Christmas Manger

Since Christmas is just around the corner my treat tonight is an edible manger with baby Jesus.  The manger is made from chocolate wafers with pretzel sticks as the frame.  I used white chocolate for the glue.  You can't see the straw, but I use shredded wheat for straw.  Baby Jesus' blanket is fruit roll-up, his head  a gumdrop and his body is bite size butterfingers.  If I were artistic I would put a face on baby Jesus, but I am not artistic so he has a plain face.  I did not have enough white gum drops for the face so I also used yellow and orange gumdrops for the face.  Jesus probably did  not have the white skin that we have so I was kinda glad I had to use other colors.
Merry Christmas everyone!

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Today is the eve of The Feast of the Immaculate Conception and since we have mass tonight there is no CCD. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary celebrates that from the time that Mary was conceived in her mother, Anna's womb, she has been free from Original sin.

Last week we had The Jesse Tree Celebration and I am posting a group picture. The students did an excellent job, I am so proud of them!

Advent wreath

For my treat this week I made edible advent wreaths. The wreath is a sugar cookie with icing and sprinkles and for the candles I molded colored fondant around toothpicks.
The Advent wreath reminds us that Jesus, the Light of the World, is coming. The circle shape reminds us that God's love never ends. The four candles represent the four weeks of Advents. The first purple candle is the "candle of hope." The second purple candle is the "candle of preparation." The third candle-pink- is the "candle of joy." And the last purple candle is the "candle of love."

Jesse Tree

Every year the Sixth grade class leads the Jesse tree celebration that will be celebrated the first Wednesday of Advent. Grades one through six makes an ornament that represents a person who helped prepare the way for Jesus. The sixth grade makes an ornament for Isaac and King David. For Isaac they tie pieces of tree limbs together to represent the wood that Isaac carried when he was almost sacrificed. For King David they are making sling shots to represent his fight with the giant Goliath. So for my treat I tied pretzel sticks together with licorice to represent the bundle of wood.

Here are the other ornaments that are made:

The first grade make a rainbow to symbolize Noah, tools to symbolize Joseph, Jesus' step father and they carry the manger to the tree for baby Jesus.

The second grade make apples to symbolize Adam and Eve and crowns for the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The third grade make a ladder for Jacob and a coat of many colors for Joseph.

The fourth grade make ten commandment ornaments for Moses and a sea shell for John the Baptist.

The fifth grade make tents for Abraham and a sheaf of wheat for Ruth.

All saints and All Souls

Tonight we are remembering the Saints in Heaven and the Souls in Purgatory. Considering that the world we live in there are not very many people that we can look to for role models, it is nice to know that there are so many Saints that we can look to for guidance. One of my favorite 20th century Saints is Blessed Mother Theresa. I also feel blessed that I was able to shake Mother Angelica's hand, it felt like I shook the hand of a future Saint.


Don't forget you loved ones who are in purgatory they need our prayers as they are being purified for Heaven.


For my treat tonight I made pudding cups with crushed Kit Kat bars on top. I added a ghost peep, and put a paper R.I.P tombstone over the spoon.

Jacob-what you sow is what you reap

Isaac and Rebekah have twins sons, while they were in the womb they were already fighting. Esau was born first but Jacob came out gripping Esau's heel, not wanting to let go. As the firstborn, Esau was to receive his family's birthright. This was the oldest son's right to the greatest part of the inheritance and to a special blessing from the father. Esau was a very carefree person who did not really care about his inheritance. Jacob on the other hand really wanted it and decided to take matters into his own hands.
One day Esau found Jacob cooking. Esau was hungry for some of his soup. Jacob knew this was his chance. He said, "First give me your birthright." Esau was so hungry that he agreed. Neither son told their father, Isaac of this trade. So my first treat tonight is chili soup.
Years later when Isaac was old and blind, he called for his son Esau, and asked him to prepare him a meal and then Isaac would give him his special blessing. Rebekah overheard Isaac, and asked Jacob to pretend to be Esau so he could get the special blessing.
Esau was an outdoors man who liked to hunt and was very hairy. So Jacob wore Esau's clothing so he could smell like him, and put goat hair on his arms and chest, so he could be hairy like his brother. He was able to trick his father since his father was almost blind. When Esau heard what Jacob did, he vowed to kill him. So Jacob left and went to his uncle Laban's house.

