The Archdiocese of Boston has just announced that the Bishop has lowered the age at which Catholics in the Archdiocese may receive the sacrament of Confirmation from the 10th to the 8th grade! This is huge news, as it will allow more Catholic youth to receive this grace-perfecting sacrament. 

What does Confirmation do exactly? When we receive the sacrament of Confirmation, a special rush of the Holy Spirit happens to us; it is a special force, a Heavenly strength infused into us. Confirmation stirs up and confirms all of the graces received at Baptism. The graces emphasized when explaining Confirmation usually focus on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. [My previous virtues article explained theological and cardinal virtues, which are also stirred up and perfected with Confirmation.]

First, let's look at the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. One way that the Holy Spirit, that is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, can be explained is "the love communicated between God the Father, and God the Son, Jesus." Jesus told his apostles to wait for something better than him, our helper, advocate, guide, the Holy Spirit. The Apostles prayed and waited for the Holy Spirit during the nine days [Latin, Novena] following Jesus' Ascension into Heaven and Pentecost. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came with Heavenly force, bearing a multitude of gifts, as he never comes empty handed. This was the first Confirmation, and its what the Holy Spirit has done at every Confirmation ever since then. His gifts are mysterious and far surpass our human language to define them. But to help us try to understand some of these gifts, as limited as we are by our mere earthly existence, the Holy Spirit explains them through the Church God uses as a vehicle to guide us. Bishop Robert Barron, head of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth explains them below:

1. Wisdom: view of life from God’s standpoint

2. Knowledge: deeper penetration of the mysteries of the faith

3. Understanding: ability to teach and share the mysteries of the faith

4. Fortitude: courage

5. Counsel: judgment that enables one to make the right moral decision in   the moment; prudence.

6. Piety: rendering to God what is due to God, especially praise and thanksgiving.

7. Fear of the Lord: deepest awe and respect for God 

As the Holy Spirit rushing in our souls at Confirmation stirs up and perfects these gifts; they are confirmed. As is usually the case with out-of-this-world, Heavenly occurrences, there aren't words available to fully describe the phenomena of the close encounters humans have with God through the sacraments; this is especially the case with the sacrament of Confirmation. This force of supernatural power from God makes a permanent character mark on our souls. Baptism and holy orders are the only other sacraments that make this permanent mark [sacramentum in Latin]. So, you ask, if the confirmed receive this superpower in their soul, why do so few people receive Confirmation? Well, perhaps they need to learn about it, and if they do, weren't properly informed about what actually happens to them when they receive it.

Now that the age has been lowered, however, at least eighth graders in Catholic schools can be taught about this wondrous sacrament, and even if they don't end up attending Catholic high school, can be educated about it and receive it, becoming lights of strength to their non-Confirmed peers at whatever high school they attend. Because receiving the sacraments is the greatest gift on Earth, and although they are a mysterious privilege, it is a great responsibility for those who receive these graces to share them abundantly with the broader community. This is a way to become a soldier of love, a soldier of mercy for Christ.

• This article is part of a series. Stay tuned next month, when we explore more about the sacrament of Confirmation.

What Is Confession? Confession is the act of receiving the sacrament of reconciliation. It is one of the sacraments of healing. When you confess your sins to God through a catholic priest, he serves as a Vicar of Christ. Even though God knows that we have sinned, He wants us to know and admit that we have sinned. In the bible it says:

" If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  (1 John 1:9)    

The second graders at st. Peter's School are currently receiving the sacrament of reconciliation for the first time. We had the opportunity to talk with some of them about this experience. Here's what they ve interviewed 2nd graders about confession.

Second-grade student Clara was the first in her class to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. Clara said, “ It was scary at first, but then it’s OK.”

Second-grade student Shaila expressed great devotion and excitement toward receiving her upcoming sacrament, saying, “It will be great! I’m excited but a little nervous, too.”

Second-grade student Gloria recently received the sacrament of reconciliation for the first time. She said she was a little nervous but felt so happy when she did it. She looks forward to going again.

Second-grade student Elise will soon receive the sacrament. She says,  “I am a little nervous but also excited.” She loves Jesus and is really looking forward to it.

Here are some inspiring quotes from Jesus to Saint Faustina and Saint John Paul II on confession:

Jesus to Saint Faustina:

“Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this: I am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here, the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy, souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity.”

Saint John Paul II:

“Confession is an act of honesty and courage – an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God."

Congratulations 2nd-graders on receiving God's mercy through this great sacrament!

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” 

- Nelson Mandela

In January, we celebrate National School Choice Week, a collection of charity events run by the National School Choice Week Awareness Foundation. According to the Foundation’s press release, “The NSCW runs from January 21st until January 27th and will be celebrated by 24,875 K–12 schools; including more than 14,000 public-sector schools and more than 7,000 private schools, alongside online, homeschooling, or microschooling options. As more parents actively explore diverse school choices, NSCW remains a positive, inclusive effort to inform and empower families with straightforward information about traditional public, public charter, public magnet, private, online, home, and nontraditional education options.”

How did the school choice movement begin? The movement started in the 1950’s as a way to allow parents to choose where government education money for their child went, by Nobel Award-winning economist Milton Friedman, who believed that, “A far more effective and equitable way for government to finance education is to finance students, not schools.” Friedman believed that parents should be allowed to choose whether their child attended a public school, private school, or parochial school. He believed that the state/federal funding already assigned to their child should naturally follow their child to the school their parents thought was best for their child.

