Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Don’t worry,” says Jesus, “let tomorrow take care of tomorrow.”

Nice, but was Jesus ever a parent or, for that matter, a coordinator of religious education? Who is making lunches for tomorrow or planning doctors’ appointments? Or what are we going to do about First Penance, First Communion, Lent, Easter . . .?

When Jesus tells us not to worry, he doesn’t mean not to care. Making every moment of today count includes getting ready for tomorrow. But getting ready for tomorrow doesn’t mean we try to control tomorrow’s outcome. A waste of time and a waste of the best day God has given us—today!

Speaking of getting ready . . .

• First Penance for 2nd Graders: March 12th at 11 AM in the Upper Church
• The Sacrament of Reconciliation for Grades 3 through 8 will be celebrated during Lent
• Ash Wednesday is March 9th

Grace Before Snacks

Every week, there is a Grace before Snacks. This week, I will share the Keenan-Devlin Family Grace. If there are families with special graces, why not send them in and share them with all of us. I’ll also be asking the kids to write their own.

Good News about Good Kids

Our girls who are in Girl Scout Troop 1023 are sponsoring a Blood Drive:

Saturday, March 5th

8 am to 1 pm

New Castle Town Hall

Give blood and support our girls.

KidsRelig resumes Tuesday, March 1st.

Love,

Deacon Charlie

SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Two weeks ago, it was Jesus, the baker. (Remember those chocolate chip cookies!) Last week, it was Jesus the law school professor. And this week, it’s Jesus, the mathematician.

The Middlers attended Jesus’ math class and worked on this equation: turn your cheek + give your cloak too + go an extra mile + loan whatever + love your enemy = perfect. Do the math and you will add up to being as perfect as God the Father. And what did the Middlers think about this equation? Impossible!!!

And so it is, if being perfect means an automatic make-over to God-like being—something static and etched in stone. But if you change the word “perfect” to “complete,” which some translators say is a better fit, the math equation becomes dynamic. It’s not a matter of being perfect, but becoming complete. Work at the math, and make it better today than yesterday.

Grace Before Snacks

Our 4th Graders led us in a Presidents’ Day Grace:

O God,
As we honor Presidents Washington and Lincoln,
We remember how they inspired us
To be citizens ready to sacrifice for others.
Bless our country and its people.
Make us one in charity for all
And at peace among ourselves
And with all nations.
And come bless our food,
Which you give us from the bounty of our land.
Amen.

First Penance for our 2nd Grade First Communion Kids is Saturday, March 12th , 11:00 AM, Upper Church.

On the First Communion News page of the Parish Website, we have begun to publish the prayers that will be part of our celebration of the sacrament. Please download and print and practice with your child at home.

First Communion

Still need baptismal information for 19 kids. Please complete the online form as soon as possible.
The link to the on-line form for Baptismal Information is in First Communion News. Go to the Homepage of the Parish Website and click on Religious Education.

First Communion News appears in the drop-down box. It is also on the Religious Education Page in the links column to the left.

Good News about Good Kids

Our girls who are in Girl Scout Troop 1023 are sponsoring a Blood Drive:

Saturday, March 5th
8 am to 1 pm
New Castle Town Hall

Give blood and support our girls.

Winter Recess

KidsRelig is on vacation this week. No classes Tuesday 2/22, Wednesday 2/23, Thursday, 2/24. Classes resume Tuesday, March 1st.

Love,

Deacon Charlie

SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

The Law! Jesus almost turns today’s gospel into a law school class—his own law school class. “You have heard it said . . . but I tell you.”

With the Middlers we considered laws—from the red light/green light of the Vehicle and Traffic Law to the Penal Law and its definitions of murder in the second degree and robbery in the first degree. Then, we turned to other laws—the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation. We looked at how laws stop us from doing things—sometimes little annoying things and other times big bad things. And then how they free us to do great things.

Jesus tells us that in the Kingdom there is a bare minimum to the law. We call it morality. But when it comes to the law of God’s Kingdom, it is equally true that the sky is the limit. We call it charity, purity and truth. For short, we call it love.

Grace Before Snacks

We had to do some catch-up with our graces and give our Tuesday and Wednesday crowds the chance to sing last week’s grace to the tune of “Are You Sleeping, Brother John.” Snow had robbed them of that chance. On Thursday, we got ready for Valentine’s Day with this grace:

O God of love, O God of love,

Valentine is with the Saints above.

In faith, he healed a girl who was blind

And taught us the strength of being kind.

