So often, I find that Confirmation is the most misunderstood of the sacraments. Many of us were ill-formed when it comes to what this sacrament really means. Fr. Robert Barron does a great job explain the power of this sacraments in just 10 minutes of your time.
Becuase we don’t have enough on Justice and Reverence…oh…wait…
One of the great criticisms of the Catholic Church is her stores of gold and other wealth and her ornate Churches. On a week when we discuss justice (giving man what he is due) and reverence (giving God what he is due) we have to be prepared to answers those sorts of questions.
Enter, my favorite blogger BadCatholic. Seriously, folks, I’m a little addicted to this guy. His stuff is solidly Catholic, he uses references from some of the greatest Catholic minds (Chesterton, Aquinas, Percy, etc.), and isn’t afraid of the big ugly questions. (He also isn’t afraid to swear or get a little crass, which I why I don’t push this blog with our kids just yet. I consider it for a more mature mind.) On top of all that, the guy is a college freshman. No lie.
Regardless, I thought you all should meet. BadCatholic, meet my catechists. Catechist, meet Marc John Paul – BadCatholic.
He has 2 excellent posts on how we respond to the accusations of the Church and her wealth. I highly suggest reading them before the night on justice and reverence:
and
In Defense of Covering Catholic Churches With All Sorts of Gold
This week at class we are talking about the supernatural (or theological) virtue of faith and the gift of understanding.
Faith is such a broad, as well as deep, topic to cover in an 1.5 hour period of time. Thankfully, our fantastic Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI not only has declared this the YEAR of Faith (much better than an hour and a half!), but he also wrote a letter to us, the Faithful, about Faith. Please read this brief letter before class. This is the best thing you can do to prepare.
If you haven’t discovered it yet, there are a lot of posts on this night’s lesson. That’s because the possibilities and directions you can take your small group discussion are literally endless. I mean, we are talking about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass…HEAVEN ON EARTH….it’s doesn’t get more endless than that.
So I found this great Bible Study from our friend, Mark Hart, the fast-talking, bad pun-making host of T3 and I loved it. It talks about the Mass as a wedding feast. Good stuff, peeps. Good stuff. The link will take you to a transcript of the BS or to a podcast. The reason I didn’t just print it off and put it in your lesson plans is that it is pretty intense both practically and theologically and I want you as a leader to feel really comfortable with the content and NOT feel like you have to do it.
If you do choose to use this during your small group time, make sure you spend a lot of time preparing – and don’t forget that the most important ingredient to preparation in ministry is prayer. Pray. Pray. PRAY!
Another word for reverence is “piety”, but piety is often misunderstood and is even used occasionally as a derogatory term – “She’s SO pious!” Thanks to a wonderful small group leader, I just got my hands on this fantastic little jewel of a definition:
“”…the foundation of piety which consists in contentment with God and his will. It is the regulation of the heart that places us in union with the divine will…” Fr. Jean-Pierre De Caussade, S.J.
In other news related to justice/reverence/piety…
So every once in a while I stumble upon something in my search for good resources for our programs that is perfect, but not exactly what I would be putting in their workbooks. And THAT is Reason #659 why I run this blog for you. It’s a place where I can put all that random crap that hopefully you can put to good use.
Ok, enough digression. In the Spring we do a night on the virtue of justice and the gift of reverence. I love how St. Thomas Aquinas put those 2 together – giving man what he is due and giving God what he is due. I also love how those 2 things, in their very essence, draw us out of our own little worlds to look at the big picture and, dare I say, eternal picture.
The new internet buzzword (well, non-word) is YOLO, standing for You Only Live Once. While there is some truth to that, it also makes us forget that we are not just made for this life, but for ETERNAL life – that eternal picture I was talking about before.
I found this simple, but great blog post related to this very concept. Read it. Use it in group. Come up with your own examples. Whatever. I just had to share it with you. You’re welcome.
…SPREAD IT.
The final installment of T3 is on the Early Church and one of the most important points made is on the importance of evangelism – spreading the faith. For many teenagers this is either a foreign concept or utterly terrifying.
To help your students understand the impact of spreading the gospel, you may find the lesson linked below helpful. In it you will find videos of Penn Gillette and a discussion based on them. Penn Gillette (of Penn and Teller) is a proud atheist, but makes an excellent point about authenticity and proselytizing.
Penn Gets a Bible – Discussion
The Source 4 Youth Ministry is a great, Christian website that uses media to help make a catechetical point.
