Wednesday November 10th

Hello all my high school friends and St Leo family,

It is hard to believe that fall is going by so quickly and Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  I guess we say that all the time because we live such busy lives. However, with Daniel being my youngest and a senior, I sure wish it would slow down!

Well as we get closer to Thanksgiving and then on to Christmas, it is a time to look over our life and thank God for all the wonderful blessings we have in it. Like most of you, at the top of the list, I think of my family, starting  with my husband, Bob, and four boys.  How they give me so much to be truly thankful for with their love and support: and their never ending energy.   They certainly keep me busy and life interesting.  I think of my parents, siblings and all their families, how grateful I am to be able to spend time with them either at a family gathering or through conversation on the telephone.  I think of my friends, in the community or ones developed over the years.  How unique they all are, but each of my friends, all special and important in their own way.  I think of my parish family at St. Leo, from Father Jason to the children in class or at church and to all of you.  How thankful I am to have the gift of faith and the ability to share that with others often.  I hope as the holiday season progresses I can keep the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ as the center of my focus as I recall God's fulfillment of his promise through the birth of his son in a manger.

Well that is enough rambling, let's get to the point!  This was our 10th week of class and this week we started at mass with the feast of St Leo the Great, our patron saint!!  What a great learning experience for all of our students!  Father Jason, again with his wisdom, spoke during his homily and told us about the importance of this Pope from the 5th century who later became a saint.  He gave us  4 main points for which St Leo is remembered.  The 1st because he stood up against heresies in the church that were occurring at that time.  Second for standing up against factions that wanted to dispute the duo nature of Jesus, in that he was fully human and fully divine.  Third that he protected Rome against invasion from Attila the Hun.  And Father's last point was that St Leo is remembered for his writing and speeches. It is so good to know some history of our patron saint!

Class began with our opening prayer to the Holy Spirit.  We then discussed the upcoming trip to Bowling Green to attend the Diocesan Youth Conference.  So far we have 8 students playing to attend.  We will leave Friday November 19th at 2:30 and return Saturday night about 10:30 pm.  I know we will have a great time sharing our faith with others!

This week we studied lesson 6 in the Teen timeline series covering the period in the bible from the Exile to 2nd Kings.  This is the period of the Divided Kingdom with Israel in the north and Judah in the south.  The Israelites then fall to different kingdoms of the time from the Assyrians to the Babylonians.  We hear of the prophet Daniel and how he is the Portrait of Trust through prayer and his great faith in God.  After the Babylonian exile,  the Persians take over and allow the Israelites to return from exile to the land of Canaan.  From the book of Esther, we hear about a women who was very beautiful but who's inner beauty far surpassed her outer beauty.  She was the Portrait of Heroism and saved the Jewish people from persecution.  We hear next about the conqueror, Alexander the Great.  During this time the Jewish people were ruled by the Greeks.  Mark Hart explained how the books of the Bible were set in the 5th century and in place for over 1000 years. When Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation instead of using the Greek translation of the Old Testament that contained 46 books and was the one used since the Bible books were 1st put together.  He used the Hebrew translation of the Old Testament to make his bible which contained 7 less books.  That is the reason the Protestant Bible does not have as many books as ours.  The 7 books of the Bible had been there for over 1000 years and without them there is a big gap is the story of salvation.  One of the missing books is the book of Maccabees.  We learned about the Maccabean revolt where the Jewish people fought for their freedom and independence.  The Jewish priest went into the Temple to purify it and only had enough oil to burn for 1 day. But the oil burned for 8 days and this was a miracle!  Our Jewish neighbors celebrate this every year with Hanukkah and their 8 candle menorah.  We ended the lesson knowing that Greece would soon fall and the Romans would take over this area of the world.  We ended to begin next time with the fulfillment of God's promises to all of us.

Next week on Wednesday we will meet after mass with the parents of our confirmation students to discuss the confirmation schedule.  I hope all students and parents can attend this important meeting.

Have a great week!
God bless all of you,

Dr Joyce

November 3, 2010

Hello everyone!
I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween.  I spent the evening at home giving out candy and watching country music videos.  I saw some of my sweet little patients trick-or-treating.

 Whoops!  That is not the picture I wanted!
OK that is the one I wanted!
We tried to have a high school party and met at the church.  Only 4 students came so we had a good time at the movies and saw the comedy, "chick flick" that was out and thoroughly enjoyed it.  We will have to do it again.

Well this week started off with mass and we celebrated the feast of St. Martin de Porres.  He was a priest in Peru in the when there was a lot of prejudice because his parents were of Spanish and Black descent.  Because of that he was treated very poorly and had a hard time even becoming a priest.  When we visited Peru 2 years ago we saw his burial and church dedicated to him.  Father Jason told us how he ministered to the African slaves in Peru and served the poorest of his community. Father told the students how in America we waste enough food to feed the poor and starving in other countries.  A lot to think about!  In our readings at mass Jesus tells us to the greatest commandment to love God and then our neighbors as ourselves.