After Jacob arrived at his Uncle's house he met Laban's daughter Rachel and fell madly in love with her. Laban told Jacob if he worked for him for seven years he could then marry his daughter Rachel, Jacob agreed.
Rachel had an older sister Leah who was not married. It was not the custom for a younger sister to marry before the older sister, and since the brides face was completely covered, Laban was able to trick Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. It was also the custom to have more that one wife, so Laban again told Jacob that if he worked another seven years he could marry Rachel and he did. So we also are having wedding cake tonight.

Abraham

Tonight in class the students will meet the first patriarch, Abraham. God asked him to leave his hometown of Ur and travel first to Harran and then to Canaan. God made a covenant with Abraham that he would possess the land of Canaan, that he would have many descendants and that all the nations would be blessed by him. God took Abraham outside at midday and asked him to count the stars if he could and told him that he would have more descendants than there are stars in the sky and sand on the seashore. So my treat is apple cider jigglers.

Feast Day's of Mary

The Feast day's of Mary is always the students favorite class of the year. I have a symbol for each feast day and most of them are food. I apologize my picture is from last year and a few of the items are a little different, but I had a busy day and didn't get a new picture taken. So here are the Feast Day's:

Jan. 1-The Solemnity of Mary. What a better way to start the New Year than honoring Mary our Mother. I have a music maker for my symbol, since the feast is celebrated on New Years Day. This Feast day is so important that it is a Holy Day of Obligation.

Feb. 2-The Presentation Of Jesus in the Temple. Joseph and Mary are obedient in bring Jesus to the Temple to be dedicated. They are met at the Temple by Simeon and Anna. We know that Joseph and Mary are poor because their offering is a dove or pigeon instead of a lamb because they could not afford a lamb. So my treat is a chicken drummette to represent the bird.

March 25-The Annunciation. the Angel Gabriel asks Mary to be the Mother of God, and of course she says yes. Mary knew she was going to have a boy so my treat is IT'S A BOY butter mint.

May 31-The Visitation. Mary travels to meet her cousin Elizabeth who is carrying John the Baptist. When Elizabeth meets Mary, John the Baptist leaped in her womb. Elizabeth tells Mary Blessed is the Fruit of your womb. So my treat is fruit snacks.

August 15-The Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Mary's body did not decay in the grave like ours will, she was taken up to Heaven to be with her Son. I served cotton candy to represent the cloud that took her to Heaven. This Feast Day is also a Holy Day of obligation.

August 22-The Coronation of Mary. Mary is crowned queen of Heaven and Earth, so I have sugar cookies in the shape of a crown with gold sprinkles on them.

Sept. 8-The Birth of Mary. Even though we do not know the exact date of Mary's birth the church celebrates it on this date. I made white cupcakes, the white representing her purity, with blue icing, the blue representing her queenship of Heaven and Earth.

Sept. 15-Our lady of Sorrows. We recognize the 7 sorrows of Mary which are, The Prophecy of Simeon, The Flight into Egypt, The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple, Mary Meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary, Jesus Dies on the Cross, Mary Receives the Body of Jesus in Her Arms and The Body Of Jesus is Placed in the Tomb. So for my symbol I gave the students each a travel pack of tissues because when we are sad we cry and need a tissue.

Oct. 7-Our Lady of the Rosary. There are 59 beads on a rosary, so I gave the students 59 pieces of Trix cereal. I chose Trix because they are round like a rosary bead and are multicolored just like rosary beads are many colors.