In 1996, Friedman and his wife Rose started a foundation to help make his dreams for “effective and equitable” education in America become a reality; today, the EdChoice Foundation has helped 670,000 American families choose where their children go to school in some way. These ways are listed every year in their ABC’s of School Choice report. The non-profit continues Friedman’s economic and social justice plans to “advance educational freedom and choice for all as a pathway to successful lives and a stronger society.”

Many community leaders who are trying to improve the quality of life of families living in low-income areas support Friedman’s movement. Civil rights activist, and son of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Martin Luther King Jr. II, writes that the movement is one of the most important civil rights issues today, “Because this is about justice. This is about righteousness. This is about truth. This is about freedom. The freedom to choose what’s best for your family and your child most importantly.”

• This article is part of a series. Stay tuned next month, when we explore how School Choice legislation works.

Castles have a long and rich history. The first castle was built in the Citadel of Aleppo, Syria in the 3rd millennium BC. The earliest castles were called 'motte and bailey’ castles. They were built on a mound called the motte, with an outer stockade called the bailey. Another feature in stone castles is that they had a ‘keep’ or main tower, with an outer gate called a barbican. Did you know that the first castles were built out of wood?

Students in St. Peter’s seventh grade history class have been studying about the Medieval Ages, and were tasked with making a model castle for a special class project. Middle school social studies teacher Mr. O’Connor made this statement about the project: “Students in grade seven were tasked with designing a castle either by drawing 2D blueprints, creating a 3D model, or building one on Minecraft. They had to include at least ten common defense features, and make it safe to live in as a home. Once that was designed, they wrote a brief essay explaining the purpose of each defense feature, the strategic locations of common rooms and features, such as a Great Hall and the Well, and geographically speaking, why they built the castle where they did.” I asked a few of the seventh graders what they enjoyed about the project, and this is what they said.

I enjoyed the creative portion of the casting project because it was fun and very different from any other project this year.  -Warren Aukeman

I enjoyed the creativity part the most. -Jane Bench

The castle project was a very enjoyable assignment, and it was exciting to see what all of my classmates' castles looked like. -Avery Flynn

I enjoyed this project because it was a fun but effective way of showing what we had been studying. Because this project took some time to create, a large part of it was budgeting our time smartly, which is also an important skill. -Ada Horton

Castles will be a topic of study in the fourth-grade literature class in the upcoming weeks, as their class literature book dives into European history epics and castle analogies with the spiritual life through the writings of the Spanish saint St. Theresa of Avila. Stay tuned for more information about this study in the Journal’s next issue.

Did you know that globes and maps are very important in fourth grade? They help us a lot in geography. For example, when we studied ancient Egypt, we had to locate the Nile River, so we looked on a map. It is also important to locate a specific country or city. 

There are also different kinds of maps such as: political, continental, regional, and global. A political map shows us the states, cities, or countries. A continental map shows us the continents. A regional map shows us the regions. An example is, in the United States, we could locate the northeast region. Finally, the global map shows us the whole world. It is even more detailed than the political map, it shows cities, countries, continents, regions, states, and islands.

Globes, though, show everything from continents to cities.Globes can be different sizes but all of them are spheres. For example, we have a small globe that is still a sphere and we have another globe that is a little bit bigger. 

   Also, you might see that globes have tilts. That is because the Earth has a tilt. This tilt gives us seasons. The sun shines in one half of the Earth so it gets a lot of sunlight, while the other half does not get as much sunlight. So, the area that has light is in summer while the non-heated area is experiencing the season of winter.

In this diagram it shows the Earth's tilt.

In this diagram you can see that the Earth has a tilt. In the June solstice, you can see that the equator is tilted to the right. The darker surface of the Earth is experiencing winter. A polar axis is the line that goes straight through the middle of the Earth. You can see that the polar axis is also tilted. Even though the  Earth always is tilted, it does not mean that the polar axis is straight.

Maps are 2D but globes are 3D. They are different. A map you cannot spin but a globe you can. Another difference is the dimensions. 2D has length and width, while 3D has length, width, and height. Latitude is imaginary lines that run west to east. Longitude though,  runs north to south. There is also an imaginary line called the equator. It is a line of latitude  that is exactly at 0° latitude. The Prime Meridian is exactly at 0° longitude. If you are on the equator, you do not have much of a change in season. There is also a Tropic Of Capricorn at 23.5° south, a Tropic Of Cancer at 23.5° north, an Artic Circle at 66.5° north, and an Antarctic Circle at 66.5° south. 

 Did you know that 2524 ago, the Greeks believed that the Earth was round, and  not flat?

 Interesting Facts About The Earth

• Did you know that Earth is not really round?

• Coral reefs are Earth’s largest living structure

• Earth has a squishy interior

• Antarctica is the largest sheet of ice on the Earth

• The moon is drifting away from the Earth

• Atacama is the driest place on Earth

• Earth’s magnetic pole is creeping westward

• Europe is the second largest continent in size but the third largest in population

• Tibetan plateau is Earth’s ‘third pole’

• Trees are breathers