Make us healers in our world today

And bless this, our food, O Lord, we pray.

First Penance

The Sacrament of Reconciliation (First Penance) will be celebrated for our Second Grade First Communion Class Saturday, March 12^th , 11:00 AM, Upper Church.

On the First Communion News page of the Parish Website, we have begun to publish the prayers that will be part of our celebration of the sacrament. Please download and print and practice with your child at home.

First Communion

As of this writing, the on-line Baptismal Information Form has been completed for 52 of our 70 First Communion Kids. It is very important that we get this information as soon as possible.

The link to the on-line form for Baptismal Information is in First Communion News. Go to the Homepage of the Parish Website and click on Religious Education. First Communion News appears in the drop-down box. It is also on the Religious Education Page in the links column to the left.

The Dancing Snowman

Last week, we told you about all the updates to our Parish Website. The Dancing Snowman is the latest. When you go to the Homepage of the Parish Website and click on Religious Education, you will see a Dancing Snowman and Banner across the top of the Religious Education Page. That’s where you can always find the latest Class Cancellation Alert due to Weather.

Love,

Deacon Charlie

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

CALENDAR CHANGE

KIDSRELIG WILL HAVE CLASS

TUESDAY, 2/8 & WEDNESDAY, 3/9

CCD BUS WILL RUN

(KidsRelig had previously been scheduled not to be in session on Tuesday, 2/8, & Wednesday, 3/9, due to CCSD Early Dismissals; CCSD has canceled those Early Dismissals to make up for Snow Days. Since CCSD will now have Full Days on 2/8 & 3/9, KidsRelig will be in session on those days.)

Grandsons, Chocolate Chip Cookies and A Gospel Recipe

As with all things from heaven, the snow this week both “giveth and taketh away.” It tooketh(?) away KidsRelig for Tuesday and Wednesday. But it gaveth two special visitors at our house—grandsons Hudson and Asher (Oh yes, and their mother too!). Clare and I babysat as Catie worked on a Master’s thesis. So, a busy place with a 4 year old and a 4 month old.

As Clare was baking chocolate chip cookies, I picked up the empty Nestle bag of chips to toss it out and noticed the recipe on the back, which I’ve probably looked at a 1000 times, but never really seen. All the ingredients are neatly listed at the top, but the directions are laid out separately at the bottom. The ingredients are all good stuff, but they can’t make even one chocolate chip cookie, unless you follow the directions and get your act together.

And chocolate chip cookies are exactly what I remembered when I read this week’s gospel. The Beatitudes made up last week’s gospel—the ingredients of Christian living—all good stuff. But this week, it’s all about the directions at the bottom of the recipe. Shake that salt shaker; light that lamp. And shine!

Good stuff without real action is like ingredients on the shelf—nice, but no cookie. And real action without good stuff may be a recipe with a lot of promise—and nothing but hot air.

Grace Before Snacks

Again, with Hudson and Asher visiting, there were a lot of nursery rhymes sung these last few days. One was “Are You Sleeping, Brother John.” And guess what! There’s a grace to that rhyme’s tune. And, once again, the First Graders led us in grace. Ask them how it goes.

First Penance

The Sacrament of Reconciliation (First Penance) will be celebrated for our Second Grade First Communion Class Saturday, March 12^th , 11:00 AM, Upper Church.

Preparation for the sacrament has begun in all the classes. Parents will receive more information about preparation at home and the ceremony in the next two weeks.

First Communion

As of this writing, the on-line Baptismal Information Form has been completed for 45 of our 70 First Communion Kids. It is very important that we get this information as soon as possible.

A reminder email was sent out last week with the link to the on-line form for Baptismal Information.

If you are the parent of a Second Grade First Communion Kid and have not been getting this information, contact me immediately at kidsrelig@optimum.net .

Our Parish Website has some new features especially for all of us at KidsRelig.

· When you click on Religious Education to the left on the Homepage, you'll get a drop-down box with easy-access links to theBlog and First Communion News and other pages

· The same link to the Blog is still on the Religious Education Page in the links column on the right

· A new link to First Communion News has been added to the links column on the Religious Education Page; it has all the current information about First Communion, First Penance and all our preparations

· Our "Welcome Letter" on the Religious Education Page has been modified and all registration information for new members of the parish has been moved to its own page with a link in the drop-down box on the Homepage and in the links column on the Religious Education Page

Thanks to Rich Diefenbach for all his hard work on the Webpage.

Love,

Deacon Charlie