Dec. 8-The Immaculate conception of Mary. This Feast Day is the one that the students have the least understanding of. This Feast celebrated that Mary was conceived without Original Sin. To be the Mother of Jesus she needed to be sinless. My treat is a solid white chocolate baby, symbolizing that Mary was pure throughout her whole body and for her whole life.

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden where they walked with God. It was the most beautiful place to live with plenty to eat and drink. They were told that they could eat from any of the trees in the garden except for the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Now the serpent was the most cunning animal that the Lord had made. The snake asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?" Eve replied, "We may eat from any tree except from the tree of Knowledge of good and Evil. God told us not to eat from that fruit or even touch it, if we do, we will die." The serpent replied "That's not true; you will not die. God said that because he knows that when you eat it, you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad." So Eve saw how beautiful the fruit was and gave in to the Serpent. She also gave some to her husband Adam. As soon as they ate the fruit, they were given understanding to know that they had done wrong.

After their sin, they were banned from the garden, and passed on their tendency to sin to all of their descendents.

For my treat I have apples and gummy worms. Some of the apples have the effects of their sinned tagged to the apples, those effects are; suffering, separation from God, death, unhappiness, destruction and conflict. The gummy worms represent the serpent. I have the statue of the Blessed Mother in the picture because after the fall of man, God had a plan save his people. He would send His Son and His Mother would crush the head of the Serpent.

Creation Story

In the beginning, when God created... Tonight we are going to begin our bible study with the first story of Genesis, the Creation Story. God in his goodness created everything out of nothing. And He was pleased with everything He made. When He created man in His image and likeness, he said it was VERY good.

These are the days that I used for my treats; on day two, He separated the bodies of water, so for my first treat I have a water bottle for the students. On day five God created the sea monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures, so for my second treat I have gummy fish. On the fifth day God created the living creatures, so for my last treat I have animal crackers.

When we study the creation story we also talk about the Creation ladder and how the Spirit Life is superior to us, and how Human Life is superior to the animal life and how the animal life is superior to the plant life. We also talk about being good stewards of the Earth, so the water bottles will be reused each week.

Scripture Cookies

In class tonight we are going to talk about how to read the Bible and how to look up scripture. To practice looking up scripture I have a recipe for Scripture cookies. Here is the recipe:

1 cup Psalm 55:21(after churning)
2 cups 1 Samuel 14:25
2 Isaiah 10:14
1 teaspoon each 2 Chronicles 9:9 (several kinds)
2 cups Leviticus 2:1
1 teaspoon Matthew 5:13
1 teaspoon Leviticus 6:17 (modern cookie form)
3 cups Proverbs 11:26 (one type)
1 cup 1Samuel 30:12 (optional)

Beat the first four ingredients together. Mix in remaining ingredients. Drop by teaspoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Answers: 1 cup butter (softened), 2 cups honey (I use sugar instead), 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and cinnamon, 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda (leaven), 3 cups rolled oats, 1 cup raisins.

Because God inspired the authors of the Bible He is considered the main Author of the Bible.

Workers in the Vineyard

I am excited for another year of CCD, I only have 10 students so that will be different. For our opening prayer we always read the Gospel reading for the following Sunday. The Gospel for this Sunday, Mt. 20:1-16 (the workers in the vineyard) is what I am focusing my treat on.

This story is a parable, a story Jesus uses to teach us a lesson about the Kingdom of God. Here is the story; Their was a man who went out early in the morning to hire some workers to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a fair wage, a silver coin a day. He went out again at nine o'clock and saw some men standing doing nothing, so he told them to also go to work and he would pay them a fair wage. So they went. Then at noon and again at three o'clock the man did the same thing. At nearly five o'clock the man again went out and saw some men standing idle, they man asked them why they were not working and the men replied, no one wanted us. So the man also hired them.

When evening came the owner told his foreman to call the workers and give them their pay, starting with the workers who were hired last. All of the workers got paid one silver coin. When the workers who started early in the day saw that they got paid the same as the workers who were hired at five o'clock they were upset and thought it was not fair. Their Foreman asked them if they had agreed to a silver coin for a day's work and they replied, yes we did. The foreman said "Don't I have a right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?"

