. Next week we will pick up with David.
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