On February 8, we will be continuing the T3 series as we learn about the Babylonian Exile, return, and Maccabean Revolt. I find that the kids respond well to the discussion on the Revolt (what teenagers doesn’t love to talk about rebellion?!) and it is an often overlooked piece of salvation history.
To help you understand this time of the Maccabean Revolt, we have another homily from Fr. Mike Schmitz in which he also weaves in the VIRTUES! (Thank you, Fr. Mike!)
Follow this link and scroll down to the homily from 11/11/2007.
This week we will start to get into the cardinal (or natural) virtues. The word “cardinal” means, literally, “Hinge.” Prudence, courage, temperence, and justice are the virtues from which all other virtues come.
The first one is often a misunderstood virtue, being written off as boring. To help you be ready for this here are a couple places to go:
What is Prudence? LIFE TEEN.com answers simply…http://lifeteen.com/2-12-what-is-prudence/
What makes a decision prudent? Edward Sri breaks it open… http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0961.htm
What are the cardinal virtues? Dr. Peter Kreeft answers…http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0017.html
Classical Depiction of the Cardinal Virtues
The day is coming when your kids will have to choose and report on a saint for their confirmation patron. While the report isn’t due for another couple months, it is a good idea to start talking about saints now.
LifeTeen.com does great work writing about all things Catholic in a way that young people can understand it without dumbing it down. Just last year, they put together a list of all of their best saint resources from biographies to an explanation of how people become saints at all – articles, videos, podcasts, etc. Get the goods here.
And just for fun, here is a website that I follow religiously – no pun intended. LOL Saints takes old images of saints and adds hilarious captions. The first time I found this I lost about 2 hours paging through it and laughing so hard it hurt. I hope you enjoy them…and maybe you might find one or two that your kids would enjoy, too.
And keep praying for your kids!
“Since, then, we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” (Hebrews 12)
“They defeated [the Devil] by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.” – Revelations 12:11
Stories are powerful. Indeed, we can argue theology all day, but when you or I tell the story of our own faith, of our conversion, no one can tell us, “That didn’t happen to you!” Stories make theological truth real. And Jesus knew this using story after story, parable after parable to proclaim Truth.
Below are some articles, videos, etc. related to the conversion stories of several Catholics. When I was in high school, it was the stories of converts that made me realize the beauty of what I really have. Feel free to familiarize yourself with some below and use them during your small group discussions.
Articles:
WhyI’mCatholic.com: Athiest Convert, Devin Rose
LifeTeen.com: Incomplete without the Eucharist
Videos:
OneBillionStories.com: Dan Driver, From Drugs and Rock to Hardcore Catholic
Podcasts:
Chris Padgett’s Conversion: Protestant Rock to Catholic
Jennifer Fulwiler: Conversion Diary of a former Atheist
I also encourage you to take some time in prayer before this class to articulate your OWN story. Sharing your testimony with your group is one of the most powerful things you can do. Here are few simple steps to writing this witness:
1) What was going on in my life BEFORE I believed in God/I made my parents’ faith my own/I cared about the Church/I knew Jesus? What were my struggles/questions/doubts? (Be careful not to glorify sin here. The temptation is to tell a big, shocking story, but only tell the details necessary. The point of your testimony is to glorfy GOD, not our sins.)
2) What happened to change my mind/my heart/the direction of my life? How did God intervene? What event or series of events brought me into closer relationship with Jesus? Was it like getting hit in the head with a 2×4 or was it more gradual? Did God use an event or moment in time or did He use someone else to speak to my heart?
3) How is my life different? How does my relationship with God and others look different than before my conversion? How have my struggles changed? (Becuase, let’s face it, they never go away!)
Too often, I hear people say, “My story isn’t that big of a deal.” Or “No one cares about my conversion. It was so gradual. Heck, I’m no St. Paul or St. Augustine!” There is no such thing as an uniportant testimony. Think about it, if GOD (you know, the creator of heaven and earth!) has done something…ANYTHING in your life it is a big deal because anytime He acts it is a big deal. Besides, there are kids in your group who need to hear stories of gradual conversion just as much as there are kids who need to hear the ‘knocked off your horse’ stories.
Finally, this might be a good week to bring some art into your group’s discussion. Above is a rather well-known painting called “The Conversion of St. Paul” by Caravaggio. I have had some excellent conversations with teens using art. Ask them questions like, “Where is the light coming from?” “Look at the way Paul is holding his arms. What does this indicate to you?” “What do you think the other man in the painting is thinking?” If you do want to do an activity such as this, let me know ahead of time so I can make color copies for you.
Veni Sancte Spiritus 