Jesus has the same love for all of us, even if we are late coming to know him.

So for my treat I have a silver chunk of chocolate representing a silver coin and grape juice to drink since they were working in the vineyard all day.

Father Damian

Tonight is our last class and I am so sad to see it end. I have really enjoyed the students and blogging about my class. We only have class for about 20 minutes then we gather for May Crowning. I am serving pizza and wings while we play hangman, choosing who our favorite person was that we talked about. I am choosing Hannah because of her deep desire to have a child and how she gave him back to God at such an early age.

Yesterday, May 10 was the feast of St. Damian, so I am also serving pineapple macadamia cookies to honor him. Last year when I was in Hawaii I saw his monument on the same square as King Kamehameha at the Judicial Office and I was pretty excited that a religious person was honored.

Father Damian came to Hawaii in 1864 as an ordained priest. In 1873 he moved to the leper colony in Molokai. It was hard for him to see the suffering of the lepers and how they were ostracized from the rest of the world. He knew he could not heal them and realised why they needed to be quarantined, so he spent his time making there life more meaningful. There were times when he celebrated the Mass that he had to hold out from vomiting because the stench of the leprosy was so strong. He eventually contracted the disease himself and died. There is finally a cure for Leprosy or Hanson's disease as it is now called, so the Island of Molokai is no longer a leper Island. As Father Damian was caring for the lepers he was really caring for Jesus, he is truly a great saint and someone we can model our life after.

The Promised Land at Last

Moses is now 112 years old and because of his disobedience to God, striking the rock so that the water would flow out and not speaking to the rock, he is not the person God chooses to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land. God does give Moses a view of the Promised Land though. Moses climbs to the top of Mount Nebo alone and sees how great the land is, that it is indeed flowing with milk and honey and has the largest figs and pomegranates he has ever seen. Moses then dies on Mt. Nebo. The Israelites mourn him for 30 days. Then Joshua, the person chosen by God to be the new leader, brings them into the Promised land.

So for my treat I made ice cream drizzled with honey to represent the milk and honey. I also have pomegranate seeds and fig newtons.

Bronze Serpent and Jelly Bean Prayer

As the Israelites are on their 40 year journey into the Promised land they continue to complain about Moses and even about God. They are sick of eating manna and quail and are sick of wondering around. For their punishment God sent serpents among them. The bites of these snakes caused death. Only after many people had died from the bites did the Israelites realize their sinfulness. The people went to Moses and admitted that they had sinned. They asked Moses to intercede for them so that God would save them from the snake bites. God told Moses to place a bronze snake on a pole and place it where the people could see it. The people who had been bitten by the snake came to see the bronze serpent. They had faith in God's power to heal them. These people lived and were healed of the terrible snakebites. In the book of John, Jesus says, "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." In this way Moses prefigures Jesus. So for my treat I tied pretzels together with dental floss to from a cross, then I tied a gummy worm to the cross.
Who knew that eating jelly beans could be a form of prayer. Each color represents something about Jesus. For my second treat I gave the students jelly beans.
Orange for the edge of night.
Pink is for a new tomorrow.
White is for the life he gave.
Purple is for his hour of sorrow.
Black is for the sins we made.
Green is for the grass he made.
Yellow is for the sun so bright.
Red is for the blood he gave.

Seder meal

A Seder meal is a Christian Passover. The Catholic Mass is modeled after the Seder Meal. After every Seder Meal I seem to have a better understanding of our mass, so I guess all of the work is worth it. I use a Seder celebration that I got off the Internet several years, it is a very structured celebration. We begin with the symbolic foods and then a meal and close with a blessing.

The symbolic foods are:

4 glasses of grape juice for the 4 promises God gave the Israelites; I will bring you out of Egypt, I will free you from slavery, I will save you by my own hand, and I will take you to be my people and I will be your God.

Parsley representing new life, salt water for their tears.

