Faith Formation News
Dear Families,
This past Wednesday our 8th graders celebrated their Confirmation with St. Valentine and Our Lady of Loretto parishes. Bishop Monforton spoke with our students before Confirmation to get to know them and it was a beautiful mass. Thank you to our Catechist, Gloria Platek, for all the preparation with our students and their families and sponsors for making this year very special for them. Please continue to pray for them and all of our Faith Formation students. Next week we have no class because of Spring Break.
We may be unfamiliar with fig trees, but we might know about the growth of spring flowers. Perhaps we have looked at a dry, brown flower bulb and wondered how this produces the colorful tulip or daffodil blossom that we expect to bloom in the spring. Perhaps we’ve even thought about the patience and hope that are required to plant flower bulbs in October. We don’t have to be gardeners, however, to know about patience and hopefulness. As parents, we practice these virtues each day with our children. We may become frustrated and even angered by their willfulness and lack of cooperation. Yet we continue to offer our attention and guidance in hope that one day our efforts will bear fruit. Today’s parable suggests that God is like that with us, working with us in patience and in hope that one day we will show evidence that such work is not in vain. As parents, we know God’s kindness when we find evidence for our hope for our children. Does God find such glimmers of hope as he works with us?
Gather your family and show a spring flower in bloom. Recall that in the fall this flower was a dry bulb (if a flower bulb is available, show this as well). Talk about the hopefulness and patience shown by those who plant flower bulbs in the fall in the hope that they will bloom in the spring. Read aloud today’s Gospel, Luke 13:1-9. Compare the parable of the barren fig tree to your discussion about spring flowers. Consider the patience and hopefulness that God has with us as he works with us, calling us to return to him when we sin. Offer prayers of thanks and praise to God for his patience and hopefulness towards us. Conclude by praying together today’s Psalm, Psalm 103.
Liturgy Link-Purple is the liturgical color for Lent, and it represents repentance (turning away from sin). Where do you see purple at Mass today?
Family Challenge- As a family, go to the sacrament of Reconciliation this week.
Partners in Faith,
Phyllis Chudzinski
Wednesday, March 26th- NO Class- Spring Break