At class we started with a quiz over Lesson 4 in our teen Timeline series.  I must say the students did a good job especially since it had been 2 weeks since watching the video.  I was very pleased,  KEEP IT UP!

This weeks lesson 5 in the series covered 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st and 2nd Kings in the Bible.  We started off with the Israelites wanting a King so God gives them Saul who unites the tribes.  However because of his failings God has the prophet Samuel pick his replacement and he picks David from the house of Jesse.  David the shepherd who because of his great faith will later beat Goliath.  David is the portrait of Courage.  David then expands the Kingdom but he also fails with Bathsheba.  But David repents and God  forgives him.  David and Bathsheba's son will be the next king.  Solomon builds the temple for the Ark of the Covenant.  But all of the building causes taxes and dissension and the united kingdom splits into a Northern and Southern Kingdom. During the years of the divided kingdom God sends numerous prophets to help the Israelites and we heard a little bit about Isaiah, Jeremiah, Josiah, and Hosea.

We learned a lot this week and got a lot of tidbits to give us incentives to read and learn further by reading our Bible.

Before I finish I want to remind parents and student about the Owensboro Diocesan Youth Conference in Bowling Green on November 19-20.  So far we have 9 students with Allie, Mary and me.  I hope others will consider going to this event.

Have a wonderful week you will be in my prayers,

Dr. Joyce

October 20, 2010 High School class of St. Leo

Hello students and parents,

I hope everyone has received and answered their e-mail about the upcoming Halloween party on October 31 at our farm and about the diocesan youth retreat in Bowling Green.  The retreat will be in November and I hope we get a lot of students interested in coming to this wonderful event.

Well last Wednesday we seemed to have a lot of students missing.  I hope that the students are enjoying their lessons each week.  We are getting an overview of the Bible geared at their level that will be a basis for them to build on for the rest of their life.

We started our class with mass and an opening lesson from Father Jason about the days Bible reading.

Class began with our opening prayers to the Holy Spirit followed by the Padre Nuestro.

This weeks Teen Timeline was from the Books of Exodus, Numbers, Joshua and Judges.  This week we heard about God forming a covenant with One Holy Nation the Israelites that have been enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years. God send Moses to be their deliverer.  We hear about the "burning bush", the ten plagues and the passover.  After all these events, the Pharaoh then sets the Israelites free..  God then makes his New Covenant with the Holy Nation of Israelites and gives them the Ten Commandments as a sign of his Covenant.  Because of their sin and unbelief the Commandments are broken,  God then gives them again to Moses and has them make and Ark for the Covenant Commandments.  But again because the Israelites did not trust God in battle, they we made to wonder the dessert for 40 years.  But God provides for his people during their wanderings and sends them manna from heaven to make their bread daily.  We learn that Moses was the Portrait of Determination but because he did not always fully trust God, by striking the rock twice,was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.  Because of this Joshua will lead the Israelites into Canaan.  We then hear about the conquest of Jericho and Rehab, a prostitute, who will become the Portrait of Conversion, helping the Israelites and believing in God.  Again the people fail God, when he helps them win in battle and tells them to take nothing from the conquest, their greed takes over and they do not listen to God.  The Bible continues through the book of Judges and we end the evening  with the Israelites asking God to give them a King.  Wow what a lot to learn and read.

Before I conclude I want to remind everyone there is no class next Wednesday.  We will be participating in the Adoration of the Eucharist on October 28, 2010.

See everyone next Thursday,

I will keep you in my prayer,

Dr. Joyce

October 6, 2010

Hello everyone, welcome to another class!

As usual we started Wednesday evening with mass and homily from Father Jason.  Because this week was the feast of St. Bruno, Father Jason told the students a little history of his life.  He told us that he was a monk in France dedicated to prayer.  He told us that it was important for all Catholic Christians to keep Christ as the center of their life.  In order to do this we must first seek God through daily prayer, then find God by listening daily to what he says to us and finally to follow him in how we live our lives.  Prayer is the best way to communicate with God so we can listen to what he wants from us throughout our life.

Class began with our weekly opening prayer to the Holy Spirit, followed by the Padre Nuestro.  We then discussed a Halloween party on Sunday October 31st.  All the students were asked to participate in activities or food for the party.  We will continue to get ready for a good time together.