Matzoh the unleavened bread.

Horseradish (bitter herb) representing the bitterness in Egypt.

Haroset (chopped apples and walnuts with cinnamon and honey) representing the mortar used to make bricks.

Lamb bone representing the passover lamb.

Egg representing the offering brought to the temple. I have deviled eggs instead of boiled eggs because they are less messy.

For our meal we have lamb, mashed potatoes and gravy, noodles, creamed corn and for dessert carrot cake.

Part of the celebration is for the teacher to hide a piece of matzoh representing Jesus being hidden for 3 days. Whoever finds the hidden Matzoh gets a prize. Since I have new students each year I can use the same hiding place every year, which is in the tree with the serpent. The prize this year is jelly belly jelly beans.

The students enjoyed the celebration and did a wonderful job participating. Have a very blessed Easter.

The Spies

After spending about a year at Mt. Sinai, where Moses received the 613 laws that the Israelites were expected to follow it was time to enter the Promised land. So Moses sent 12 spies, one from each of the 12 tribes, to check out the land. They spied the land for forty days. When they returned to Moses everyone agreed that the land was flowing with milk and honey. They commented on how great were the figs, pomegranates and grapes. It actually took two people to carry the grapes on a pole they were so large. Even as they agreed on how great the land was all of the spies except for Caleb and Joshua thought the Canaanites were too fearful. They said the Israelites seemed liked grasshoppers next to them. Caleb and Joshua agreed the Canaanites were a fearful people but the Israelites had God on their side and He would help them attack the enemy. The Israelites decided that they would not march into Canaan. God was not happy with their decision and wanted to destroy them, but Moses interceded for them and God did not destroy the Israelites, but told them they would have to wander in the dessert for 40 years and only the young children would live to enter Canaan.

So for my treat tonight I have grapes, fig newtons and pomegranate juice. I sure am glad that Jesus came and died for me so I don't have to follow the 613 laws!

Manna in the desert

Reading about the Israelites reminds me of my children when they were bored, no matter you had for them to do, they complained. I'm sure Moses got pretty tired of hearing the Israelites complain. Two months after they had left Egypt they were complaining they had nothing to eat. So Moses asks God for his help; he sent quail in the evening and manna in the morning. Manna were sticky white flakes with a sweet taste. Because it tasted like wafers the Israelites called it "bread from heaven." They were only to collect enough for one day, so they would learn to trust God that he would supply their needs every day. The day before the Sabbath they were to collect enough for that day and the Sabbath.

So for my treat, the stickiest thing I could think of was marshmallow cream. So I made sticky rice Crispy treats with speckled eggs to represent quail eggs. I know the speckled eggs are stretching the quail a bit, but my daughter is due any day and I wanted to plan something easy in case I need to make a quick trip to see my new grand baby!

Penance service

Tonight we are having a penance service and we will be in church the whole evening so I did not make a snack. Tomorrow is half way through lent and I was thinking about two of the things I gave up. I gave facebook up for lent and at first I really missed it, but I am missing it less each week. During the time that I would have checked facebook I am reading the book of Sirach. It is one of my favorite books and it is so full of wisdom that I need to hear. I also turned my radio off in the car and since I am usually alone when I am going somewhere it gets pretty lonesome. But I find myself paying more attention to the surroundings, and it brings to mind peoples needs, which causes me to pray for those needs. Have a good week!

Part 2 of The Prince of Egypt and The Annunciation

The second part of the prince of Egypt focuses on the Exodus. On this important night, the Israelites gathered as God had told them to. Each family sprinkled the blood of a sacrificial lamb on the doorposts of their house. Then the families prepared and ate roasted lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They ate with their sandals on their feet and their staffs in their hands, ready for flight.

Friday, March 25 is the feast day of The Annunciation of our Lord. In Luke's Gospel, we read that the angel Gabriel came to Mary and asked her to be the Mother of Jesus. When Mary said yes to God, Jesus was formed in her womb, and she became a mother-one who nourishes, protects, cares for, and most of all loves her children. A herb associated with Mary is the one that bears her name-rosemary.

So for my treat I made unleavened bread with rosemary.

St. Patrick

St. Patrick had two solid qualities about him, was a humble and he was courageous. At sixteen he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave to a chief in Ireland. After six years a voice from heaven told him to go back to his own country. But first he went to Rome, where he became a priest. He was then sent to England, but after some time he begged the Pope to send him to Ireland. The Pope made him a bishop and then sent him as a missionary to Ireland.

One of the pagan kings of Ireland arrested Patrick. When he saw the miracles worked by Patrick, he said, "Tell us about your God. He has given you great power."

"There is but one God," answered Patrick, "in three Persons; the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit." Picking up a green shamrock he said "Even as there are three leaves on this one stem, so there are three persons in one God." After that he was allowed to preach the new Faith everywhere in Ireland.

My treat tonight is cake with green sprinkles and some green juice.

Shrove Tuesday

Lent is a time of self-discipline and denial. Throughout the 40 days of Lent, people are called to fasting, almsgiving and prayer. But the week preceding Lent has become a time of merrymaking, culminating on Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent begins.

The name Shrove Tuesday comes from the custom of ringing the "shriving bell" to summon the people to church to be "shriven," that is to confess their sins at the beginning of Lent. At that time, certain foods were given up for the duration of Lent. Those foods included eggs, milk, meat, and rich buttery dishes. On Shrove Tuesday, families ate up all the rich foods left in their pantries. One way they used up the eggs, milk and fats in the house was to add flour to make special pancakes. In England, the popularity of the pancakes caused Shrove Tuesday to be called Pancake Day, and festivities surrounded the eating of pancakes, including pancake races.

So my treat tonight is pancakes.

Joseph the Dreamer

The life of Joesph reminds us that even when we encounter obstacles in life, God provides for our needs and watches over us. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son. To show his love, Jacob had a fine tunic made for Joseph. When Joseph's brothers saw how much their father loved Joseph they were envious.

One day Joseph's brothers were out tending their father's flocks. Jacob told Joseph to check on his brothers and the flocks. His brothers saw him coming and plotted to kill him. Reuben the oldest, objected to killing Joseph. Instead they threw him into a dry well and later sold him to a caravan of traders heading to Egypt. He was sold to Potiphar for twenty pieces of silver.

The Lord protected Joseph while he lived in Potiphar's house. Potiphar put Joseph in charge of all his possessions. Potiphar's wife fell in love with Joseph, but Joseph refused to commit sin with her. Angry with Joseph, Potiphar's wife screamed and pretended that Joseph had tried to attack her. Potiphar seized Joseph and threw him into jail.

Some time later Pharaoh's cupbearer and the chief baker were imprisoned for offending Pharoah. One night both the cupbearer and the baker had strange dreams, that they could not understand. Joseph told them to tell him their dreams. In the cupbearers dream, he had seen a vine with three branches filled with grapes. "I picked the grapes and squeezed them into Pharoah's cup. I put the cup into Pharoah's hand. The chief baker explained his dream. He had seen himself carrying three baskets. In the top one were baked goods for Pharoah. Birds were pecking at the baked goods.

So for my treat tonight I had grape juice served in wine glasses to represent the cupbearer. I made banana chocolate chip muffins to represent the chief baker. You will have to read Genesis 39-41 to find out the meaning of the dreams and the rest of the story of Joseph.

Esau, Jacob & sibling rivalry

Esau and Jacob are twins who have fighting since in the womb of their mother Rebekah, the wife of Isaac. Esau was born first but Jacob came out gripping Esau's heel, not wanting to let go. As the firstborn son Esau was to receive the family's birthright. This was the oldest son's right to the greatest part of the inheritance and to a special blessing from the father. Jacob did not think he had a chance for this blessing unless he took matters into his own hands. One day Esau found Jacob cooking. Esau was hungry and asked for some of the soup. Jacob knew that this was his chance. He said, "First, give me your birthright." Esau was so hungry that he agreed and even made an oath. So my treat for tonight is chili soup. Jacob will also cheat Esau out of the special blessing from his father. Fearful for his life Jacob flees from Esau, goes back to Haran where he will reap what he has sown.