This evening we watched part 3 of the teen timeline which completed the Book of Genesis chapters 12-50.  The setting is 2000 yrs. B.C. in the land of Canaan, where God will make another covenant with Abram and Sari, and One Holy Tribe.  God promised his people, the promised land, to make them a great kingdom, and that they would change the face of the world.  The new sign of this covenant would be circumcision.  God changes their names to Abraham and Sarah and gives them a son, Isaac.  After waiting so long for a son, God then asks Abraham to offer Isaac up as a sacrifice.  Abraham is the portrait of perseverance.  It  is not easy to follow God and do what he asks but we all need to persevere.  Of course, an angel stops Abraham before he kills Isaac on Mount Moriah, which later is Calvary.  We continue to read how Isaac's second son Jacob fools he dad to win the oldest birthright.  Jacob then falls in love with Rebecah, but must work 7 years before he can marry her.  On his wedding night her father gives him Leah.  Isaac is disappointed so must work 7 more years to marry Rebecah who becomes the portrait of prayer.  They eventually marry and after many years and lots of prayer have 2 sons, Joseph and Benjamin.  Between both wives and their handmaids, Jacob has 12 sons.  God will then change Jacob's name to Israel and his sons become the 12 tribes of Israel.  Joseph his favorite is sold into slavery to Egypt.  He become great in Egypt and eventually because of a drought meets his brother's again. Joseph will the forgive his brothers and become the portrait of forgiveness. 

So there is so much to read and learn from the Book of Genesis.  

Next week we are on fall break so there will not be a class.  Enjoy your week and the beautiful weather!

God bless all,

Joyce

Sept. 29, 2010 High School class of Religion

Hello everyone!

Last week we had a great time and break from our classwork with a trip to Dairy Queen, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We started the evening class with mass.  What a great way to begin our evening with the Bible and the Eucharist!  This evening's reading was from John's gospel where Jesus calls the apostle Nathaniel.  Wednesday was the feast of the Archangel's Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.  Father Jason encouraged the students to pray to the angels for their intersession in times of need.  He explained to us that we read about the Archangel Raphael in the Bible, book of Tobit, where he was a guide. He recommended praying to him when we are in need of a guide.  Father then discussed the Archangel Michael reminding us how he beat Satan  in the fight between the good and bad angels. He recommended that they pray to St. Michael to help them be strong in times of battle during their life.  He recommended that they learn and say the prayer to St Michael daily, because every day we have battles between good and evil in our life.  Thirdly, Father Jason discussed the Archangel Gabriel.  Most students remember that he is the angel that announced to Mary that she was to give birth to the child, Jesus.  The Angel told Mary not  to be afraid, because God was with her.  Mary accepted Jesus and God's plan with complete faith.  We can pray to the Archangel Gabriel in times of  fear, because he can help us overcome our fears as he helped Mary in her time of uncertainty.  There is so much to learn from the Bible and from our beautiful Catholic faith.

When class began we said our opening prayer to the Holy Spirit followed by the Padre Nuestro.  We discussed the upcoming picnic on Sunday October 3rd.  We then again discussed a Fall Halloween party on Sunday October 31st at the farm.  The students will be allowed to bring a friend and to plan their activities.

After all the business was complete we then took a leisurely walk to Dairy Queen for a treat!  It was very dark and we had to be careful because of all the cars.  The days have shortened it seems, quickly.

Next week we will have another session from the teen timeline bible series.  I look forward to seeing every student next week.

Have a wonderful week.

You are in my prayers,
Joyce

Wednesday Sept. 22, 2010

Hello everyone!

This week was different because we had a guest speaker, Father Jason!  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  I can sometimes be too excited when writing about our class.

As usual we started the evening celebrating mass.  The gospel reading this evening was from Luke 9:1-6, where Jesus sends his disciples off on a journey, "proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere."  Jesus told his followers they were to take NOTHING with them!  They took NO suitcase, money,or  food, just the clothes on their back and the shoes on their feet.  Father Jason taught us that the reason Jesus had the disciples do this was to teach them not to be dependent on things of this world.  They were to have faith in God and work toward their ultimate goal, heaven.

After mass, class began with a prayer to the Holy Spirit.  Then like last week, we had a Quiz over Session 2 of our teen timeline bible study.  The students did an excellent job!

Father Jason gave a talk to our high school class about Adoration of the Eucharist.  He began his talk assigning passages from John's gospel to our student to read aloud, each describing Jesus in some way.  For instance, Jesus was the "gate", or the "Good Shepherd", or the "way, truth, life," or the "True vine", or the "light". After discussing with the students that these were all metaphors for Jesus, he then gave them another passage from John's gospel, chapter 6.  There Jesus says he is the bread of life.  "whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him", verse 56.  Therefore, when we pray in the presence of the consecrated host we are praying to Jesus, present in the bread.  And why do we believe that it is truly Jesus?  Because Jesus himself told us so in the gospel.  WHAT GREAT LEARNING EXPERIENCE!