Abraham

Abraham is our father in faith and a man of great faith. When God called Abraham to leave his homeland, Abraham responded with a generous and obedient heart. God had promised Abraham many descendants, all nations would be blessed by him, he would be given land, and God would always be with him. Abraham did not understand how all of God's promises could happen since he and his wife Sarah were very old. God took Abraham outside and said; "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so shall your descendants be." So my treat tonight is jiggler stars. It was actually daylight when God had Abraham look into the sky, so I made light colored stars.

The Presentation of Jesus

Today is the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. It is written in the law of the Lord; "Every first-born male is to be dedicated to the Lord," and since Joseph and Mary were obedient to the law that is what they did. They also went to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the law of the Lord. For dinner tonight my husband and I are having chicken drumettes to represent the pigeons that were offered.

In Luke's account, Jesus was welcomed in the temple by two elderly people, Simeon and the widow Anna. They embody Israel in their patient expectation; they acknowledge the infant Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah.

Another name for this feast day is: Candlemas, Christ himself says, "I am the light of the world.' And we are the light, we ourselves, if we receive it from him. How are we making it shine?

Jonah and the whale

I am on vacation enjoying the marvelous handiwork of God and Jill is filling in for me. I decided a movie would be good for class and I chose a movie about Jonah, since that story is not covered in class.


Jonah had an attitude problem. God had a job for him; to go to Nineveh and tell the people to change their ways. Jonah didn't want to go so he ran away. God had another plan for Jonah, he ended up in the belly of a whale. When he finally got to Nineveh he never expected that the people would listen to him, but amazingly they did! Instead of being happy Jonah was mad. He didn't want to share God's love with the Ninevites. He didn't think they deserved it. The story of Jonah is full of lessons about respecting others, listening to God, understanding God's love, and believing that God knows best, even when we don't understand God's plan.


For my treat I have whale crackers (generic for goldfish) and a blue drink to represent the ocean. I hope the students enjoy the movie and the snack.

Jesus begins His mission at home

In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus calls His disciples. He doesn't choose the wise and the learned he chooses fishermen, tax collectors, simple people just like you and I. So for my treat I put swedish fish in nets and tied them together with fishing line. For the nets I used a lingerie laundry bag. Jesus told the fishermen, "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men."

Vocations

A vocation is a call from God and our call is a gift from God. We have all been called to serve God in someway, whether it is to the religious life, the married life or the single life. We talk about vocations in CCD because it is never to early to think about how God is calling you. Our class was cancelled due to the snow, but for my treat I was going to make a Body of Christ fruit bowl. Each of our gifts makes up the body of Christ here on Earth. I was going to use berries to represent the Religious life since there are many different types of berries and many different types of Religious and Consecrated calls. I was going to use pineapple for married life and oranges for the single life, again many types of oranges and many types of vocations to the single life. The fruit would have been delicious just like this, but I wanted to make it even better so I used Agave nectar, which represents the Holy Spirit, who helps us with our vocation, to make the fruit sweeter and holds it all together. What gifts has God given you to help spread His good news?

The Baptism of Jesus

Since the topic for my class tonight is abortion, I thought I would focus my treat on the Baptism of Jesus which will be celebrated this Sunday. I made shortbread cookies in the shape of a shell, a symbol that is used to represent baptism. Sunday is the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, the scene of the baptism of Jesus is the first appearance of the adult Jesus in Matthew's Gospel (and, by the way, the first time Jesus speaks). Matthew's primary interest is not the baptism as such, but the voice from the heavens revealing that Jesus is the Son of God. The voice from heaven isn't directed to those present, but but to those who read this passage. Through the sacrament of baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit and are made sons and daughters of God. Now that is something to think about this year.