We ended class talking about prayer.  When we go to Adoration, we have to know how to spend our time.  We discussed and sent home examples.  One was from Our Blessed Virgin Mary's words, teaching us to pray with humility.  Another was from an acronym commonly used to help people pray, ACTS.  This stands for A, adoration or begin you prayer with praising God.  This can be as simple as the sign of the cross followed by the Glory Be.  C then stands for contrition, where we examine our day for our failings and ask God to forgive us stating that we promise to work to do better in our daily life.  T then stands for thanksgiving, where we thank God for all that is good and that he gives us daily in our life.  And lastly we have S or Supplication.  This is where we ask the Holy Spirit for things that we need.  It is here where we pray for anything in our life or that of others.  The students were given prayer books and rosary rings to help them in their prayer life.  The most important thing however is to JUST PRAY.  That means to get in the habit of talking with God daily.  Only then can a true relationship begin to grow which will help guide our students throughout their life.  Well,  we had a lot more to discuss but as usual, ran out of time.

Next week we will walk to dairy queen for ice cream!  Wear your walking shoes.

See you next week!

God bless you all,

Joyce

Wednesday 15th, High school class, St Leo

Hello parents, students, and parishioners,

Welcome to another week of class where we are studying  God's Word through stories from the Bible!

The evening started with mass at 6:30pm, celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. The Gospel reading was from John 19:25-27, where Jesus gives his mother to the disciple John and to us.   Father Jason in his homily discussed the 7 sorrows of the Virgin Mary. In tonights reading from John,  Jesus dies on the cross.   [one of those sorrows]   In class, I discussed this feast of Mary and gave the students a handout with all the 7 Sorrows described.  I told them about a special rosary prayer called the Rosary of the 7 sorrows.  For your information the 7 sorrows are: 1.  The Prophecy of Simeon [Luke 2:22-35], 2.  The Flight into Egypt [Matthew 2:13-15],   3. The loss of Jesus in the Temple [Luke 2:41-52],  4.  Mary meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary [Luke 23:27-31]  5.  Mary stands at the foot of the cross [John 19: 25-27]  6.  Mary receives the dead body of Jesus [John  19:41-42]  7.  Jesus is placed in the tomb [John 19:41-42]

This week's class started with a prayer to the Holy Spirit.[Look at last weeks blog where I wrote out the prayer for you.]  We discussed future prayers and decided to learn the Our Father in Spanish, starting next week.  We then had a review quiz from last weeks introductory Bible movie.  The quiz went very well!  The students listened and remembered what they learned!  Good job!

We then watched the second part of the teen timeline bible study. The students were reminded again that when reading the Bible they are not reading a documentary.  They are to look at the stories and most importantly think of the WHY.  Why is that story in the Bible and what is God trying to tell ME, through that story. Tonight's episode was about the book of Genesis chapters1-11.  It started when God created the World. We learned that man [and beasts] was created on the 6th day, Genesis 1:26-27.   Man was made in the image of God, given the capacity to love, with intellect and free will.  God made a covenant with Adam with the sign of that covenant being the Sabbath, a day of rest and communion with God.  But because of man's pride[exercise of will for self] and selfishness[wanting more] man failed. Adam and Eve did not completely Trust God!   Adam and Eve were One Holy Couple, as they were called, but through sin broke the covenant with God.  From Genesis 3:14-15 we learned because of their sin, God banned them out of the garden of Eden, "I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing: in pain shall you bring forth children."  Man would learn that with love would come suffering.  He was to learn that his will must be secondary to an other's.  Forever more a part of love would be suffering.  This was to teach man that in loving he was to loose his pride and sometimes suffer for the good of another.

The next covenant was made with Noah who was the picture of faith.  He built an Ark, and together with his wife and children became One Holy Family.  God  gave Noah a sign of that covenant, the rainbow, saying that he would never again flood the world.  But the Bible tells how man again failed. Because of his pride, to make his name great, he built the Tower of Babel. This again angered God so He confused man's language.

In Genesis we learn that  God is LOVE.  Love is about giving and not about pride[exercise of will for self].  When we sin we are takers and not givers of love.  In the Bible we will see that again man must suffer till he learns to give of himself and not take from others.

We ended the night quickly because the video was long.  We could have had a long discussion but will hold that for another night.  Next week we will be discussing prayer.  Father Jason will be our guest speaker for the evening.  I hope all the students will make it a point to attend.

A little word of business,  we are compiling our service, prayer and activity lists.  Hopefully that will be done in 1-2 weeks.  For our parish picnic on October 3rd we are raffling a basket.  Please bring a kitchen item to put in our basket next week.

See everyone next Wednesday.

You are in my prayers, please keep me in yours,

Joyce  Hughes